Trading the World to Come for a Bowl of Soup

There is a genre of Jewish tales that will have one protagonist bartering their share in the world to come in exchange for something in the temporal realm. There is nothing highly original about these tales, as they are blatant biblical spin-offs.

Two weeks ago, we read how Esau trades in his birthright, the very cornerstone of his legacy, in exchange for a hot bowl of minestrone soup. This week we have Rachel forfeiting her spot on the rotating conjugal roster in exchange for some fruits that the ever-solicitous Reuven had brought to cheer up his depressed mom Leah. (This parental pandering motif is also a variation on the earlier description of the unhealthy and highly transactional nature of the relationship between the elder father Isaac and the somewhat manipulative, sweet-talking son Esau.)

Let's go against the conventional grain for a moment in asking ourselves, rhetorically, the following question. Who would you think is more dialed in to the spiritual underpinnings of Jewish theological thinking, Esau or Jacob? AHHHH, but of course, you respond: "The question itself begs its own question! Based on which way of looking at Judaism are you asking?"

Good question! So, in an attempt to answer from MY "Kishkes," my Chasidic-biased gut, it becomes immediately apparent that we might be judging Esav with an entirely unwarranted harshness.

Is not his impulsiveness an offshoot of the easy-to-overlook ethos of cultivating mindfulness in the present moment? Is the undesirable trait of instant gratification not a rough, unpolished version of the practice of cultivating an abundance of sacred appreciation for the sanctity of whatever is going down at THIS moment? (באשר הוא שם?) Is not Esav intuitively embodying the holy path of seeing everything in this moment through the prism of its unparalleled uniqueness? Is this scriptural seizing of the moment not rooted, albeit subconsciously, in fostering deep awe in the presence, simultaneously, of a brand new moment? A blip of time that never "was," which currently "is," and which, in its fundamentally unreplicable singularity, will "never again be?"

That being the case, I offer you the following pre-Shabbat riddle: Which blessing did Esav recite over Jacob's soup?

HINT: (disclaimer?) this is NOT a Halachik question. Also, on that note, don't buy into the whole "every soup requires the reciting of the blessing Shehakol." This is simply not the case. :)))