"Pour into me, now, 'min ha'adom ha'adom hazeh' some of that very red stuff ...he therefore called his name Edom" (Bereishit 25:30). Is this good enough rationale to affix a particular name to an individual because he ate a food of that color? If a person were to walk into a store and purchase a green jacket would we then call him Green? Is this a reason to name Esav, his nation, and his country Edom? The name here signifies much than the food that Esav ate, it was the way that Esav related to the food that gives us an idea of just who he was. The red food in question was lentil stew which Yaakov was preparing for his father. Avraham Avinu had died that day and Yitzchak was therefore in mourning. The custom is that other people provide the mourner with a Seudat Havraa. Today it is customary to serve eggs at such a meal, during Yaakov's time eggs or lentils were acceptable. Esav, who may have been evil, was no ignoramus. He was a man of the world and knew very well that Avraham Avinu had just died. There is no question that Esav was well aware of why Yaakov was preparing the lentils.

On the other hand, Esav desperately wanted the food. What option did he have? He realized that given his great reputation for honoring his father, taking food intended for his father and eating it himself would be hypocritical. The best solution, he felt, was to pretend that he did not know what food Yaakov was preparing "give me that red stuff - tomatoes or whatever it may be". "He therefore called his name Edom". This is Esav outwardly he gives the impression of being a tzaddik yet in truth he is no tzaddik. Esav is called Edom because he is like that impure creature who flaunts its trotters trying to mislead everyone into thinking it is kosher. The name Edom would not have been conferred upon him if this were but a one-time occurrence, but this was a recurring phenomenon in Esav's persona. Throughout the generations Edom displayed themselves on the outside to be fine people when in reality they were far from it.

Yaakov is the exact opposite - he exemplifies truth as the pasuk states "titen emet leYaakov" "grant truth to Yaakov" "grant truth to Yaakov" (Micha 7:20). If Yaakov was a man of absolute truth, how do we explain some of the incidents in the Torah, specifically what appears to be deceit encouraged by his mother Rivka in fooling his father into thinking that he is Esav. Where is the attribute of emet?

In actuality, there was no falsehood in Yaakov's statements at all! "I am Esav your firstborn" is the absolute truth! How can this be? My Rebbe HaRav Dessler z"l gave the following analogy: Suppose the watch I am wearing is a half an hour fast - the correct time is now 10:30 and my watch says that it is 11:00. Someone comes over to me and asks me "what time do you have". I could tell him 11:00 for, after all, that is the time displayed on my watch. That, however, is not the answer this person is looking for. He is interested in the correct time. His question to me of "what time do you have" assumes that my watch was set correctly. The appropriate answer to give him would therefore be 10:30.

In this manner we can explain Yaakov's identifying himself to his father as Esav. Yitzchak had no interest in blessing a wicked man, yet for all these years he was deceived into thinking that Esav was a tzaddik. Esav used to ask him how one separates tithes from salt and straw, misleading Yitzchak into thinking that Esav was even more meticulous in his observance of mitzvoth than Yaakov (see Rashi Bereishit 25:27). Based on this, Yitzchak elected to bestow his blessing upon the righteous Esav. Yaakov, however, knows the truth - there is no "righteous Esav". In fact, Yaakov knows that had his father been aware of Esav's true character he would not have blessed him at all (certainly not with the bracha he had designated for him) - he surely would have elected to give the blessing to Yaakov. Based on Yitzchak's perception of reality, Yaakov tells him "I am Esav your firstborn", I am in fact that person whom you picture in your mind's eye as "Esav your firstborn" and therefore I am the one you truly wish to bless. (see Michtav MeEliahu volume 1 pages 94-96).

Based on this, we can say that Yaakov is telling Yitzchak the truth. Yitzchak at first did not realize what was behind Yaakov's words. It was only later when Esav revealed the deceit that had taken place and Yitzchak saw Gehinom open up under Esav (see Rashi Bereishit 27:33) that Yitzchak realized that Yaakov was right - he was the one worthy of receiving the bracha, not Esav.

Yaakov's words were free of any falsehoods - he simply was not following Yitzchak's misconception that Esav was the righteous son. Instead he directed his father in the way he truly wished to be led - to bless his righteous which was in fact Yaakov. The problem is that to all outward appearances there is seeming deceit in Yaakov's words and it is this that Yaakov tried his best to avoid. It is for this reason that while uttering the words, he concentrated on meaning "I am who I am, Esav is your firstborn".

There appears to be another anomaly in Yaakov's behavior. How is it that such a man of truth deceived Lavan regarding the division of the sheep? The agreement between Yaakov and Lavan as stated by Yaakov was: "Let me pass through your whole flock today, remove from there every speckled or spotted lamb, every brownish lamb among the sheep and the spotted or speckled among the goats - that will be my wage" (Bereishit 30:32). The Torah then tells us "Yaakov then took himself fresh rods of poplar and hazel and chestnut ... he set up the rods which he had peeled in the runnels - in the water in receptacles to which the flocks came to drink - facing the flocks, so they would become stimulated when they drink. Then the flocks became stimulated by the rods and the flocks gave birth to ringed ones, speckled ones, and spotted ones ... Whenever it was mating time for the early bearing flocks, Yaakov would place the rods in the runnels, in full view of the flock to stimulate them among the rods" (Bereishit 30:37-42). It appears that Yaakov interfered and tried to influence the appearance of the as yet unborn animals in his favor. Perhaps had he let nature take its course twenty percent of the lambs born would have been spotted, and now due to the rods he had placed eighty percent will be born spotted. Is this not deceitful? How can a man like Yaakov do such a thing?

Firstly, it is not at all clear that placing rods in the watering receptacles had any natural influence on the appearance of the animals destined to be born. Rashi, in fact, cites an opinion from Chazal that every pregnancy which took place in Lavan's pen was accomplished supernaturally - without a male partner. The sheep would become pregnant through drinking the water (see Rashi Bereishit 30:38). With this in mind, we certainly cannot accuse Yaakov of tampering with the sheep in his favor, for each birth was a miracle from heaven that defied any laws of nature.

Even if, however, we were to follow the other view cited in Rashi, that when the sheep saw rods with a ringed appearance they produced ringed offspring, there were still miracles involved here that would absolve Yaakov of any guilt. The Torah tells us that Yaakov told Lavan: "I served you ... six years for your flocks; and you changed my wage a hundred times" (Bereishit 31:41). For six years Yaakov served Lavan awaiting flock as compensation, and Lavan changed the terms of this agreement one hundred times! One day he promised him spotted ones, the next day speckled. Yaakov was told he would receive all the ringed flock, only to be told the next day that this was changed to checkered.

Let us make a simple calculation. The gestation period for a thin animal is five months (see Bechorot 8a). This means that over a period of six years (seventy- two months) there cannot be more than fourteen cycles of pregnancy and birth. In those fourteen cycles, Lavan changed the terms of the agreement one hundred times! This means that even had Yaakov placed a ringed rod during mating time influencing the animals gave birth to ringed offspring, what is to say that by the time the animals would give birth Yaakov's wages would still be in the form of ringed animals? What influence then could these rods have possibly had on Yaakov's earnings? A miracle was still required to insure that the animals born were given to Yaakov in accordance with Lavan's final terms of agreement.

No matter how we view it, the rods had no natural effect on which sheep Yaakov would ultimately receive. There is no basis, therefore, to claim that Yaakov acquired his wages through deceit. When observing Yaakov placing the rods by the sheep, Lavan could have changed the terms of the agreement on the spot so that the wages would not correspond to the rods. If he were to see ringed rods, he could have then decided that Yaakov would only receive spotted lambs - this in fact is what he did. With all of Lavan's changes to the terms of Yaakov's wages "if he would stipulate 'speckled ones shall be your wages', then the entire flock bore speckled ones, and if he would stipulate 'ringed ones shall be your wages', then the entire flock bore ringed ones" (Bereishit 31:8). Yaakov did not acquire the flock by deceit, but by miraculous circumstances. This was the will of the A-lmighty.

Yaakov and his family fled the house of Lavan whereupon they were pursued by Lavan who eventually caught up. His noticed that his idols were missing and accused Yaakov of stealing them. Yaakov's response was that he absolutely did not steal them and even more so: "with whomever you find your gods, he shall not live" (Bereishit 31:32). Rashi writes that Yaakov's words resulted in Rachel dying on the road.  Why did this bring about Rachel's death, after all Yaakov said "with whomever you find your gods" and Lavan never found the idols? The answer is "titen emet leYaakov" - Yaakov may have said that the one with whom Lavan finds the idols will die, but he meant "the one who took the idols". Hashem therefore followed Yaakov's intent and not the external literal interpretation of his words.

In Parshat Vayishlach we are going to read about Shimon and Levi killing the people of Shechem. When confronted by Yaakov, they responded: "should he treat our sister like a harlot?" (Bereishit 34:31). Why was Yaakov unhappy? What could be wrong with concern for the honor of their sister? Yaakov made a deal with the people of Shechem that if they underwent Brit Milah then they would live together in peace - this was not emet. Yaakov supported the idea of saving Dina, but not in this manner.

We must do our utmost to speak only truth. When we have a heter to alter the truth, we must do it in the slightest manner possible. According to the approach that Yaakov was permitted to lie to Yitzchak, Chazal teach us that he said "Anochi Esav bechorecha" meaning "I am Yaakov, Esav is your firstborn" in order to lessen the untruth involved. When my Rebbe HaGaon HaRav Yechezkel Levinstein zt"l was asked what the time was, he would never answer the time is "12 minutes past 10", for example. He would say "the time is approximately 12 minutes past 10. Firstly, can he be sure that this was the precise time - perhaps it is a few seconds earlier? Secondly, the time may change in the middle of this conversation. Such was his insistence and care in speaking only truth.

The Mishna teaches us: "Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: 'the world endures on three things - justice, truth, and peace'" (Avot 1:18). Which would you say is more important, truth or peace? I would say peace for there are times when the truth may be altered in order to keep the peace. One example is with Sarah and Avraham which we read in the beginning of Parshat Vayera - regarding Avraham being old.

Chazal teach us that on the day Esav partook from his father's food he was guilty of five infractions, one of which was to deny the existence of Hashem. How then could Yaakov ask him to take an oath regarding the handing over of the birthright - of what use is an oath when one does not believe in Hashem, why should he fear violating the terms of the oath? We find other instances of people who do not believe in Hashem being asked to take an oath - for example Yaakov asked Lavan and Avraham asked Avimelech to take an oath. It seems that there were those who did not believe in Hashem yet believed that an oath had some mystical power. They believed violating an oath was dangerous. For this reason Esav kept his word and did not harm Yaakov until Yaakov usurped the berachot intended for Esav. Similarly, Esav may have been a kofer but he believed in the power of a tzaddik's beracha. What power does he think Yitzchak's beracha had if he does not believe in Hashem? The force of Yitzchak's beracha stems from his being a tzaddik and a navi, G-d forbid, one should think like Esav that Yitzchak's beracha has some mystic power independent of Hashem.   There are people who don't believe in Dovid HaMelech yet believe he is buried in Har Zion - what nonsense.

Esav actually believed in Hashem, he simply does not wish to acknowledge His existence for that would require him to become an eved Hashem. The Rambam counts belief in Hashem as one of the 613 mitzvoth. Other Rishonim disagree claiming that belief in the One Who Commands is a prerequisite for mitzvah observance. The Rambam, however, claims that belief in Hashem is also a mitzvah. Perhaps we can explain the Rambam's view as follows: even one who acknowledges Hashem's existence has a mitzvah not to deny it the way Esav did. The mitzvah is therefore not to be a kofer - not to deny that which he knows. It is therefore possible to accept the existence of Hashem without obligating oneself in mitzvoth, there is therefore a separate mitzvah to believe in Hashem and in what He has commanded us.

Many people question the existence of a Creator, arguing that everything came about "naturally". How can one deny the existence of a Creator? Just take one look at our bodies - our arms, legs, and all other parts. Everything functions in unbelievable harmony! What wisdom went into the Creation! We cannot help but feel an incredible amount of Divine Providence. The world we live in provides food for us and also for the animals even if at times this means they eat each other. The tiniest insects always find their food (unfortunately all too often they find it in my kitchen). The plants have their function as well. Blood travels to all parts of our body as does the air we breathe. The logic in this creation cannot help but enforce the idea of a Creator. We hear all about "big bangs" and explosions. Where did the material that created the explosion come from? Assuming there is an explanation for that, have you ever heard of a bang that produced such beautiful and complex results?

Despite all this there are still many people who insist that there is no Creator to this beautiful world. All we need do is look out at the world to see the power of Hashem: "the heavens declare the glory of Hashem" (Tehillim 19:2). Hashem, Who commands us how to live our lives, sustains the entire world and all its contents in precisely the right manner. If the gravitational pull were to be slightly weaker, the first generation of man would have been pulled towards the sun and burnt. If it were a bit stronger we would be driven away from the sun and frozen to death. Our body itself is amazing, if the power pulling the atoms were slightly stronger we would shrivel up into something very tiny, were it slightly less, we would be blown apart to pieces in all directions. These forces are so complex and intricate and they sustain us by providing man as well as animals with everything they need - breathing, digestion, etc. How can there not be a Creator?

With all this, there are still exist many heretics. I believe that the heretics are aware that there is a Creator, they just do not feel obligated to keep the Torah. The commentaries, based on the Torah, write that Eretz Yisrael will remain a desert until the Jewish people return. This is in fact what happened. Furthermore, the Torah was written at a time when the world was "less civilized". One nation, however, was singled out in the Torah as being "pereh adam" and this is how they are to this day.  The Torah is absolute truth just as is the existence of a Creator. However, even without believing in the Torah there is no denying the existence of Hashem.