Previous post summarized

For the reading impaired, here is a short and sweet summary of the very long post that precedes this one:

1:  Rashi, based on a midrash, tells us Esav deceived his father by asking "How do we take maaser from salt and hay."

2: This is a very strange question to put into Esav's mouth. You take maaser by giving one tenth. 

3: When Yaakov left home, his father gave him the "blessing of Abraham", the spiritual blessing (וְיִתֶּן לְךָ אֶת בִּרְכַּת אַבְרָהָם לְךָ וּלְזַרְעֲךָ אִתָּךְ לְרִשְׁתְּךָ אֶת אֶרֶץ מְגֻרֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר נָתַן אֱ־לֹהִים לְאַבְרָהָם). This is not the blessing he gave to the son he thought was Esav.

4: The blessing Yitzchak had set aside for Esav, that is the blessing he gave  to Yaakov when Yaakov was disguised as his brother, was a material blessing  (וְיִתֶּן לְךָ הָאֱ־לֹהִים מִטַּל הַשָּׁמַיִם וּמִשְׁמַנֵּי הָאָרֶץ וְרֹב דָּגָן וְתִירֹשׁ:)

5: We can deduce from this, that Yitzchak had a role planned for each son. Esav was to be responsible for the material aspects, while Yaakov looked after the spirituality.  Esav, was in a sense, intended to be Yaakov's protector, the one who would handle the business side of things while Yaakov focused on the main product.

6: In the ancient world, hay was used to protect things. It was a packing element. It had no flavor of its own.

7: Salt on the other hand, was used to flavor things. Like hay, it's value was only expressed in how it related to other, more important things.

8: In the original midrash, Esav doesn't ask ""How do we take maaser from salt and hay." He asks: היך מתקנין How do we fix.

9: Conclusion: Esav was dissatisfied with his father's plan. He didn't want to be Yaakov's salt and hay. He wanted to be something important in his own right. Thus his question: How do we fix salt and hay?

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