Throughout history there’s always been good and evil. In Jewish history, good is represented by our ancestor Jacob. Evil is represented by his twin brother Esau. It says that Esau was born with a reddish complexion – “vayeitzei harishon admoni”. He had a very aggressive personality and he used that personality to hurt and to maim. He used that personality to be a thorn in the side of Jacob for eternity. However, there was another man in history who was born with a similar complexion. His name was David, King David the greatest king the Jewish people ever had. The midrash says a fascinating idea. Although these two people had similar temperaments and they were born very similar, Esau used his character for evil while King David used it for good. King David was an incredible poet. We still have his Psalms today. Unfortunately Esau used his character to be evil and that is how he will always be remembered. Whatever our upbringing whatever our character, whatever G-d gives us, we must choose to use it for good.

BY RABBI AKIVA POLLACK, RAJE PHILLY