Sunday, 17 December 2023

"What's yours is yours", or Is Esau a Chasid after all?

A pleasingly symmetrical anonymous mishnah (Avot 5:13) reviews attitudes towards the distribution of personal wealth in the following manner:

אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בָּאָדָם: הָאוֹמֵר שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלָּךְ שֶׁלָּךְ, זוֹ מִדָּה בֵינוֹנִית, וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים זוֹ מִדַּת סְדוֹם. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלָּךְ וְשֶׁלָּךְ שֶׁלִּי, עַם הָאָֽרֶץ. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלָּךְ וְשֶׁלָּךְ שֶׁלָּךְ, חָסִיד. שֶׁלָּךְ שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי, רָשָׁע

There are four types of people: One who says: "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" — this is an average sort of person; others say that this is the character of a Sodomite. One who says: "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine" is an am ha’aretz [impossible to translate, but essentially someone who doesn’t know better and doesn’t really care]. One who says: "What is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" is a chasid (literally , “pious person”). And one who says: "What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine" is wicked.

At Genesis 33:9 Esau, who has been offered some generous gifts by Jacob, responds with the following words:

יֶשׁ לִי רָב אָחִי יְהִי לְךָ אֲשֶׁר לָךְ

“I have enough; my brother, let that which you have be yours”.

These words, spoken more a millennium before the compilation of the Mishnah, appear to resonate with our definition here of a chasid and this leads us to ask: does Esau, who receives a bad press from the Bible and an even worse press from most aggadic commentaries, actually qualify as a chasid under Avot 5:13?

In his words to his junior twin, Esau acknowledges that Jacob is entitled to his own property. We also know that two things that by right are originally Esau’s—his birthright and his blessing from their father Isaac—do indeed now belong to Jacob. Midrash corroborates this by teachings that Esau was here confirming Jacob’s formerly shaky entitlement to those two contentious items (Bereshit Rabbah 78:11; also Yalkut Shimoni).

This is where readers of Avot Today can help me.

I have not yet spotted any commentators on the Torah who have referred to this mishnah on Avot in their commentaries on Genesis 33:9. Nor have I yet laid my hands on any commentaries on Avot that make reference to Esau’s words in their discussions of Avot 5:13. I’m surprised, given the similarity of Esau’s words to those chosen by the author of our mishnah, that more has not been made of this point.

Have I missed anything obvious?

I should add that I’m not suggesting that Esau is an out-and-out five-star chasid. But maybe there is a hidden clue here that adds to the merits which led to his head being midrashically buried in the Cave of Machpelah. It also occurred to me that, in Chasidic writings, notably those of the Noam Elimelech, it seems to be understood that tzaddikim—the righteous—exist at various levels, ranging from near saints at the top of the scale, down to those who are barely over 50% righteous. Perhaps the same can be said of the chasid

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