The Matriarch Rebecca, already during her pregnancy, could sense a difference between her two sons: "'The children clashed inside her' (Genesis 25:22): When she would pass by the Torah study halls of Shem and Ever, Jacob would clamor to exit, and when she would pass by the houses of idolatry, Esau would clamor to exit." (Rashi)



When they were born, as well, Rebecca could distinguish the difference between them: "The first one came out reddish, as hairy as a fur coat." (25:25) This redness was an omen that he would become a murderer.



Moreover, when the lads grew up, "Esau became a skilled trapper, a man of the field. Jacob was a scholarly man who remained with the tents." (25:27) Rashi comments: "As long as they were little they were indistinguishable by their deeds and no one could know their exact character. Once they turned thirteen, one [Jacob] went his way to houses of study and the other went his way to worshiping idols."



Of course, when they grew up, Esau's evil conscience was revealed when he plotted to murder Jacob: "Esau was furious at Jacob because of the blessing that his father had given him. He said to himself, 'The days of mourning for my father will be here soon. I will then be able to kill my brother Jacob.'" (27:41)



Already during her pregnancy, Rebecca knew through her faith that at issue was not just two children, but two nations that would emerge from her, the Kingdom of Israel and the nations of the world: "God's word to her was, 'Two nations are in your womb. Two governments will separate from inside you. The upper hand will go from one government to the other. The greater one will serve the younger.'" (25:23) Moreover, Rashi comments, "They will not be equally great. When one rises, the other will fall.... Tyre was not built up but from Yerushalayim's destruction. Conversely, when Israel rises up to rebirth, Jerusalem will be rebuilt."



Today, how fortunate we are and how good our portion that we have been privileged to see with our own eyes the rebirth of Israel, with the ingathering of the exiles and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. It is true that the process of Israel's rebirth has not yet been completed. We are still in the height of this process. That is why the nations - of whom it says, "It is a known fact that Esau hates Jacob" (Rashi 33:4) - are trying to shake up and delay the redemption process. Only a generation ago, the Nazis rose up on the European continent and continued in the path and spirit of Amalek, from the seed of wicked Esau, and they murdered six million Jews - may G-d avenge their blood.



In our day, we bear witness to the evil spirit of Amalek in Iran-Persia. In that same country in which wicked Haman acted to annihilate all the Jews, a new-old enemy of the Jews has arisen, and he proclaims those same declarations. He is even trying to develop the atomic bomb and weapons of mass destruction, with the goal of wiping out the remnant of the Jewish People in Eretz Yisrael - it will never be.



Even in the land of our life's blood, the Arabs are rising up and acting to delay our rebirth, hoping to establish an Arab state in the very heart of our land, with their entire purpose being to destroy our country. Unfortunately, the European Union, as well, is supporting them politically and economically, and pipes in hundreds of millions of dollars to them and to those who support the idea of the partitioning of our heartland. By such means, to their utter shame, they are carrying on the program that the Nazis began with their terrible Holocaust.



Yet, neither the one nor the other have succeeded, nor will they succeed, in carrying out their plot. Speedily, we shall become the living fulfillment of, "Deliverers shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the Kingdom shall be the L-rd's." (Obadiah 1:21) By such means, all mankind will come to recognize that the L-rd G-d of Israel is King, and His sovereignty is over all.