The story is told of a young man at an airport who bought a bag of cookies to enjoy while waiting for his flight. An older man who sat down next to him began helping himself to the cookies that lay between them. Shocked, the young man pointedly took a cookie and began eating it. “The nerve,” he thought, “he didn’t even ask.” The older man just smiled, taking another cookie and eating it as he continued reading. They continued in this way, reaching for cookies until there was only one cookie left – and then the older man did the unthinkable! He picked it up, broke it in half, and smilingly handed him a piece. Infuriated, the young man moved away. It was not until he sat down on the plane that he felt his heart sink when he discovered, at the bottom of his bag, his own bag of cookies.
Things are not always as they seem. Every person in this world has a story deeper than a superficial glance reveals. Everything in the physical world is laced with layers of depth and meaning. We must peer beyond the surface in order to discover these layers.
Yaakov vs. Esav
Rivka’s pregnancy was famously difficult, Yaakov and Esav struggling violently within her. Rashi (Bereishis 25:22) cites the famous Midrash that describes the battle between Yaakov and Esav in the womb. Whenever Rivka passed a place of Torah study, Yaakov was drawn towards it, and whenever she passed a house of idol worship, Esav was drawn towards it. Yaakov desired the spiritual and the World to Come, while Esav desired this physical world. This was the cosmic battle that took place within Rivka’s womb.
The problem with this “battle,” however, is that if Yaakov wanted the spiritual, and Esav desired the physical, where is the point of contention? They can simply each take what they desire. There’s nothing to fight over.
For example, if there are two cups of ice cream, chocolate and vanilla, and one sibling wants chocolate while the other craves vanilla, then there is no argument! Each can simply take what they desire. An argument would arise only if there was one cup of ice cream and they both wanted it.
What, then, was the fight between Yaakov and Esav about?
In order to understand the depth of this battle, we must understand the concepts of ikar (primary) and tafel (secondary). Ikar is the inner essence and the main entity; tafel is what enables the ikar to flourish. For example, the ikar of an orange is the inner fruit, while the peel is the tafel, as it protects and enables the fruit. The same principle applies to a person; the ikar of a person is the neshama, the self, the mind and soul. The body is the tafel, as it enables the soul to exist in this world, to learn, grow, and expand.
The ideal is for the tafel to perfectly and loyally reflect the ikar – for the body to reflect the truth and depth of the soul and be a loyal vessel reflecting its spiritual root. The body is meant to be the vehicle that carries the soul though the world.
We don’t believe in rejecting the physical, but we don’t wish to get stuck in the physical either. The goal is a balance where the physical is used to reflect something higher. In this perfect balance, the wisdom and ideas of Torah become one with you, and you express that inner, spiritual depth through the physical. This is why almost all the mitzvos are accomplished through physical actions.
And this was the very battle between the perception of Yaakov and Esav – a battle of ikar versus tafel. They both wanted both the spiritual and the physical. Yaakov wanted to use the physical as a vehicle and tool to fully actualize the spiritual potential of the world. Esav wanted to use the animation of the soul as a means to indulge in the physicality of the world. Essentially, Esav flipped ikar and tafel, corrupting their ideal relationship.
Esav did not wish to use the physical to reflect anything higher than his own selfish desires. This can be compared to a computer screen, which is the means by which we interact with images and content – a computer that projects only its own screen is useless since it rejects its true purpose. Like a self-reflecting screen, Esav wanted to focus on himself and his own ego instead of reflecting something higher, and he did not wish for the physical world to reflect any higher truth.
The Torah (Bereishis 25:27) describes Yaakov and Esav’s development and their respective personalities. Yaakov was a pure, spiritual individual who dwelt in the tents (of Torah), while Esav was a man of the field, a hunter. On this verse, Rashi quotes a Midrash that says Esav was not only a hunter and trapper literally, but figuratively as well: He ensnared Yitzchak’s mind by convincing him of his alleged spiritual greatness. How did he accomplish this? Esav asked Yitzchak how to take ma’aser from (tithe) salt and straw to convince his father he was scrupulous in his mitzvah observance.
But straw and salt are both tafel. Straw is the protective casing of wheat; independently, it is worthless. The same is true of salt. Anyone who cooks know that salt itself is not meant to be tasted; it is meant only to draw out the flavor of the food. Salt is the tafel, the enabler of taste.
Esav specifically asked how to tithe straw and salt, both of which are tafel. This was a reflection of his corrupted worldview. He essentially claimed that the tafel deserves attention as the main focus, placing the physical world at the center and main focus of life. (See Commentary of Vilna Gaon to Aggados of Savbei d’vei Atuna, Bechoros Daf 8.)
This is perhaps why in Ovadiah (1:18), Esav is compared to a nation of straw. Esav and his nation, Edom, are immersed in the world of tafel and physicality. Our Sages (Bereishis Rabbah 65:1) compare Esav to a pig: a pig gives an external impression of being kosher, due to its split hooves; but in truth, on the inside, it’s completely treif as it doesn’t chew its cud. So too, Esav portrayed himself as a tzaddik on the outside, but on the inside, he was twisted and corrupt.
While Esav distorted the ideal relationship between ikar and tafel, valuing the physical and cutting it off from any higher reality, Yaakov teaches us that the true purpose of the tafel is as a means of perceiving and experiencing the ikar. He bequeathed the legacy and responsibility of building deeper and more empowering perceptions of the physical world. The physical is not an end in itself but is meant to serve as a vehicle for transcendent, spiritual, conscious living. This is the battle we face on a daily basis, a battle of perception. Let us be inspired to choose empowering paradigms, to peer beneath the surface, to experience the infinite within the physical.