Money In The Right Hands

Our parsha deals with Yitzchak’s blessing to Yaakov, masquerading as Eisav.

Until age thirteen, the two brothers, Eisav and Yaakov, are indistinguishable in personality. They both study Torah with their father and in the yeshiva of Shem and Ever. After they turn bar mitzvah however, their individual characters begin to emerge. Eisav is a hunter and a man of the great outdoors, while Yaakov is a mama’s boy, who sits in the tent and learns. Yitzchak loves Eisav “Ki Tzayid BePhiv.” According to Chazal “Tzayid” means to ensnare – he would ensnare Yitzchak with his mouth by pretending to be a big tzaddik. For example, Eisav saw that Yitzchak was very into ma’asrot, so he would ask him “Father, how much does one separate ma’asrot from salt?” Yitzchak would think – “Wow, he obviously knows all the halachot about regular ma’asrot, he’s asking me advanced questions, beyond the regular halacha, he must be a big talmid chacham!” Rivka, who grew up in a home of scoundrels, saw straight through Eisav and instead loved Yaakov.

Yitzchak tells his elder son Eisav “I’m getting old, I don’t know when my time is up. I want you to take your hunting gear, your bow and arrow and go out in the field and hunt something for me. Take it and make me a dish of tasty food, the kind I love and give it to me to eat so I may bless you before I die” (Bereishit 27:1-4).

The Torah says that Yitzchak’s sight was not so good, but what about his mind? Was he so far gone that he didn’t know how evil Eisav was? That he wants to give him the blessing in preference to Yaakov?

Rivka overhears this conversation and as soon as Eisav leaves, she quickly calls her son Yaakov and repeats what she heard. She commands Yaakov to bring her two goats to prepare the dish that Yitzchak likes, so that Yaakov, “pretending” to be Eisav, will give Yitzchak the food and Yitzchak will bless him instead of Eisav.

Yaakov isn’t too keen about this scheme. “If my father touches me, he will discover that I am Yaakov and not Eisav, because Eisav is hairy and I’m not. Then instead of blessing me he will curse me!”

Rivka is immutable and Yaakov has no choice but to obey her. Rivka prepares Yitzchak’s favorite dish. She then dresses her “small” son Yaakov (he is 63) in Eisav’s clothes that were in the house and puts the two goatskins on Yaakov’s arms and his neck. She then gives Yaakov Yitzchak’s favorite dish and bread she has made and sends him into Yitzchak.

Yitzchak then blesses Yaakov, “thinking” he is Eisav – a purely material blessing – oil, grain, wine, sovereignty, etc. Eisav then returns with his food and enters Yitzchak’s tent. We know the rest of the story – the blessing has already been given, so no blessing for Eisav! Eisav hates Yaakov and plots to kill him when Yitzchak dies.

This perplexing story has many unanswered questions that beg further investigation.

Yitzchak may have been blind in his eyes, but he was not lacking his mental faculties. Not only was he of full mind, he was Yitzchak Avinu, he had prophecy and Ruach HaKodesh. He knew exactly who his two sons were. Eisav may have tried to pull the wool over his eyes, but you cannot pull a fast one on Yitzchak Avinu!

Yitzchak all along intended to give two blessings, one to Eisav and another to Yaakov, two completely different blessings.

Right from the beginning he intended to give Yaakov the spiritual blessing, as indeed he did at the end of the parsha. He does not want to give Yaakov the material blessing, because it is not the essence, it is a possible stumbling block to the spiritual blessing. So, he decides to give it to Eisav, like his father gave Yishmael and the “other side of the family.” Material gifts for this world, but the essence, Olam Haba, goes to Yaakov – as it was always meant to.

Yitzchak is not worried about Yaakov managing materially in this world. G-d takes care of His own and He will take care of Yaakov, like He did with Avraham and like He did with Yitzchak himself. Yaakov doesn’t need a special blessing for material wealth, he will get it anyway.

But Rivka knew something that Yitzchak didn’t know. She knew what it meant to grow up in the home of evil people. When evil people get their hands on wealth and power, what do they use it for? For themselves and to destroy the rest of the world! Rivka was not worried about her son Yaakov and his descendants being taken care of materially. That was included as part of Yitzchak’s blessing always intended for Yaakov (at the end of the parsha). What Rivka was worried about, was not Yaakov, but the rest of the world! If the rest of the world is to survive, you cannot bequeath the blessing of wealth to evil people. Only if you place it in the custodianship of Am Yisrael, will the rest of the world prosper – because of Am Yisrael.

So, she devises a scheme to show Yitzchak that his intention with Eisav is wrong and that the material blessing cannot be given to Eisav as he will use it to destroy the world and not to sustain it. The deceit here was not directed against Yitzchak, it was directed against Eisav!

Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Yitzchak smells Yaakov dressed in Eisav’s clothes and it smells like the fragrance of Gan Eden (Bereishit 27:27). How did Yitzchak know what Gan Eden smelled like?

Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: Why does the parsha end with Yishamel “falling?” The Ba’al HaTurim says that the “falling” of Yishmael is immediately followed by Toldot, the descendants of Yitzchak, to teach us that in the end of days, in the time of Mashiach, Yishmael will “fall” and the descendants of Yitzchak (David HaMelech) will rise and inherit the world.

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