Esau suffered from spiritual nearsightedness. He couldn’t see clearly into the distance, but could only see visibly up close. The distant site was blurry, and in his desperation to satisfy his immediate need, he made a bad deal. This bad deal has echoed with consequences for his generations into the present.

We are all at risk of making “bad deals” when we are in a desperate place. Like Esau, when we are driven by our Yetzer Hara, we want an immediate fix for our desires, cravings, or temptations. It is in that moment of decision, when our physical or natural appetite is ravenous, but sadly, we have no hunger for God. There are all sorts of reasons we can choose to make a bad deal: pride, wanting to please others, false security, physical desires, power, money, popularity, heeding bad advice, and even ignorance of simply not knowing. Without corrective spiritual lenses to see what the near and distant future look like, we can trade away something so precious for a temporary satisfaction or fix.

To catch an animal, you can place food into a trap because of the animal’s primal need to eat; the animal doesn’t know it’s being lured. Like an animal instinct to feed itself, Esau could be baited and caught. His hunger for........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)