Rebecca was desperate. The twins in her womb were fighting so violently that, according to Nachmanides, she preferred to die. When she sought divine guidance, God’s answer was anything but comforting:
For centuries, this verse has been understood as a zero-sum prophecy: Jacob and Esau, Israel and the nations of the West, locked in eternal competition where one must fall for the other to rise.
But Rabbi Pinchas Polonsky offers us a radically different reading—one that transforms this ancient prophecy from a prediction of inevitable conflict into a roadmap with multiple destinations.
The Hebrew text, Rabbi Polonsky points out, is deliberately ambiguous. Yes, the traditional translation speaks of dominance and servitude. The Midrash even emphasizes this: when Israel rises, Esau falls, and vice versa—they cannot stand together. One nation will always be stronger than the other, though, ultimately, the younger nation, Israel, is promised primary strength.
Yet the very same Hebrew words can yield an entirely opposite meaning: “Each nation shall derive its strength from the other, and the younger shall labor intensely.” In this reading, Jacob and Esau—the Jewish people and Western civilization—aren’t competitors at all. They’re partners, each possessing unique forms of power meant to complement and enrich the other. And yes, the younger brother, Jacob, will need to work particularly hard to make this joint advancement succeed.
So which is it? Are we destined for confrontation or cooperation?
The answer, Rabbi Polonsky teaches, depends entirely on our level of spiritual maturity.
In humanity’s early stages of development, we naturally see the other as an enemy and a competitor. This isn’t necessarily wrong—in fact, at immature stages, growth may require each side to isolate itself, to perceive the other as irreconcilable. Like adolescents establishing identity through opposition, nations, too, sometimes need to define themselves against the other.
But we cannot remain adolescents forever.
At a higher level of consciousness, we recognize that our destiny isn’t confrontation but mutual enrichment. We understand that “each nation shall derive its strength from the other.” This path requires tremendous effort—far more than the easy route of opposition and enmity. But it’s the path that leads to genuine success.
This ambiguity is the nature of prophecy itself, Rabbi Polonsky reminds us. Prophecy doesn’t lock us into a single predetermined future; it establishes various possible paths for the world’s development. But the choice of which path to follow? That depends entirely on us.
Consider the Book of Jonah: Nineveh was prophesied to be “overturned” in forty days. Yet when its inhabitants repented, they brought about a spiritual revolution that made physical destruction unnecessary. The Hebrew word of the prophecy, nehpechet, captures both possibilities—”overturned” in destruction or “turned around” in transformation. The prophecy contained both outcomes; human action determined which would unfold.
This is precisely why prophecy matters—not because it removes human responsibility, but because it reveals that our destiny depends on our choices.
Rebecca’s prophecy, then, doesn’t determine the nature of the relationship between Jacob and Esau. It establishes possibilities. The prophecy will inevitably be realized one way or another—but we influence the outcome. Whether the Jewish world and Western civilization continue to perceive each other as competitors and enemies, or whether they learn to cooperate and complement one another, depends entirely on us.
We stand at a crossroads, and the ancient prophecy given to a pregnant mother thousands of years ago remains unresolved. As we witness the rise of polarizing rhetoric and nationalistic isolationism around the globe—the default, ‘zero-sum’ stance of a world struggling with its adolescence— the ancient choice presented to Rebecca is once again ours. Will we choose the immature path of mutual suspicion and zero-sum competition? Or will we rise to the challenge of partnership, recognizing that Jacob’s strength and Esau’s strength were never meant to cancel each other out, but to create something greater together?
The prophecy remains open, waiting for us to write its conclusion.
To learn more of Rabbi Pinchas Polonsky’s insights on the Bible, order The Universal Torah: Growth & Struggle in the Five Books of Moses – Genesis Part 1 today!
