House of Leaves (38 page)

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but the Lord Yahweh—that
too oft accused literalist— instructs Rebekah in the subtler ways of language by using irony:

And the Lord said unto her, Two nations
are
in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and
the one
people shall be stronger than
the other
people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold,
there were
twins in her womb.

(Genesis
25:
23-24)

[Chalmer’ s underline]

On one hand Yahweh announces a hierarchy of age and on the other hand claims t
he children are the same age.
[
227
—
Tobias Chaliner’s
i’s Ironic Postures
(London University Press, 1954), p. 92. Chalmer, however, fails to
take
into account Genesis 25:25-26.
]

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Esau
comes from the root
ash
meaning “to hurry” while
Ya ‘akov
comes from the root
akav
which means “to delay” or “restrain.”
[
228
—
No
rman J.
Cohen’s
Self.. Struggle & Changer Family Conflict Stories in Genesis and Their Healing Insights for Our Lives
(Woodstock, Vermont:
Jewish Lights Publishing, 1995), p. 98.
]
(i.e. Esau entered the world first; Jacob last.) But
Esau
is also connected to
asah
meaning “to cover” while Jacob derives from
aqab
meaning “heel” (i.e. Esau was covered in hair; Jacob born clutchin
g Esau’s heel, restraining him. [
22
9—R
ob
ert
Davidson’s
Genesis 12-50
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), p.

122.
]
)

At least Freed Kashon convincingly objects to Ruccalla’s comparison when he points out how really Holloway, not Tom, is the hairy one: “His beard, surly appearance, and even his profession as a hunter make Holloway the perfect Esau. The tension between Navidson and Holloway is also more on par with the tension between Jacob and his brother.”
[
2
30—
Freed
Kashon’s
Esau
(Birmingham, Alabama:
Maavar
Yabbok Press, 1996), p. 159.
]

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The degree
of
Esau and Jacob’s struggle is emphasized by the word
Vayitrozzu
which comes from
the
root
rzz
meaning “
to tear apart, to shatter.” The comparison falters, however, when one realizes Will and Tom never indulged in such a violent struggle.

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During their childhood, Tom and Will were seldom apart. They gave each other support, encouragement, and the strength to persevere in the f
ace of parental indifference. [231—
Terry Borowska interview.
]
Of course their intertwining adolescent years eventually unraveled as they reached adulthood, Will pursuing photography and fame in an attempt to fill the emotional void. Tom drifting into an unremarkable and for the most part internal existence.

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Tom, however, never hid behind the adjunct meaning of a career. He never acquired the rhetoric of achievement. In fact his life never moved much beyond the here and now.

Nevertheless, in spite of a brutal struggle with alcoholism, Tom did manage to preserve his sense of humor, and in his twelve-step program, inspired many admirers who to this day speak highly of him.

Of the hard times that
came his way, he experienced the greatest grief during those eight years when he was estranged from his brother or in his words “when the old rug was pulled out from under old Tom.” It is hardly a coincidence that during this period he succumbed to chemical dependencies, went on unemployment, and prematurely ended a budding relationship with a young schoolteacher.
The Navidson Record
never explains what came between Tom and Will, though it implies Tom envied Navy’s success and was increasingly dissat
isfied with his own accomplishments.
[232—Personal interviews with Damion Searle, Annabelle Whitten and Isaac Hodge. February
5-23, 1995.]

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In his article “Brothers In Arms No More” published in
The Village Voice,
Carlos Brillant observes that Tom and Will’s estrangement began with the birth of Chad: “While it’s complete speculation on my part, I wonder if the large amount of energy required to raise a family pulled Will’s attention away from his brother. Suddenly Tom discovered his brother—his only supporter and sympathizer
—
was devoting more and more time to his son. T
om may have felt abandoned.”
[233—Lost.]

Annabelle Whitten echoes these sentiments when she points out how Tom occasionally referred to himself as “orphaned at the
age of forty.”
[234—Lost.]
The year Tom (and Will for that matter) turned
forty
was the year Chad was born.

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I
ronically enough, Tom’s presence in the house on Ash Tree Lane only served to help Will and Karen get along. As Whitten states:
“Tom’s desire to reacquire his lost parental figures transmuted Navidson into father and Karen into mother, thus offering one explanation why Tom frequently sought to
reduce tension between both.” [235—I
bid., 112.
]

Of course as Nam Eurtton argued, “Wh
y? Because Tom’s a nice guy.” [
236
—
Nam Eurtton’s “All Accurate” p. 176.
]

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Esau’s blessing was stolen with a mask. Tom wears no mask, Will wears a camera. But as Nietzsche wite, “Every p
rofound spirit needs a mask.” [237—O
f some note is the strange typo which appears in the Aaron Stem text: “But the blind Isaac repeated his question, ‘Are you really my son Esau?’ to which the chosen one replied ‘Annie’ meaning ‘I am.’”

Aaron Stem’s
All God’s Children: Genesis
(New York: Hesed Press, I 964), p. 62.
]

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And yet, despite the triumph of Jacob’s ruse, he should have heeded this admonition: “Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way” (Deuteronomy 27:18). And Jacob was indeed cursed,
forced to wrestle for the rest of his life with
this question of self-worth.[
238
—
From the Robert Davidson commentary:
“Jacob wrestled with an unidentified ‘man’ who turned
Out to
be God, wrestled and lived to tell the tale. Gathered into the story are so many curious elements that we can only assume that here is a story which has taken many centuries to reach its present form, arid which has assimilated material, some of it very primitive, which goes back long before the time of Jacob. It is like an old house which has had additions built on to it, and has been restored and renovated more than once during the passing years.” p 184.
]

Navidson was no
different.
[239—Lost.]

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“To me, Tom seemed an incredibly peaceful man. Plain, dece
nt but most of all peaceful.”
[240—Ibid.]

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Here Ruccalla’s analysis unexpectedly rereads the meaning of Esau’s lost inheritance, sublimely uncovering an unspoken history, veiled in irony and blankness, yet still describing how one brother could not have succeeded without the other. Cain may not have been his brother’s
keeper but Esau certainly was
[241—Ibid.]

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“.
.
.
a cunning hunter”

“of the field”

“pl
ain man, dwelling in tents.”

[242—
See Genesis 27:24
]
[243—Wrong. See Genesis 27:29.]
[
24
4—
Mr. Truant also appears to be In error. The correct reference is Genesis 25:27. — Ed.
]

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This then is the meaning of
Esau

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As Scholem writes:
“Frank’s ultimate vision of the future was based upon the still unrevealed laws of the Torah of
atzilut
which he promised his disciples would take effect once they had ‘come to Esau,’ that is, when the passage through the ‘abyss’ with its unmitigated destruction and negati
on was fmally accomplished.” [
245
—
Gershom Scholem’ s
The Messianic Idea in Judaism
(New York: Schocken Books, 1971), p. 133. In taking the time to consider Frank’s work, Scholem does not fail to also point out Frank’s questionable character: “Jacob Frank (1726-9 1) will always be remembered as one of the most frightening phenomena in the whole Jewish history: a religious leader who, whether for purely self-interested motives or otherwise, was in all his actions a truly corrupt and degenerate individual.” p. 126.
]

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But as a great Hasidic maxim reminds us: “The Messiah will not come until
the tears of Esau have ceased.”
[246—Lost.]

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and so returns to Tom and Will Navidson, divided by experience, endowed with different talents and
disposi
tions, yet still brothers and “naught without the other.”

As Ruccalla states in her concluding chapter: “While the differences are there, like the serpents of the Caduceus, these two brothers have always been and always will be inextricably intertwined; and just like the Caduceus, thei
r shared histor
y creates a meani
ng and that meaning is health.”
[
247
—
Eta Ruccalla, p. 897
.
But it also means [
Rest missing
].]