Parshas Toldos 5776

Were Esau and Jacob Identical Twins?

The Torah writes (Genesis 25:24):

And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb

The Torah describes Esau as having two physical traits that Jacob did not have: he was reddish and he was hairy (Genesis 25:25). By contrast, Jacob is explicitly described as not being hairy (Genesis 27:11).

Targum Jonathan (ibid) implies them not being identical:

And they called his name Esau for he was born complete with hair, beard, teeth and grinders

Rashi writes (ibid) that they were not created separately, implying they were not identical

HaEmek Davar (ibid) writes that they were already separated in the womb, implying they were not identical:

"Behold, there were twins" - and not twins [with a vov]. And this was new for she thought that the separation between them will happen when they come out from her womb but in the womb they were twins. But, that was not so for even in her womb they were twins without an aleph to teach us they were already separated

Ibn Ezra (ibid) learns that they were born in two separate sacs implying them being not identical:

And it was a great wonder this birth, for every person is born with a sac covering him, and here there were two sacs that opened at one time

However, Midrash Shocher Tov (18:132) says that Esau looked like Jacob implying they may have been identical:

Yehudah followed Esau [into the cave by Isaac's funeral] in order to protect his father [Jacob] let Esau tries to kill him. He came in and saw Esau attacking his father and he immediately killed him from the back. Why did he not kill him from the front? Because the facial appearance of Esau was similar to Jacob

Midrash Tanchuma (5:6) writes that during the first 15 years of their lives, people could no tell them apart (implying identical, however, that may refer to behaviour only):

The entire time Esau and Jacob were children, no person was able to tell them apart. When they grew up, Esau became a man who knew trapping and Jacob lived in tents

Rabbi Samson Rephoel Hirsch (ibid) learns they there were identical twins, just slightly different in appearance

(see also this article from YU Torah for scientific background)

Who Called Esau Edom?

The Torah writes (Genesis 25:30):

And Esau said to Jacob: ‘Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of this red, red pottage; for I am faint.’ Therefore was his name called Edom.

The Ohr HaChaim (ibid) says Esau called himself Edom:

He - Esau - called his name Edom and the reason was not because a reddish person was called "red" twice only because he was going to die

Malbim (ibid) gives a different reason:

He himself called himself Edom to show off how red he was and that he loved to shed blood

Daas Zekeinim (ibid) writes that other people called him that before but now he started to use that name also:

We are told this, as from now on Esau called himself “the red one,” whereas at birth only other people called him thus on account of the colour of his skin.

Midrash Sechel Tov (ibid) says it was Jacob:

Because of the doubling of the language that he called the stew twice, therefore Jacob called his name Edom

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky in Sefer Taamei DeKra (ibid) writes that it was the Torah itself for we find Jacob referring to him as Esau

(see also earlier where he discusses that Esau never got named by his father)

The Magic of Abimelech

The Torah writes (Genesis 26:8):

And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was with Rebekah his wife.

The Zohar (Toldos 98) explains:

Abimelech was a smart man, and he looked through his astrology which is called "a window" (just like later on in Judges 5:28 regarding Sisera's mother)

(see also Sefer Shaarei Aharon for other explanations of this verse;  see also our earlier post regarding Balak who had a magic bird that spied for him)

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