|
And Esau took his wives and his sons ... and went to [another]
land
Genesis 36:6
And Jacob arose, and he set his sons and his wives on the camels
Ibid. 31:17
Noting the difference between these two verses, our sages remark: “Jacob
placed the males before the females, while Esau placed the females before the
males.”[1]
On the face of it, this seems a critique of the hedonistic Esau and a commendation
of the piety of Jacob. As one commentator put it, “Esau put his wives before
his sons, as his wives were primary in his mind—his sons were but the result
of his lust for his wives. Jacob, on the other hand, married his wives only
in order to father children ... his sons were the cause of his marriages.”[2]
But on other occasions,[3] we find Jacob giving precedence
to his wives over his children—a practice also followed by Moses in his
journey to Egypt.[4] Indeed, the prophets describe
the era of Moshiach as a time when “woman shall prevail over man”—when
the feminine shall be superior to the masculine.[5]
The Male and Female in Man
In the terminology of Kabbalah, the aggressive and control-oriented mind is
the “male” within us, while the heart is the seat of our “female”
faculties of feeling and conviction.
As a rule, the mind must be made master over the heart. “The wicked are
ruled by their hearts,” say our sages, “but the righteous rule over
their hearts.”[6] Given free rein, the subjective passions of the heart can lead
man to deeds that are destructive to himself and to others and which violate
his own integrity and his relationship with G-d. The mind, which scrutinizes
everything with the cold, objective eye of reason, is far more trustworthy a
guide through the labyrinth of life.[7]
This, however, is due to the weaknesses of human nature and the imperfections
of our world, rather to any innate superiority of our male over our female self.
Indeed, as we often recognize, the mind has its limitations. There are times
and situations in our lives when we are faced with decisions so fateful, with
challenges so immense, that the finite mind stands paralyzed before them. At
such times, we resort to the heart, with its infinite well of feeling and its
boundless capacity for commitment, to carry us through.
Thus, in the era of Moshiach, when a perfect self and world will make the subjectivity
of the heart an asset rather than a detriment, the female in us will reign supreme.
For then we will avail ourselves of the heart’s infinite capacity for connection
and empathy without fear that a flawed character or a corrupting environment
might lead it astray.[8]
Based on the Rebbe’s talks on Shabbat Vayeitzei and Shabbat Vayishlach
5742 (1981), Shabbat Nasso 5744 (1984), and on other occasions[9]
____________________
[1]. Rashi on Genesis 31:17; cf. Midrash Rabbah on
verse.
[2]. Gur Aryeh on Rashi, ibid.; cf. Mizrachi commentary,
ibid.
[3]. Cf. Genesis 30:26; 32:23.
[4]. Exodus 4:20. Indeed, such behavior is more consistent
with the dictum that “A man must honor his wife more than his own self”
(Mishneh Torah, Laws of Matrimony 15:19) and the obligation to train
one’s children in the mitzvah of “Honor your mother” (Exodus
20:12).
[5]. Jeremiah 31:21; see Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim15c;
et al.
[6]. Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 34:11.
[7]. Cf. Genesis 2:16; Rashi on Genesis 1:28; Tanya,
chs. 12 and 17; et al.
[8]. Thus Jacob, who represents the ordered and disciplined
world of tikkun (“correction”) which defines our present-day
existence, “placed the males before the females”; while Esau, who
embodies the volatile world of tohu (“chaos”) whose vastly
more potent energies will find their proper realization in the world of Moshiach,
“placed the females before the males” (see The Inside Story,
VHH, 1997, pp. 66-71).
[9]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. XXX, pp. 141-147.
|
