Esau beheaded
Esau beheaded

The Talmud (Tractate Sotah 13a) records an interesting narrative where Esau attempts to prevent Jacob’s body from being buried in Me'arat Hamachpelah (the Cave of the Patriarchs) claiming rights to his own burial there.  In response to this claim, Jacob's son Naftali raced back to Egypt to retrieve the documents proving Jacob’s authentic rights to be there. Meanwhile the burial was delayed. Chushim ben Dan, who was deaf and therefore unaware of the conversations, saw the delay and upon inquiry, he was informed of Esau’s claim and the reason for the procrastination.  He rhetorically asked himself, “Until Naftali returns from Egypt, will my grandfather’s body disgracefully sit here?” and immediately got up and decapitated Esau, and Esau’s head then rolled into the Me'arah and there it remained.

Many use this Gemara (Talmudic portion) to contrast a person’s reaction while still in initial shock to his reaction after an idea has time to slowly settle in.  Because of this difference, it is specifically Chushim ben Dan who reacts so impulsively.  In contrast to everyone else at the site, who heard Esau's initial objection, then debated him and then heard his next one, etc, Chushim, because he was deaf, did not initially understand.  When he was made aware of what was going on, he reacted impulsively by beheading Esau.

Although psychologically profound and insightful, it is not the only lesson the Gemara is driving at. If it were, it would be unnecessary to include the details of Esau’s head rolling into the cave.  Why include that detail?  What does that add to the story?

Perhaps a look at Esau and understanding him a little better may enable us to uncover what the Gemara is hinting at.

One of the more telling, surprising and emotional episodes regarding Esau is when he hears and internalizes the implications of his father blessing his brother, Jacob. Esau cries uncontrollably as the verse attests, “And Esau cried a loud and bitter cry” (Bereshis 27:34).  Why does Esau take it so hard?  He does not seem to care much about being the first born and receiving the accompanying blessing.  Firstly, he traded it for a bowl of red soup, but moreover, not only did he not seem to care, he looked at it with disdain (Bereshis 25:34).[1]  Why then react so strongly when Jacob received the blessing?

Growing up in Isaac’s home,Esau must have known the difference between right and wrong  and deeply understood what it means to behave properly and religiously. Esau would deceptively ask his father difficult religious question implying that he cared about being stringently observant (Rashi on Bereshis 25:27). Esau’s problem was not a lack of knowledge as much as it was a lack of commitment. Esau was unwilling to sacrifice the short-term worldly pleasures for a long-term life of fulfillment.  He was apathetic, not uneducated.

No story captures that better than his trading the birthright, Bechora, for soup. Esau demands, “Give me the red (food) for I am tired (Bereshis 25:30) and subsequently explains, “Tomorrow I am going to die, what good is the firstborn rights” (Bereshis 25:32). Esau never claims that he was staving to death and therefore in need of the food.[2]  In fact, he does not even claim to be hungry. Esau was tired, perhaps lazy. Esau trades the rights to being firstborn because he values a good meal and worldly pleasure more than investing in meaning that will last for generations.[3]

Based upon this we can answer why Esau cried so bitterly.  At that moment, he realized just how far he had fallen.  At that moment, he internalized how great the gap was between what he knew was right and where he currently was, and for this he cried. 

There is no better way to capture the massive gap between Esau’s ideology and behavior, between his beliefs and actions, between his head’s thoughts and body’s actions, than physically separating them and reinforcing that his head and ideology were pure, but his body and actions were not.  The visual image of Esau’s head being buried in the Me'arat Hamachpelah alongside the patriarchs and his body remaining outside captures exactly that.[4]

Sources:

[1] According to Rashi (Bereshis 25:34),Esau did so because he disliked anything associated with Torah.  However, the Rashbam (Bereshis 25:34) explains that Esau was young and immature and therefore made a foolish exchange that later he came to regret.  Perhaps these two interpretations revolve around Esau’s religious image.  According to Rashi,Esau was absolutely wicked while according to the Rashbam, Esau was just immature and foolish.  (See Rashi and Rashbam on Bereshis 32:7 for a further picture of how each viewed Esau).

Lastly, the Ibn Ezra (Bereshis 25:34) offers a third explanation. Esau scorned the firstborn rights because they had little financial value, as Isaac had lost the family fortune.  The Ibn Ezra continues to prove that in fact Isaac did, in fact, lose the family fortune.  Firstly, Isaac loved Esau because he brought food for the family, something they so desperately needed.  Additionally, Esau traded his firstborn rights for food.  Presumably there was no other food in the pantry, otherwise he would have eaten that instead.  Furthermore, Isaac sent Esau hunting for food before blessing him, again, because he was hungry.  Lastly, Jacob came to Laban with nothing, no clothing or food, in all likelihood, because their family had none to send him with.  The Ramban (Bereshis 25:34) strongly disagrees arguing Isaac did not lose the family fortune. 

[2] The Rashbam (Bereshis 25:32) quotes his father to explain Esau feared a death in the near future due to his dangerous practice of hunting.  However, the Seforno (Bereshis 25:32) does in fact argue that Esau was so tired he feared he might die of exhaustion.

[3] This exchange occurred during the time of mourning for Avraham (Rashi on Bereshis 25:30) and perhaps the timing was not by chance.  When death occurs, naturally people think of the value of time and the meaning of life.  For Jacob, it was a time to ensure that his descendants would be part of Hashem’s Divine plan for the world and forEsau, it was an opportunity to invest in materialism and the pleasures of this world.

[4] Moreover, it is Asur to bury the righteous next to the wicked (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 362:5), however, perhaps, this Halakhic problem can be solved based upon our theory. Esau’s head deserves to be buried with the righteous, it is his body that does not.