In Toldot, this week’s Torah portion, we learn of the conflicts between Yakov and Esav. One of these flash points of their relationship is when Esav sells his birthright for a lentil stew.

There we read:

Once when Yakov was cooking a stew, Esav came in from the open, famished. And Esav said to Yakov, “Give me some of that red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished”—which is why he was named Edom. Yakov said, “First sell me your birthright.” And Esav said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?” But Yakov said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Yakov. Yakov then gave Esav bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, and he rose and went away. Thus did Esav spurn the birthright.

Genesis 25:29-34

There is a lot going on in this story. How does one buy or sell a birthright? On this question Sforno explains:

He had used the lentils or the dish containing them as the קנין חליפין, a token used to serve as symbol of the transfer of ownership of the object constituting the one being sold. Compare Ruth 4,7 where a shoe is mentioned as serving as such a token.

Sforno on Genesis 25: 34

This notion of a token/symbolic transaction makes sense to me. What I am interesting is that Esav only asked for “red stuff” and Yakov gives him “bread and lentil stew”. While you might say that most cultures ancient and modern serve meals with bread, it is noteworthy that the text mentions it.

This image of this bread seems to come back with the sale of Yosef, Yaakov’s favorite.  As Yosef is in the pit he brothers sit around to determine what to do with him. There we read:

And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and ladanum, going to carry it down to Egypt.

Genesis 37:25

Here their eating of bread depicts a certain cruelty and disregard for their brother suffering in the pit. In this moment they sell their brother into slavery. To Yaakov’s pain and suffering they tell him that Yosef was killed and they sell him into slavery. Ultimately this saves the brothers from famine. But it does not take long for Yaakov’s descendants to become slaves in Egypt. Eventually with the help of God and Moshe they leave Egypt.  In Passover we celebrate a yearly holiday without bread to remember our redemption from slavery and the rest of the use of bread in our history. History has a bitter-sweet spiral.

I am not sure I can make sense of the presence of bread at all of these moments, but I do take pause to consider what it means for Yakov to serve it gratis to Esav with the stew. Over the last few weeks I have been tinkering with a sourdough that I got from my friend Danny. While the process is not hard, it is time consuming and it takes planning. Esav needed the food right away and was uninterested in the future of the birthright. Yakov was all about delayed gratification. Maybe there is something about bread that begs the question of our perspective and experience of time. Bread presents a question of our temperament. Who are we and how do we show up?

*See what I have written in the past on the Marshmallow Experiment