In honor of Avraham ben Devorah, this site has been revived.

In Parshat Vayishlach, there are two meetings between Yaakov and Esav. The first one is much more famous than the second one. But in the second meeting, at Yitzchak's burial, it lists Esav's name before Yaakov's. It is explained that Esav refused to back down even though Yaakov had already received the birthright. Imagine the state of things at the time. This burial of Yitzchak occured many years after Yosef had been sold to Egypt. As such, Yaakov's status as the father of twelve was in jeopardy, and having twelve sons had been prophesied for the family of the nation. And while Yosef was in Egypt, Yaakov did not have prophecy, so he was unable to perceive what the outcome would be. Esav had twelve sons, and they were developed already as tribes, ready to lead a nation. Esav had lived his whole life expecting to be the progenitor of a nation whose fathers would be Avraham, Yitzchak, and Esav. Later, when Yaakov died, Esav went to block the burial of Yaakov in the tomb of the forefathers. This is when he was killed by Dan's son, and his head rolled into the tomb. As we move into the weeks of the fascinating story of the selling of Yosef and the Twelve Tribes of Israel, it is even more astounding to think that all these events happened in a backdrop of Esav's continuing claim to the religion. Rashi states that one of Esav's sons, Magdiel, was the progenitor of Rome, which is the Vatican, and which to this day claims to be the true religion.