"Bigdei Kahuna" Parsha page by Rabbi Yehuda Katz

TOLDOS

"And Esau said to Jacob, "Pour into me of these red-colored beans (EDOM), for I am exhausted." Therefore, he called his name Edom." (25:30)

Esau sells his first- born birthright to Jacob for lentil stew. Esau is thereby called "Edom" which means red , the color of the stew. Why is this incident so significant that the Torah informs us of Esau's new name and how he got it? Esau had definitely shamed his first-born status by selling it for lentil stew, but should he and his descendents have been called Edom for it? The Torah is definitely teaching us a very valuable lesson. I would like to propose the following original answer, Bezrat Hashem. In the business world there are 2 types of people, purchasers and sellers.People are constantly exchanging items of greater, equal, or lesser value for items that they need.Esau viewed his first-born birthright as insignificant , while Jacob deemed it of great value. We must remember that this birthright is the transmission from Abraham and Isaac. Esau is the casual seller, yet Jacob is the eager purchaser for he understands and appreciates the birthright's true value.However, how is this pertinent to us? Are we the purchasers of our birthright, namely the Torah and Mitzvos like Jacob ,or are we the casual sellers of our birthright like Esau? We are all given opportunities to do Mitzvos every minute of our lives. Do we casually sell these opportunities and at what cost in exchange? Esau's transaction should be an example to us, he was thereby given the name Edom as reminder to us for this reason. Esau sold himself for some red soup, and in exchange for what do we sell ourselves?This is a very significant question. Are we in the market to purchase Mitzvos, or are we sellers? Have a good Shabbos.