This learning is dedicated in memory of my mother, Sharon Decter Brendzel, who died on Parshat Toldot in 2006. I will forever associate her with this parsha and though she followed very different tactics than Rebecca, she too tried to help us accomplish goals.
There are some fantastic new rides at Disney World. We loved Tron and Guardians of the Galaxy. We also loved rides we've done once or twice before, like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and
the Avatar Flight of Passage. And then there are the classics - It's a Small World, Runaway Mine Train, Soarin', and Spaceship Earth. In the revamped Spaceship Earth Dame Judi Dench tells us about the way that communication and invention have happened over time. She mentioned the impact of the Roman Empire, spreading ideas throughout a very large area. This happened to catch my attention especially because I was thinking about this week's parsha.
The rabbis have associated Esau with the Romans. (There's several reasons they point to, but for now, let's just accept this "as is.") In this week's parsha, after having lost the first blessing to Jacob's deception of Isaac, Esau begs for a blessing and Isaac does give a blessing including this section:
See, your abode shall enjoy the fat of the earth
And the dew of heaven above.
Yet by your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother.
Rambam has an interesting comment on this: Now the blessing is not that he live on the booty he takes from his enemies by the sword, for he has already given him of the fat places of the earth and of the dew of heaven by which he shall live. Instead, the purport of the blessing is that he survive his battles and be victorious, and not fall by the sword of an enemy. It is for this reason that immediately following this he said, And thou shall serve thy brother, meaning, “but you will not prevail over him. Instead, he will prevail over you.”
This idea of being victorious in battle is a part of the tie to Rome, as Rome was a mighty empire for
a long time. I thought this was an interesting take and seems more like a "blessing" than reading the line "yet by your sword you shall live" as being pretty negative. In honor of this, I looked for some ancient Roman recipes/foods. I found this adaptation of a Roman snack that uses dates (and since I have dates for my Butternut Squash, Dates, & Walnuts recipe I am making for Thanksgiving (made for Rosh Hashanah too, but it seemed like a good one to repeat), so here's Roman Stuff Dates.
And, of course, it wouldn't be Parshat Toldot without Red Lentil Soup. This is the original recipe that inspired recipes tied to the parsha. Thank you Rabbi Daniel Goldfarb and his grandmother, Jenny Fish, for our red lentil soup each year. This is one of the recipes where the food is directly mentioned in the parsha. Now, what exactly Jacob made isn't known, but it's generally translated as a bowl of the red stuff and most people assume that's red lentils in some form.
Shabbat Shalom & B'Tayavon!
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