There are no coincidences in Torah. In fact, encountering the unexpected in a
passage is often a clue that there’s a profound truth to be mined. Textual oddities are windows into the mystery
of the Torah.
The story of Jacob, Esau and the stew, from
this week’s portion, Tol’dot, is a familiar one. After a long day at the hunt, Esau, manly man
that he is, returns to camp empty handed.
Ravenous, he asks his domesticated brother for a bowl of lentils. “I’m famished; let me gulp down some of that
red stuff!” (Genesis 25:30). Jacob seizes the opportunity, and trades his twin
brother (elder by a hair) a bowl of soup for the birthright.
Rashi sees wickedness in Esau’s easy dismissal
of his inheritance. Others fault him for
imagining himself so close to death. But
I find myself disappointed in Jacob who took advantage of his brother’s
weakness, bargaining hard instead of feeding the hungry.
What if each of us looked out for our own
interests only and ignored our brothers’ and sisters’ needs? I believe the Torah answers this question
with the verse that immediately follows the episode of the stew: “There was a famine in the land” (Genesis
26:1).
While most readers see this stark, ominous
statement as an introduction to the subsequent story—the famine causes Isaac to
emigrate in search of food— I read it as a bridge between the two
episodes: famine is not only the cause
of the journey, but also the logical result when one man’s selfish actions are
repeated many times over. It cannot be
coincidence that the Torah follows a story about stinginess with food with the
verse “there was a famine in the land.”
Famine occurs when we refuse to share our bounty with those in need.
What a gap there is in our world between those
with access to food and those lacking basic nutrition. “Some 805 million people in the world do not have enough
food to lead a healthy active life. That's about one in nine people on earth,”
says the World Food Program. Some
on our planet have little reliable access to food and others experience “food
insecurity,” where their access to quality nutrition is unstable and/or
insufficient, while the
world’s wealthy enjoy unprecedented access to a wide range of food. How often have you and I stood in the aisle
of a grocery store deciding which cheese to buy while a billion people go
hungry?
We have a moral obligation to assist those
without access to nutritious food. There
are lasting solutions to the problem.
Globally, microcredit facilities work:
(relatively) tiny loans enable poor families to support themselves over
the long term. Visit www.kiva.org, a website through which
individuals can make loans to aspiring entrepreneurs with small businesses in
the developing world. How exciting to be
able to make such a powerful difference in the life of a family and community!
There is a “Jewish Response to Hunger”: Mazon.
Jews and Jewish organizations of all kinds donate 3% of the cost of
simchas, and the money is pooled to support life-changing projects in local communities
and in Israel. It’s a wonderful way to
enact Jewish values, and develop a collective sense of Jewish Peoplehood. More information is found at mazon.org. Why not set an empty chair when you throw or
attend a dinner party or Shabbat meal—that is, donate the cost of one meal to a
local organization combating hunger and food insecurity?
Learn more about Global Hunger through the
American Jewish World Service website: ajws.org/reversehunger,
and take their Hunger Quiz.
The ideas, resources and expertise exist to
feed our planet—if only each one of us would share what’s in our bowl.
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