In the first aliyah of this Parsha the Torah tells us that Rivkah had trouble conceiving children, and Yitzchak and Rivkah used to stand at opposite ends of the room and pray for children. Soon after, Rivkah became pregnant. She had a very difficult pregnancy and eventually gave birth to twin boys: a hairy reddish boy named Esav, and a second boy, holding onto the first one's heel, named Yakov.

Esav became a hunter, while Yakov dwelled in schools of Torah. One day, Esav came in hungry from the field and begged Yakov for some food, and sold his birthright as firstborn to Yakov for some of the food. Our sages say that this was the day Avrohom passed away and the food Yakov was cooking was to feed the bereaved, his father Yitzchak.