![]() ![]() He realised that everyone before him had failed with their ideas of how to eradicate the Jews and decided on a strategy that would take previous failures into account. The next person who tried to destroy the Jewish people was Haman, the Prime Minister of the Persian Empire. In Jewish tradition, if a Jewish girl marries a non-Jewish boy, the children will still be Jewish, as Jewish identity is passed through the maternal line. Although he killed all the males he allowed the females to live. ![]() Pharaoh, however, made a simple miscalculation. Pharaoh would be smarter than that and would kill all the mail children in one fell, not allowing for any future existence of the Jewish people. He said to himself that Esau was unwise, since while he waited to kill Jacob, he was able to raise a family. ![]() The Jews increased in number while in Egypt and Pharaoh decided that they were a threat and had to be contained. The next to kill the Jews in the Bible was Pharaoh. He decided then that there would be no longer any point in killing Jacob. Not a small family but one of twelve children who became the tribes of Israel. ![]() However, Esau made a mistake, because while he waited for the death of Isaac before killing Jacob, there was time for Jacob to have numerous children of his own and raise a family. This allowed his father to have more children to replace Abel after his death and continued his legacy.Įsau reasoned that he would be patient and wait until Isaac dies and then kill Jacob so Isaac cannot replace him with a sibling who will remind people of what Esau did to Jacob. When Cain killed Abel out of jealousy he did so in a rage and didn’t wait until his father, Adam, passed away. Esau thought he would learn from the mistake of Cain. He therefore chose to contain his hatred and wait until Isaac’s passing.Īnother commentary, however, points out a far more sinister reason. One of the commentaries explain that Esau cared about his father and did not want his father to experience Jacob being killed by his own brother. The commentaries pose the question, why did Esau wait to kill Jacob until Isaac passed away? If he hated Jacob so much then he should have killed him at the earliest opportunity. Instead, Jacob prepared the food first and when he brought the dish, Isaac who was blind gave the blessing to Jacob.Įsau resolved to kill Jacob for stealing the blessing but said that ‘I will wait until my father passes away and then I will kill Jacob’. Isaac requested Esau to bring him his favourite dish and promised to bless him. Then there was Esau who wanted to kill his brother Jacob for stealing the blessing that their father Isaac had wanted to bless Esau. He was jealous of his brother that the sacrifice of Abel was accepted by G‑d and not his own so he arose and killed his brother while out in the field. The first person who killed in the Torah was Cain who killed his brother Abel in the Book of Genesis. The killing of one’s neighbour is the unfortunate history of the world. The greatest threat facing the Jewish people today is assimilation and lack of Jewish education. Chief Rabbi of Israel Lau Lecture at Inauguration of Tajtelbaum Jewish Study HallĪt Slager Jewish student centre, 61 George St, Oxford, OX1 2BQ ![]()
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