Tōldōs and Stew worth forsaking your birthright / תּולדת

This is a weekly series

of parsha dvarim (Tōrah commentaries) written by an orthodox atheist transsexual anarchist, with guest posts from comrades. It's the work of each generation to extricate meaning from our cultural and religious inheritance, and it's crucial that we resist the narrative that Zionism owns Judaism. We aim to offer comment which is true to the pshat (i.e. engages with the plain meaning of the text, especially when it's difficult) and uses Tōrah like a light to reflect on our modern times.

Read more commentary on parshas Tōldōs.

An appeal

My friend Kamal in Gaza needs help. He is trying to provide basic needs like food for his family under dire conditions. Any amount you can give makes a huge difference. If you're not already saturating your social networks with fundraisers, please share this one.

Content note

Hunger

The parsha this week is full of meals of fate.

Yitskhak hosts a feast for the Philistines in order to broker a peace agreement. Yaakov uses a meal of hunted game to trick Yitskhak and steal Eyso's blessing. And of course, Yaakov cooks a tempting lentil stew and coerces Eyso into forsaking his birthright.

Some commentaries praise Yaakov for being less materialistic than Eyso: he is focused on prayer and not bothered about physical pleasures like food, while Eyso is willing to bargain anything for a bowl of stew. Eyso is derided as base. Yaakov's piety—and opportunism—is praised.

The pshat is that Eyso is not merely hungry but "famished" or "faint". He says, "I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?"

Most commentaries side with Yaakov because he's a Jewish patriarch, and we justify the messaging in Tōrah as divine. But how righteous is Yaakov to withhold food from his brother when he's starving? It's easy to be lofty when you're not hungry. Generously sharing our resources should be a greater mitsve than cleverness or greed.

A recipe for Yaakov's Birthright Stew

This recipe is my own, and is almost period accurate. Aside from the tomatoes, paprika, and red pepper, all these ingredients were in use in Bronze Age Levant—but there are perks to modernity. It's easy to cook and scale up. I offer no measurements: follow your heart and feed as many people as you can.