The Feminine Voice

In the bible, the woman's voice is rarely heard, but when it is, it is loud and clear. More than anything, women - and namely our matriarchs, are the guiding light, rising to prominence to right their husbands who time in and time out miss the mark when choosing their spiritual heirs. This phenomenon isn't isolated to the Torah, Batsheva also ensuring the Davidic line continue through Solomon, and none of his other sons. Likewise, with Ruth and Naomi, it is female figures who determine the lineage of future generations that will bring the advent of the Messiah. 

Interestingly, we don't learn about the origins of Sara Imeinu, the first of our matriachs, but perhaps that is the case because it simply wasn't important; with Rivka, though, it became very important, as Rivka was the one who could see through Eisav's entrapments, using rhetorical cunning to ensnare Isaac. Why was it that Yitzhak could not see through Eisav's facade? It would seem to be tantamount to the expression, "it takes one to know one." Rivka grew up on trickery and deceipt and because of that she could penetrate Eisav's veneer, and see him for who he truly was. 

The clarity of purpose that it took to do so, must have been astounding; the simple meaning of the text is that Eisav and Yaakov were both legitimate progenitors for the next generation of the Jewish people; Eisav was a hunter, skilled, a cosmopolitan man, who knew how to deal with the world. Yaakov was a tent dweller who sought a more reflective, cerebral, sedate life - not looking for the draw of the larger world but looking to perpetuate the next generation from within. 

What Rivka saw is something that was over and beyond that which meets the naked eye. Nothing in Eisav was a telltale sign that he was unfit. Perhaps Yitzhak had a little discomfiture about his choice of Eisav, which is reflected in Midrashim that paint Eisav as a murderer, blood-thirsty etc., but at the end of the day, he could be compared to many students who I've had who just have a hard time sitting down and learning. What then invalidated him? 

The only hint that I can think of is Eisav's eschewal of the purposefulness of life, resonating and reverberating when he sells his firstborn rights: "I am going to die, why do I need the firstborn rights?" That, it would seem like was enough for Rivka to intuit that Eisav did not have the moral fiber, and integrity of purpose needed for a family man to raise the next generation. Noach's act of inebriation, wallowing naked in a drunken stupor thus parrallels Eisav's wanton and rash sale of his birthborn rights, for if that was its worth, rightly intuited Rivka, how could he convey Avraham's blessing to the next generation?