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In the rabbinic imagination, Biblical figures sometimes metamorphose into symbols. The quintessential example is Esau (Edom). In numerous passages in the Talmud and midrash, Esau stands for the Roman empire. But how, exactly, did this transition occur?
One part of the answer is found in a comment on the passage about Esau’s birth in this week’s Torah portion, Toldot. Esau is described as emerging from the womb of his mother Rebecca as “red, like a hairy mantle all over.” The Aramaic translation of the Bible, called Targum Jonathan (7th century CE), describes Esau as “born altogether complete, with the hair of the head, and the beard, and teeth, and molars.” Another source indicates that Esau was also born circumcised (nolad mahul), a locution which appears in many places in the Talmud and midrash. (To all our members with medical training – is this possible?) In other words, Esau was a physically imposing man from birth.
But it’s not only Esau’s physical appearance which interests the Sages. They were also interested in the in-utero struggles of Esau with his brother Jacob. Why would two brothers be fighting even before they are born? Another source, Genesis Rabbah (63:6; 5th century CE), states that whenever Rebecca stood in front of a synagogue, Jacob would struggle to emerge from the womb. When Rebecca stood in front of a place of idolatry, Esau would do the same. In other words, Jacob was destined from birth to follow the spiritual path of Abraham and Isaac, while Esau was destined from birth to pursue an immoral life of idolatry.
Taken together, we can see why Esau became a symbol of Rome. Like the Roman empire in the first two to three Christian centuries, it governed with remarkable cruelty and harshness. It was destined to be a regime with much blood (red) on its hands. Moreover, it was an empire which would operate without the slightest constraint, eschewing monotheistic belief. Not only were the Romans polytheistic, but the emperors themselves expected to be objects of veneration.
In other words, Rome embodied both the worst physical and spiritual traits imaginable – following, it seems, in the footsteps of Esau himself.
- Rabbi Scott Hoffman
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