The story of Jacob and Esau, and their mother Rebekah's intervention, is a wild ride, full of trickery and profound implications.

Jacob, you see, was still hesitant about Rebekah's plan to deceive Isaac and secure the blessing meant for Esau. His worry? That his blind father, Isaac, would touch him and realize he wasn't the hairy Esau. It’s a fair point! So, Rebekah, ever resourceful, tore the skins of two young goats – kids, as they're called in the Bible – into strips. But here's where it gets interesting: according to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Jacob was so tall – a giant, even! – that ordinary strips wouldn't do the trick. She sewed them together to create a convincing disguise for his hands.

But the disguise didn’t stop there. Rebekah felt justified in dressing Jacob in Esau's special garments. These weren't just any clothes. Oh no. These were legendary! According to tradition, they were the high priestly raiment in which God Himself had clothed Adam, "the first-born of the world." (Think about that for a moment!) In those early days, before the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was built, the first-born males served as priests.

These garments, imbued with such profound history, had been passed down through generations. From Adam to Noah, then to Shem, and then to Abraham. Abraham, in turn, gave them to Isaac, who then passed them on to Esau as the elder son.

But Rebekah believed that since Jacob had bought the birthright from Esau, he was also entitled to these garments. As Ginzberg tells us, there was no need to retrieve the garments from Esau's house. Esau, knowing his wives all too well, wouldn’t entrust such a treasure to them! Instead, they were kept safe with his mother – Rebekah herself.

And get this: Esau actually used these garments frequently in his parents' home. While he might be happy to wander around in rags, he felt it was his duty to appear before his father, Isaac, in his finest clothes. "My father," Esau supposedly said, "is a king in my sight, and it would ill become me to serve before him in any thing but royal apparel."

It’s a fascinating detail, isn’t it? This outward show of respect, even from a flawed character like Esau. And the story doesn’t end there. According to the text, Esau’s descendants owe all their good fortune on earth to the great respect he showed his father. As the story concludes: Thus doth God reward a good deed.

So, what do we take away from this elaborate ruse? Is it about destiny? The power of a mother's love? Or perhaps it's about the unexpected ways in which even small acts of respect can have lasting consequences. It's a story that makes you wonder about the choices we make and the legacies we create.