Saturday, July 22, 2017

parshanut torah comment - Why did Eisav say "red" twice?



Genesis 25:30 says:



... הַלְעִיטֵנִי נָא מִן הָאָדֹם הָאָדֹם הַזֶּה ...


... "Pour into [me] some of this red, red [pottage] ..."



Why did Eisav feel the need to say "red" twice?



Answer




In a midrash: Why did he repeat? Esav found Yaakov preparing lentils for his father in a dish, and told him "feed me" [=hal'iteni na min haadom]. He said, "wait, I'll prepare you another dish. I prepared this one for my father and don't want to cancel my mitzva. But if you're willing to sell your birthright, I'll give you my father's dish, which I'm allowed to do in order to purchase a mitzva. Otherwise, wait". And Esav replied, "I want only this dish [=haadom haze], for it's fat and good". And that's why he said hal'iteni na min haadom haadom haze: "I want this one, as it's fat, and will sell you the birthright".




Tol'dos Yitzchak, by Rav Yitzchak Karo (uncle of the Bes Yosef), in my own free translation


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