Lentils

"A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes." - Mahatma Gandhi

It’s cold out there and a warm comforting bowl of Lens culinaris, might just hit the spot. Lentils that magical protein filled food, dating back 8000 years cousins with beans and peas.  The name comes from their distinctive small, round, biconvex shape, which resembles a lens. We don’t have too many specific food references in the Torah. This week though we know that Esav returns from a hunt exhausted and starving. His brother Yaakov had prepared a pot of lentils.

Esav said to Jacob: Feed me please from that red, red [adom ha’adom] dish. Esav did not know what red food was in the pot. He said: Please feed me, as I am so weary that it is too hard for me to bring a spoon to my own mouth. In this connection the verse notes: Therefore his name is called Edom. This incident, in which Esau connected himself to a red [adom] dish, stuck to him for the rest of his life and to his descendants for many later generations, to the point that Edom became his alternate designation.

The  first three letters of the first three words

הלעיטני נא מן

spell out the name Haman, teaching us

 כשם שיעקב קנה מעשו בכורתו בלחם ועדשים כך קנה מרדכי את המן לעבד בפת לחם:

"Just as Yaakov bought the birthright from Esav with bread and lentils, so too did Mordechai buy Haman as a slave with a loaf of bread."

The two stories are linked linguistically. We are being invited to link two villains across time.

And Yaacov gave Esav bread and a stew of lentils. He ate and drank, he arose, and he went, and Esav scorned the birthright. The word "ויבז" (and he despised) appearing only twice in the text.

ויבז בעיניו גבי המן

דהיינו בוזה בן בוזה זה המן שיצא מעשו: 

The other instance of "ויבז" is in "And it was despised in his eyes" (referring to Haman) that is, contemptible son of contemptible – this is Haman who came forth from Esav.

The key connection being made is the lineage: Haman is considered a descendant of Esau (who is also known as Edom). Linking Esav's original act of contempt (for the birthright) directly to the ultimate contemptible descendant, Haman.

Ostensibly, this is a lesson about the tragedy of choice. The ability to choose is at the heart of being human. But choices do have consequences.

1. Esav lost his spiritual inheritance, his historical destiny as the firstborn, in exchange for a momentary meal, "that red lentil stew." His gaze was fixed only on his stomach; he could not see beyond the immediate biological need.

2. Haman lost his honour and his freedom, becoming a slave, for a mere loaf of bread. His gaze was fixed on the very near future, willing to sell his destiny for superficial and meaningless comfort.

The foolishness of the wicked is not merely evil, but a fundamental inability to calculate a proper course. The wicked do not value anything they cannot touch, swallow, or display now. They lose the spiritual horizon. They are willing to sell their eternal inheritance the soul, the community, the purpose for a virtual pixel, a viral moment, or temporary thrill.

When we find ourselves making decisions without thinking about consequences we are eating “Red Lentil Stew.”

In the world of literature the Faustian Tragedy  tells the story of a brilliant, but a deeply dissatisfied, scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for unlimited knowledge, power, and worldly pleasures.  Faust, the learned scholar, sells his soul to Mephistopheles (the Devil) for ultimate knowledge and momentary worldly pleasures. He was not hungry; he was hungry for excitement. He exchanged the essence of his existence, the potential for infinite spiritual growth, for temporary, illusory satisfactions that always culminate in emptiness.

What is the "red lentil stew" of the educated, modern person who does not fear starvation?

It takes sophisticated forms, but all share the same Esau-like essence: The substitution of Being for Having.

• It is the addiction to external validation at the expense of an internal voice.

• It is the relentless pursuit of quick wealth that serves no deeper purpose than padding the ego.

• It is the compulsion to be constantly digitally connected, which breeds the most severe alienation: alienation from ourselves, our family, and our community. We trade the "deep connection" we promised for an endless flow of cheap stimuli.

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This is the modern articulation of the Faustian Bargain.

This is the person who is "alive," in the biological sense of breathing, consuming, and reacting, but is not truly living in the essential sense of achieving, creating, and connecting.

Haman and Esav paid dearly for their hasty decisions. Our repair, as Bnei Yisrael and as human beings, begins by recognising the  absolute value of our Eternity.

If we truly possess the power to turn chaos into order, we must first apply it within our own souls, to realise the value of the birthright.

We must restore the birthright

to what truly matters, time for family, for study, for prayer, for contribution. Investing in difficult, demanding, deep relationships, instead of consuming superficial connections that end with the swipe of a finger. Rejecting the alienation that has become the plague of our time. We must detach from the transitory lentil stew and choose our spiritual inheritance.

We must remember, the soul is not for sale. If we choose to live with intention, connection, and responsibility for our destiny, we will rediscover the power to turn the chaos surrounding us into a home, into order, and into a repaired community.