Esau’s Eye Exam

Esau suffered from spiritual nearsightedness. He couldn’t see clearly into the distance, but could only see visibly up close. The distant site was blurry, and in his desperation to satisfy his immediate need, he made a bad deal. This bad deal has echoed with consequences for his generations into the present.

We are all at risk of making “bad deals” when we are in a desperate place. Like Esau, when we are driven by our Yetzer Hara, we want an immediate fix for our desires, cravings, or temptations. It is in that moment of decision, when our physical or natural appetite is ravenous, but sadly, we have no hunger for God. There are all sorts of reasons we can choose to make a bad deal: pride, wanting to please others, false security, physical desires, power, money, popularity, heeding bad advice, and even ignorance of simply not knowing. Without corrective spiritual lenses to see what the near and distant future look like, we can trade away something so precious for a temporary satisfaction or fix.

To catch an animal, you can place food into a trap because of the animal’s primal need to eat; the animal doesn’t know it’s being lured. Like an animal instinct to feed itself, Esau could be baited and caught. His hunger for temporary fulfillment chased away sensibility. His lack of foresight became reckless.

Grappling with the current “Peace” deal, many of us are left feeling confused, maybe even abandoned or betrayed. It seems as if Washington failed its eye exam and is nearsighted. Why does my heart cry as King David’s did,

“It is not an enemy who reviles me
—I could bear that;
it is not my foe who boasts against me
—for then I could hide;

but it is you, my equal,
my companion, my friend;” (Psalm 55:12-13)

This seems like a very bad deal. One that we can see the consequences in the future. It’s disorienting coming from the President who has been the closest friend and ally to Israel. A President who has been used to accomplish amazing things. A President that the Iranian people, under the claws of terror, called upon for help, maybe all the more why this feels so wrong. Can this deal be a false peace that gives the Iranian regime time and money to rebuild? Does it leave the people of Iran with no hope? Does it accomplish the goals clearly stated at the beginning of the war? Does it leave Israel vulnerable, criticized, and reprimanded? Does it call for an imbalance in standards for Israel to “soften” its approach when no other country could or would in this scenario?

Those are the questions we are all asking ourselves, but what if we put on corrective lenses? Could this be our lesson? Could this be our test? Will we be nearsighted and capitulate? Will we put our trust in a man, or will we draw on the truth of the history from Torah to the present? Trump has also shown he knows how to pivot in a bad deal, as I pray he will. But is this where I am placing my faith?

In it all, I have to remember to put on my spiritual glasses, to see from the lens of the Nevi’im, those who prophesied of the protection, success, and redemption of Israel, and not to feed the appetite of my animal nature that causes doubt and fear. The Guardian of Israel never slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4-5). He hears our prayers and cries. He has eternally promised to save us. Our history shows as much, and He likes to do so in ways for HIS namesake. God is not surprised or confused by the political atmosphere. Even if the whole world turns against us, it is then that we see the miraculous hand of God. While the world will abandon us, our God will not.

The fact is, when we become hungry for Him and cry out that He hears and acts. This was Esau’s problem; he was hungry for the wrong thing. He was “famished,” thinking he would die, and so he relied upon himself to feed his physical appetite. We need to be hungry, not for revenge, not for validation, not even for the approval of world leaders that will blur our vision. We need to be famished for God, relying on Him to save us.

This upcoming Parashat Balak is this very timely reminder. It is when those who seek our destruction, or are silent in it, that we remember that the God who opened the donkey’s mouth, also opened the mouth of Balaam, who prophesied blessings instead of curses, because we are His people and He will fulfill all that He has promised to do. Our response should be one of gratitude in this test. Grateful that our persecuted, hated, abandoned, antisemitic history is the very proof of God’s truth concerning His people and Land.

This is not the time to fail our eye exam; it’s time to see through the pages of our Torah and our complicated yet miraculously beautiful Jewish story, and to shout the praises of our God, who will save. As the world grows darker, the light will shine brighter. It’s time to become an even greater light, not overshadowed by fear or anger, but instead illuminating the way forward with emunah, shalom, chesed, chazak, and ometz.

Am Yisrael Chai!