Yaakov, Yosef, and Esav: Fire, Flame, and Straw

     The Torah tells in Parashat Vayetze that upon the birth of Yosef, Yaakov's eleventh son, he expressed to Lavan his desire to return to Canaan.  Rashi, citing the Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 73:6), explains that Yaakov prophetically understood that Yosef's birth would enable him to confront his brother, Esav, from whom he had been hiding all these years.  The prophet Ovadya (1:18) foresees the time when "the house of Yaakov shall be a fire, and the house of Yosef a flame, and the house of Esav straw."  A small fire is not capable of spreading to vast distances to consume all traces of straw.  Only a large "flame" has the energy needed to destroy the straw.  Yaakov thus felt confident that with the birth of Yosef, the "flame," he is now able to confront and defeat his hostile brother.

            Rav Menachem Bentzion Zaks, in his work Menachem Tziyon, offers an explanation for the symbolism of the "fire" of Yaakov and the "flame" of Yosef. Confronting evil requires the balance of two generally conflicting characteristics: patience and calculated thinking on the one hand, and, on the other, youthful passion and energy.  The Midrash here teaches that spiritual success requires a combination of slow, disciplined planning, and raging emotion and energy.  Generally speaking, people in their youth possess the "flame" of Yosef, the emotional energy and passion to achieve, but lack the small "fire" of Yaakov, the patience and discipline that comes with maturity.  Conversely, many adults develop proper discipline, but at the expense of their youthful, idealistic passion.  Yaakov understood that triumphing over evil requires both elements, that only with the maturity and wisdom of Yaakov, alongside the emotion and passion of Yosef, can Esav be once and for all defeated.