ויגדלו הנערים ויהי עשו אי יודע ציד וגו' (בראשית כה כז). אמר ר' ברכיה הכהן אמר ר' לוי שניהן הלכו לבית הספר, ושניהן שוין עד ט"ו שנה, למה היו דומים להדס ועצמונית, כל זמן שהן קטנים אין אדם מפריש מזה לזה, משיגדלו זה מפיח ויהי טוב, וזה מוציא קוציו, כך כל ימים שהיו עשו ויעקב קטנים לא היה אדם מפריש ביניהם, משנתגדלו נתפרשו, מנין שנאמר ויגדלו הנערים וגו'. ויעקב איש תם יושב אהלים (שם שם). איש יודע ציד. אמר ר' אבהו, מהו יודע ציד, צידיו סורנא, צד בבית [וצד] בשדה. ויעקב איש תם יושב אהלים. א"ל הקב"ה אתה התחלתה לישב באהלים, חייך כשאשוב לירושלים בזכותך אני חוזר, שנאמר כה אמר ה' הנני שב שבות אהלי יעקב (ירמיה ל יח), שבות אברהם לא נאמר, אלא שבות יעקב. (Gen. 25:27:) WHEN THE BOYS GREW UP, ESAU BECAME A CUNNING HUNTER, < A MAN OF THE FIELD; BUT JACOB WAS A PERFECT MAN WHO SAT IN THE TENTS >. R. Berekhyah the Priest said: R. Levi said:6See Gen. R. 63:10. Both of them went to the elementary school, and both of them were equal until the age of fifteen. To what were they comparable? To a myrtle and a thorny plant.7‘TsMWNYT. Gen. R. 63:10 reads ‘TsBWNYT (“wild rose bush”) here. As long as they are small, no one < can > distinguish one from the other. After they have grown up, the one awakens (in bloom), AND (in the words of Gen. 1:12) IT WAS GOOD; but the other brings forth its thorns. Thus, so long as Esau and Jacob were small no one distinguished between them. After they were grown up, they were distinguishable. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in Gen. 25:27): WHEN THE BOYS GREW UP…. JACOB WAS A PERFECT MAN WHO SAT IN THE TENTS (of learning).8See above, 6:1. < But what about Esau? (According to ibid.:) ESAU BECAME > A CUNNING HUNTER, < A MAN OF THE FIELD (SDH) >. R. Abbahu said: What is the meaning of CUNNING HUNTER? That his hunting was by entrapment (SWDN').9In accordance with a suggestion from Midrash Tanhuma (Jerusalem: Eshkol, n.d.), vol. I, appendix, p. 38, n. 1, the text here is slightly emended from SWRN’. So emended the midrash is interpreting FIELD (SDH) of the biblical text as “entrapment” (SWDN‘). For a similar interpretation, see Gen. R. 63:10. See Buber’s note, ad loc. He hunted at home [and he hunted] in the field. BUT JACOB WAS A PERFECT MAN WHO SAT IN THE TENTS. The Holy One said to him: You are the first to sit in the tents (of learning). By your life, when I return to Jerusalem, I will return through your virtue. Thus it is stated (in Jer. 30:18): THUS SAYS THE LORD: BEHOLD, I AM RESTORING JACOB'S TENTS FROM CAPTIVITY. "Abraham's tents from captivity" is not stated < here >, but JACOB'S TENTS FROM CAPTIVITY.