Rachel's Descendants versus Amalek

Then Jacob feared greatly and was distressed …

                                                       Genesis 32:8

Our Sages explain the source of Jacob’s fear and distress: “Jacob feared”: perhaps through the merit of having fulfilled (the mitzva of) respecting parents Esau will overcome me. “And he was distressed”: perhaps through the power of having dwelt in the Land of Israel, where Esau has dwelt, while I have been outside the Land, he will be able to overcome me.

                     Midrash haBiur (quoted in Torah Shleima)

Jacob’s fear and distress resulted from the fact that during the years of his exile in the home of Laban, Esau fulfilled two mitzvot which he, Jacob, did not fulfill.

It is remarkable that Jacob believed that the credit of having lived in the Holy Land will give Esau the upper hand over him, despite the latter’s less than righteous behavior. Apparently, the virtue of the Land assists even those who are lax in fulfilling mitzvot.

Concerning Esau’s fulfillment of the mitzva of kibud av, Rabbi Yonatan Eybschutz notes that according to the Midrash (quoted by Rashi in his commentary to Genesis 29:11), Esau sent his son Eliphaz to kill Jacob. It hardly seems fulfillment of respecting his father to send a messenger to execute Jacob instead of himself killing his brother, since the result would still be the death of one of Isaac’s sons. Yet, the Midrash credits Esau with respecting his parents. The reason, says Rabbi Yonatan, is the fact that Jacob’s own sons inflicted pain on him by allowing him to believe that his beloved son Joseph had been killed. This behavior of Jacob’s sons, as it were, offsets Esau’s willingness to inflict pain on his own father.

It was only Benjamin, who was not involved in the sale of his brother Joseph, who was not guilty of having inflicted pain on Jacob. Thus, our Sages teach us that Amalek, the descendants of Esau will fall into the hands of the descendants of Rachel. Against Benjamin, the son of Rachel, Esau does not have credit for fulfilling the mitzva of respecting parents. For this reason, it is specifically Mordechai, a descendant of Benjamin, who is God’s agent for overcoming Haman, descendant of Amalek, and therefore of Esau.