ויהי עשו — And Esav became, איש— a man, ידע ציד — a skilled trapper, איש שדה — a man of the field. (בראשית כה כז)
We learnt two things about the nature of Esav, his vocation was hunting, and he loved the great outdoors.
The great Gaon of Vilna offers a most fascinating alternative interpretation of this verse.
The Mishna refers to a creature known as the אדני השדה — Adnei HaSadeh, that grows with a large cord that comes out of the ground, similar to the cord of squash and pumpkins, its form is like the form of a man in everything — in the face, the body, the hands and the feet — and it is connected to the cord from its navel. And no creature can approach the cord’s length, since it grazes around it like the length of the cord, and it devours all that it can reach. And when they come to hunt it, they shoot arrows into its cord, until it is separated, and [then] it dies immediately. (כלאים ח ה, חינוך תקי”ב)
The Gaon asserts that the איש השדה — ‘the man of the field’ mentioned in the earlier verse is not referring to Esav but to this anthropomorphous beast of the field.
The verse should be read as describing Esav as a talented hunter who succeeded in capturing the איש השדה — this dangerous, tethered to the ground, creature who inhabits the field.
Despite this enthralling account, why is this specific detail relevant?
The Torah was seemingly seeking to contrast the tent-dwelling Yaakov the Yeshiva student, with his wild brother the hunter, providing the background to understand Esav’s disinterest for a spiritual life, and was thus more than happy to relinquish his birthright for an enticing bowl of red lentils.
Why would the Torah portray this conquest among the numerous other beasts he had certainly hunted in the wild?
Why would G-d create such a mysterious quasi-human attached to the ground by an umbilical cord in the first place?
The great 18th century mystic, Rav Eliyahu HaKohen Itamar of Izmir, addressed this question and suggests it was done to serve as evidence of Creation’s account of man being formed from earth into a living being, that many thought was preposterous.
Rav Chaim Vital, the prized disciple of the Arizal, teaches that within creation there are four general strata — Mineral, Plant, Animal and Human. G-d created bridges between each of these classes.
Coral, though stony like, grows like a plant. Sea sponges are anchored in the seabed, yet possess cellular structure like animals, and reproduce sexually. The Adnei HaSadeh, though tethered to earth, have human features.
The Sefer HaIkarim adds the most critical component that gives meaning to these observations. (מאמר שלישי)
G-d created a world where there is a thread that connects the varied strata of nature, to teach us that our purpose is to strive higher and higher up that ladder of connectivity, from down here on terra firma until we reach the source of it all, the כסא הכבוד — Throne of Honor, from where our souls all stem from.
Esav, the ‘man of the field’, who had been exposed to his family of strivers, sought to distract himself from any consciousness of this goal by stimulating his mind, senses, and passion by pursuing an adventurous and exciting life outside the ‘tent’, sating his palate with the cornucopia of corporeal pleasures it offered.
There was one challenge that niggled at his core.
The אדני השדה — the humanlike creature tethered to the ground, was a constant reminder of the need to elevate oneself beyond the natural world.
He realized that in truth anyone who is bound to earth alone, without a higher aspiration towards the spiritual and a life of meaning, is no different than Adnei HaSadeh. We just have a larger tether, that is nevertheless limited to the restrictions of what a physical realm can possibly provide.
Esav’s archenemy was the pangs of consciousness this pest prodded. The Torah specifically highlighted this one aspect of his life that revealed for us the depths of his negative attitude for spiritual growth.
In Mishlei, Shlomo Hamelech assures if one pursues wisdom and a heightened awareness of G-d, ‘ It shall be health, לשרך — to thy navel, ושקוי — and marrow, to thy bones.’ (3 8)
The navel, the sealed remnant of the umbilical cord that sustained us during gestation, somehow represents the total of our body’s health, together with the marrow, the tissue that occupies the hollow of our bones that is critical to blood production and immunity.
There is another ‘navel’ that is critical for our soul’s health.
Man was created from the earth scooped from Mount Moriah, from the location of the Holy Temple, from the geographical known as טבורו של עולם — the navel of the universe.
The navel is the centerpoint of our body, just as the land of Israel; the city of Yerushalayim; the Holy of Holies, are the central points of the universe.
It is the point in our bodies that we are formed from and develop.
The אבן שתיה — the Foundation Stone upon which the Holy Ark was placed, that protrudes slightly, the point from which the world expanded from, was taken from beneath G-d’s throne, from which all our souls are anchored in.
One focuses on the physical miracle of our existence, the other aims to concentrate on the purity of our souls that are rooted upon high.
A young embryo possesses stem cells. Stem cells are the body’s ‘master cells.’ They are the building blocks of all organs, tissues, blood and the immune system. These stem cells exist within the umbilical cord as well.
Although these represent the very nucleus of our physical being, there is a more significant ‘stem cell.’ That which we connect through an invisible but very real umbilical cord that wends through the Temple leading up to the Heavenly Throne, the starting point from which all else develops so superbly.
That is what the verse in Mishlei speaks of. If we plug in to the higher realm, the physical too will follow naturally.
Are we ‘men of the field’, drawing our energy from the limited life a physical world has to offer, or are we ready to tether ourselves to the source of all life, G-d, where the possibilities are endless?
The Baal HaTanya expounds on this in his Igeres HaTeshuva (5) where he writes:
This is the meaning of the verse, “For people is a part of G‑d;Yaakov is the חבל — rope of His inheritance.”(דברים לב ט)
The analogy is of a rope, whose upper end is bound above and the lower end below; so, too, the “upper end” of the soul is “bound Above,” and its “lower end” is enclothed within the body.
The gematriya of this mythical creature, the אדני השדה, is equivalent to the name of עשו, adding the number of letters in his name, 379!
May we untether ourselves from the connection to ‘earth’ and link to the highest source above, in the image of Yaakov, assuring good health and growth for many long years ahead!
באהבה,
צבי יהודה טייכמאן
