Eisav Jewish? | Imamother

amother

Chocolate

Sun, Aug 21 2016, 10:58 am

So my 7 yr ols daughter on shabbos asks : "I don't get it, was eisav Jewish?"
How should I respond.
I would like to bring it back up. She got distracted by a friend at door right after she made that comment so I never got to address it.
Anon bc I'm embarrassed that I don't know how to answer

trixx

Sun, Aug 21 2016, 11:35 am

There was no jewish race. Any individual could accept monotheism. (besides the fact that the avos themselves knew torah and mitzvos, practiced them, and taught it to their households but that became a "family thing", each individual still had a choice.)

That's why Avraham was a jew, yishmael wasn't. (hagar did teshuva and he later remarried her as ketura) yaakov was, eisav wasn't. Rivka was the only one out of her entire family that didn't serve idols. Only yaakovs all 12 kids followed in his ways which is why on his deathbed he exclaimed "mitasi shleima" my bed is complete ie I've left no loose ends, my life's work is nachas from all of my kids, I alone of the other avos.

Same in Egypt, besides individually accepting hashem, the only traditions they really kept were language, dress and names. There was nothing "jewish" about them. Only 1/5 of Hebrews even left Egypt, everyone else died in darkness plague.

All this changed at matan torah when we became a nation - now no matter what you do and whether you like it or not, you can't opt out or convert out, you've got jewish DNA from your mother.

MitzadSheini

Sun, Aug 21 2016, 4:31 pm

The Avraham and yitchak each had one child who followed the derech and one who turned away. I see it as a sort of "filtering" process. Until we get to Yaakov Avinu who had all the tribes who became Bnei yisrael. But must of the tribes are lost now and most Jews descend from Yehuda (hence the name "Jew").