Eisav’s game was
To Yitzchak’s taste;
But being blind,
Yitzchak couldn’t see his face.
He touched the goatskins
Yaakov wore,
Smelled Eisav’s clothes;
He was then sure,
Yitzchak had clarity,
Though his sight was dim,
The son to bless
Stood before him.
Yitzchak recognized the scent
From the field he’d prayed in,
For Yaakov’s presence emanated from
Gan Eden.
Yaakov and Eisav
Are the forerunners –
The tzadik and beinoni –
Each a crucial component
Of humanity:
The tents of learning noble,
But, coordinately,
Is sanctifying daily life
With spirituality.
Two great men descended
From the brothers and rewove
The consanguinity
Of Eisav and Yaakov:
Rabbi Yehudah the Prince
And Marcus Aurelius,
The eminent sage,
And the Emperor Antonius.
Rabbi Yehudah solved many problems
With precautious allegory,
Plucking petals from a flower,
Political strategy,
One by one,
Enemies eliminated,
Obstacles to his rule
Abated.
Aurelius exempted Tiberias
From paying taxes to Rome;
He admired and favored
The Torah scholars
Who made Tiberias their home.
Aurelius aspired to pass
Kingship to his son,
But the Roman Senate
Had a random way
In which kingship was won.
In the Senate, a bird would be released,
There’d be no place she could land
Except on someone in attendance,
Could be the least qualified man
Hostile to succession;
That’s how Rome would confer
Rulership as emperor.
Yehudah brought two men in
To enact a pantomime,
One atop the other’s shoulders,
Who could be thrown down anytime.
The top man held a dove,
The bottom man told him, “Release it,”
Showing Aurelius, while in power,
Could void the practice, cease it.
Hashem wants to reside on earth,
To connect in the deepest way.
Eisav could have held a vital key
If he hadn’t gone astray;
But Rivkah had the vision,
She knew which of her sons
Rightly deserved the blessings;
Prophetic, her actions.
Though Edom throughout history
Is our enemy foresworn,
HaKadosh Baruch Hu
Names Israel
As “My son, My firstborn.”
By Sharon Marcus