Now Yaakov (YAZID) cooked (NAZID) a pottage, and Eisav came from the field, and he was faint. And Eisav said to Yaakov, “Pour into [me] some of this red, red [pottage], for I am faint”; he was therefore named Edom. (25:29-30)

cooked. Heb. וַיָּזֶד, an expression of cooking, as the Targum renders. – Rashi

some of this red, red [pottage]. red lentils… Yaakov cooked lentils to feed the mourner (Yitzchok). But why lentils? Because they are [round as] a wheel, for mourning is like a wheel revolving in the world. (Also, just as lentils have no mouth as other beans have, so does the mourner have no mouth… Rashi

So much is lost in translation. It’s like the difference between studying a real diamond, as opposed to looking at a picture of a diamond. As lovely and realistic as that picture is, it is limited as a two-dimensional representation of the authentic article.

Yaakov is involved in an activity that we call cooking but the Holy Torah refers to as YAZID. Rashi explains that according to the Targum, the Aramaic rendition of the Torah, it means cooking. What is he cooking? The verse in the Torah tells us something called NAZID. What is NAZID? You would think it’s the noun form of the verb or the verb form of the noun, like; “toasting toast”, but that is not the plain meaning that we get from its translation.

According to Rav Hirsch, the Hebrew word YAZID signals that more is happening, beyond Yaakov cooking lentils. The words are calling out for explanation. They are saying more than they are saying.

There is a deeper dimension implied that is beyond the surface of the story line. More than the actions of players are their thoughts and feelings. If we want to know about the events of King Dovid’s life, we can learn Shmuel Aleph and Beis but if we want to know what Dovid HaMelech was experiencing during those turbulent and glorious episodes of his life, then we need to dive deeply into Sefer Tehillim.

We are being invited in to understand what is really happening in the important interaction between Yaakov and Eisav that will set the template of our relationship for thousands of years until today!

Yaakov is preparing a specific food, Rashi tells us, lentils, which have a particular shape. They are round. Yaakov’s intent is to serve these to Yitzchok, his father, because Avraham just passed away. The shape of the bean is meant to teach a very important life lesson. When we reach a low moment, we need to remember the cyclical nature of life.

That bean also has no mouth, no seam, to remind the mourner that now is not the time for pontificating and philosophical posturing. Someone might just say or do something regrettable in a moment of grief. It is better to remain quiet and ride out the storm. Now is a time for being still.

That is the valuable lesson of the beans that Yaakov is preparing. Yaakov is cooking. He is focused and intent. That is what MEIZID means with regard to any act. Sometimes a deed is incidental or accidental, but when it is intentional and premeditated that is called MEIZID. Yaakov is premeditating, and cooking inwardly. He is preparing his own heart and curing his own response to this family tragedy.

Into that same scene now enters Eisav. He is exasperated and wild from the shocking news about the mortality of his grandfather Avraham. He has just been acting out in the most brutal and destructive way in response. He meets up with Yaakov who is quietly studying the beans himself. Eisav only sees the superficial color of the beans, RED-RED and he is in a hurry to impulsively swallow the already prepared food. He misses out bigtime on the lesson of the beans and the need to prepare patiently and intentionally cook within. This is a turning point, for both Eisav and Yaakov. Their essence became revealed through their individual strategies for tragedies. One remained crude and raw, while the other cooked within an ancient recipe called NAZID – premeditation.