Ya•a•qovꞋ Brings Middle-Eastern Curried Steak Dinner To Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ

Goat curry — This recipe is authentic, and the photo indistinuishable from the authentic curry recipe I learned from my friend Raj Sah (photo: Shriya, spicytasty.com)

So Ya•a•qovꞋ came to his father, Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ, calling "Âv•iꞋ!"

"Which twin are you, bën•iꞋ?" Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ responded.

Then Ya•a•qovꞋ answered his father, "It's me, Ei•sauꞋ, your firstborn. I have done as you spoke to me. Please, now, come sit and eat from my game so that your nëphꞋësh may bless me."

"How did you manage to take game so quickly, bën•iꞋ?" Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ asked.

"Because ה' your Ël•oh•imꞋ arranged it for me!" Ya•a•qovꞋ replied.

"Come close please," Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ told Ya•a•qovꞋ. "Let me grope your arm, whether this "you" is bën•iꞋ , Ei•sauꞋ, or not."

So Ya•a•qovꞋ moved next to Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ, who groped his arm. Then he said, "The voice sounds to me like Ya•a•qovꞋ, but the arms are the arms of Ei•sauꞋ."

Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ blesses Ya•a•qovꞋ

So Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ did not recognize that it was Ya•a•qovꞋ because the hairy sleeves of the goat kid's skin that Ya•a•qovꞋ was wearing on his arms felt to him like the arms of Ei•sauꞋ.

So Ya•a•qovꞋ blessed Ya•a•qovꞋ with the double-portion inheritance that was customary for one's firstborn, saying, "Is this "you" bën•iꞋ, Ei•sauꞋ." And Ya•a•qovꞋ answered, "It's me."

Come sit by me while I eat of the game bën•iꞋ has taken and prepared for me so that my nëphꞋësh may bless you." So Ya•a•qovꞋ sat close to Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ while he ate, and brought him wine, which he drank.

Then his father, Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ, said to him, "Come close and kiss me, bën•iꞋ."

When Ya•a•qovꞋ came close to him and kissed him, Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ smelled his clothes and, thinking he was Ei•sauꞋ, blessed him, saying, "See, the smell of bën•iꞋ is the smell of the outdoors that ה' has blessed. So may ha-Ël•oh•imꞋ give you the dew of the heavens, the fat of hâ-ârꞋëtz, abundant grain and ti•rōshꞋ. May kindreds work for you and nations prostrate before you. May you be an overlord to your brothers and your mother's sons prostrate themselves to you. May those who damn you be damned, and those who bless you be blessed."

Ei•sauꞋ Returns From Hunt

Sherd showing the type of bow used both in hunting and warfare during the lifetime of Ei•sauꞋ. Found at el-Lisht, Egypt, near the pyramid of Amenemhet I (ca. B.C.E. 1991-62), the Par•ohꞋ of Egypt who was the contemporary of Ei•sauꞋ.

Then, right after Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ had concluded blessing Ya•a•qovꞋ, Ei•sauꞋ returned from hunting. Then he, too, made curried meat from the game he brought home and brought it to his father, saying, "Get up, my father, and eat of the game of your son so that your nëphꞋësh may bless me."

"Who are you?" Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ asked apprehensively, sensing something amiss.

Ei•sauꞋ also sensed something wrong. "I'm your son, your firstborn, Ei•sauꞋ" he answered with growing alarm.

Then Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ went absolutely stark kha•reid•iꞋ saying, "Who–where–is the one who hunted game and brought it to me, and I'm eating all of it before you came and I blessed him; and he shall be blessed."

When Ei•sauꞋ heard the words of his father, he seethed with bitterness, shouting plaintively at the top of his lungs at his father, "Bless me too, my father!"

"Your brother came by deception and took your blessing," Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ replied.

"His name, Ya•a•qovꞋ, is most apt, wa-yaᵊqᵊv•einꞋiy twice: first, he took the double portion of my firstborn inheritance and now he has taken my blessing. Have you not reserved some blessing for me?"

"Look, I've made him clan-chief to you," Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ replied. "I've given to him all of his brothers to work for him, and provisioned the grain and ti•rōshꞋ to him. So, for you… where? What shall I do, bën•iꞋ?"

Then Ei•sauꞋ said to his father, "Surely, there's one blessing for me, my father. Bless me too, my father." And Ei•sauꞋ raised his voice and cried.

Then his father, Yi•tzᵊkhâqꞋ, answered, "Behold, your mo•shâvꞋ shall be nature's bounty, from the land and the dew of the heavens above; and you shall live by your sword. But you shall work for your brother. Yet, it shall become that, as you roam¹ farther and farther away from here, your neck will grow more and more distant from your brother's yoke."

Ya•a•qovꞋ flees to Lâ•vânꞋ in Khâ•rânꞋ

Khâ•rânꞋ, in southern Turkey, near the Syrian border.

Now Ei•sauꞋ hated Ya•a•qovꞋ due to the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Ei•sauꞋ muttered under his breath, "Soon enough, my father will be out of my way and his days of mourning past. Then I'm gonna murder my brother Ya•a•qovꞋ and take back my inheritance and blessing!" But one of their sisters, or perhaps one of the family's employees, overheard him.

When it was related to Ri•vᵊq•âh that her oldest twin, Ei•sauꞋ, had threatened to murder his own twin, she sent someone who called Ya•a•qovꞋ, her youngest twin, relaying her message to him: "Look, your brother, Ei•sauꞋ, is taking comfort in a scheme to murder you! So now, my son, shᵊm•aꞋ to my voice. Get your stuff together and get out of here. Flee toward my brother, Lâ•vânꞋ, in Khâ•rânꞋ! Stay with him several days; until your brother cools off from his hot-headedness, until your brother exhausts his rage against you and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send for you and take you from there. Why should I be bereft of both your father, dying a natural death, and you, being murdered by your own twin brother, on the same day?"