Two Minute Torah Podcast

Vayishlah 5769 by Rabbi James S. Diamond

Hi, I'm Rabbi Jim Diamond and I teach Judaic Studies at Princeton University. Welcome to KOACH's Two-Minute Torah; a project of the College Department of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

Here's a question: what comes first: action or intention? Mitzvah or kavannah? Do we first have to consciously intend and know what we are going to do? Or do we just do it and let the chips fall where they may?

This is a basic question for us as we go through our days. Our tradition has much material on it. And this week's parsha, VaYishlah, deals with it in an interesting way.

We have here the fateful encounter between Jacob and Esau. They have been estranged for twenty years. And now, as Jacob is returning to Canaan, he learns that Esau is advancing toward him. He is terrified. The night before he sent ahead some gifts to his brother to maybe soften him up. He divided his camp. Prayed to God for protection. Wrestled with the angel. And now it is morning, and here comes Esau right at Jacob. What will happen?

Look at chapter 33 verse 4:

Look at the Hebrew and you will see that over the word ‘vayishakehu "and he kissed him" there are dots. Why are they there? To tell us that this kiss requires interpretation. For we wonder: is it sincere? Did Esau really mean to embrace and reconcile with his twin who filched him out of his birthright? The Rabbis wondered too. Some think the kiss is a phony one. Esau is just pretending. Some say he really meant not to kiss him but to bite into his jugular vein – and Jacob's neck turned to ivory, sending Esau right to the dentist. .In this view, Esau was guided by his still hateful intention.

Another view, though, holds that the kiss was sincere, that when he actually saw Jacob, Esau was overcome with emotion and really didn't know what he wanted to do. So he falls on his neck and kisses him, And in doing so he is transformed. And Jacob is transformed. It was the kiss, the deed, that was decisive.

There's an important insight here: sometimes deed precedes intention, sometimes mitzvah precedes kavvanah. Sometimes deed, action, determines, even creates, intention.

We may not always know what we want to do. We may not always understand what we are supposed to do. We may not even want to do it. This reading of Esau's enigmatic kiss tells us that the Nike people have it right.