If you don’t appreciate it, you may as well not have it. Isn’t that a disturbing thought? Of course, appreciation is at the core of kibud av v’eim, a mitzvah that Eisav HaRasha excelled in. Think about it. By the age of fifteen, Eisav had already killed a man, lived with a married woman, denied the Torah and renounced mitzvos, techias hameisim and olam haba. Devoid of morality, it seems puzzling that he was so careful to honor his father Yitzchak.

In this week’s Shmuz on the Parsha, Rabbi Shafier takes a deeper look as to why kibud av was so instinctual to even a lowlife like Eisav. Ready to gain a golden ticket to happiness and meaning? Listen now