Sweet or Spicy? - Two Types of Delicacies Why the inner struggle? Why do we find that it is a constant struggle to make the right, constructive, healthy, and positive choices in our lives? Why were we created with an unrelenting inner struggle? In this week’s Torah portion, we read about the twins born to Isaac and Rebekah. Jacob grew up to be a “wholesome man who dwells in tents {of study}”, Jacob carried the spiritual legacy of his father and grandfather, whereas Esau was a “man who understood hunting, a man of the field,” Esau pursued material success and physical might, with no interest in matters of the spirit. The dichotomy of Jacob and Esau was not merely a result of their choices. The Midrash explains that their eventual behavior can be traced back to the womb. As Rashi explains, on the verse “the children struggled within her {Rebekah}”: This verse calls for a Midrashic interpretation, for it does not explain what this struggling was all about, and [Scripture] wrote, “If it be so, why am I [like] this?” Our Rabbis interpreted it as an expression of running. When she passed by the entrances of [the] Torah [academies] of Shem and Eber, Jacob would run and struggle to come out; when she passed the entrance of [a temple of] idolatry, Esau would run and struggle to come out. A similar question emerges: why did G-d create Esau with a desire for sin? Why would a child of the righteous Isaac and Rebekah be born with an inclination toward evil? In the Tanya, Rabbi Shneor Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad, explains that the inner struggle we face is not an impediment distracting us from fulfilling our purpose; but rather, we were specifically created to overcome the challenge of the struggle. We were created not for our own pleasure but rather in order to have the opportunity to bring pleasure to our creator. Esau, therefore, was born with an inclination and desire for negativity because his path to G-d, the way his deepest potential would emerge, was specifically by embracing and triumphing over negativity. That is where he would find the purpose of his creation. When Isaac sought to bless Esau, he told him, “Make for me tasty foods as I like, and bring them to me, and I will eat, in order that my soul will bless you before I die.” The Zohar explains that Isaac was referring not only to the physical food but to spiritual nourishment as well. Issac employs the plural form, delicacies, alluding to the two forms of “delicacies” that bring pleasure to G-d, the righteous who are naturally drawn to do good, and to whom negativity is not tempting, is the “sweet food”. In contrast, the people who have to struggle and overcome inner tensions generate pleasurable “spicy food,” which, when appropriately prepared, causes immense pleasure. In the words of the Tanya: There are two kinds of Divine pleasure: one from the complete annihilation of the sitra achara {the “other side”, the unholiness} and the conversion of bitter to sweet and of darkness to light, which is accomplished by the righteous… and the second when the sitra achara is subdued while it is still at its strongest and most powerful, soaring like an eagle… This is alluded to in the verse, “And make me delicacies, such as I love,”where the word matamim (“delicacies”) is written in the plural, indicating two kinds of pleasure. These words are the charge of the Shechinah to its children, the community of Israel, as explained in Tikkunei Zohar — that with these words, G‑d asks of the Jewish people to please Him with their divine service. Just as with material food, there are two kinds of delicacies — one of sweet and luscious foods and the other of sharp or sour articles which are unpleasant to eat in their natural state, but have been well spiced and prepared so that they become delicacies which revive the soul — so, too, are there two kinds of spiritual delicacies. (Tanya, Chapter 27)
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