In this week's parsha Toldos, we read about the birth of Yaakov and Esav. The Torah tells us that Yaakov and Esav were polar opposites. Yaakov was righteous while his brother Esav was wicked. Our sages compare Yaakov and Esav to the good inclination and evil inclination that are part of a person.

The Ritva asks why it was necessary for Yaakov and Esav to be born as twins? He explains that many times a person excuses his evil behaviour by blaming his parents, or his upbringing, his surroundings etc. Hashem was showing us that even though Esav and Yaakov had the exact same background, upbringing and surroundings, that is no excuse for following the evil inclination. We see that Yaakov grew up in the exact same environment, under the exact same mazel but he nevertheless made himself into a tremendously righteous person while Esav took the opposite path.

This teaches us that no matter what our situation is, no matter what conditions we were given in life we can't use those as an excuse to not act properly.

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath