Musar su Genesi 25:11

This is the way the סמ"ג describes the commandment as number seven in his list of positive commandments. "One must walk in His good straightforward paths, seeing that the Torah says והלכת בדרכיו, as well as אחרי ה' אלוקיכם תלכו (Deut 13,5), which is interpreted in the Talmud Sotah 14a as a reference to G–d's virtues. Just as G–d provides clothing for the naked, since the Torah says: 'G–d made leather aprons for Adam and his wife and He clothed them,' G–d also visits the sick, as we know from the beginning of this פרשה. G–d comforts the mourners as we know from Genesis 25,11: 'After the death of Abraham G–d blessed Isaac.' G–d also buries the dead, as we know from Deut. 34,6: 'He buried him (Moses) in the valley in the land of Moab.' This is the way I explained the contents of this paragraph to the scholars of Spain. You should know the G–d of your fathers, and serve Him, for just as He is gracious and merciful, so you should be gracious and merciful. Just as He performs acts of kindness, justice and charity on earth, so should you. You have two examples. In Jeremiah 22,15 it is reported of King Josiah that 'he ate, drank and performed justice and righteousness, whereupon all was well with him. Then he judged the poor and the needy, and all was well with him. That is truly heeding Me, says the Lord.' We have another verse in Jeremiah 9,22: 'Thus said the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the strong man glory in his strength…but only in this should one glory; in his earnest devotion to Me, For I the Lord act with kindness, justice and equity in the world; for in these I delight, says the Lord." Thus far the סמ"ג.

We therefore see that the patriarchs by their very lifestyles reveal the mystical aspects of Creation through their lifestyles as reported in the Torah. Bereshit Rabbah 1,10, commenting on why the Torah commences with the letter ב instead of the letter א, mentions several reasons. The Torah wishes to indicate that there are two worlds, the עולם הזה, and the עולם הבא. The letter ב symbolises ברכה, blessing. The letter א would have been inappropriate, because it is the first letter of the word ארור, cursed. Had the Torah started with א, many would have thought that this was proof that the whole enterprise of Creation was doomed to failure, i.e. cursed. As a result of such considerations, G–d decided to create the universe by using the letter ב first, hoping that the universe would endure. We see that both the Creation and (the lives of) the patriarchs express the concept of ברכה, blessing. It is fitting then that the source of, or better key to, blessings should have been placed in the hands of the patriarchs. G–d first told Abraham about this in Genesis 12,2 when He literally commanded him to become a source of blessing by telling him that he had become the repository of blessings. Isaac inherited this gift from his father as we see from Genesis 25,11 where G–d passed on Abraham's blessing to Isaac after Abraham's death. The competition between Esau and Jacob was about which of the two would be the heir to this power to bless with which G–d had invested Abraham and subsequently Isaac. Jacob became the heir to this power to bless, and he in turn bequeathed it to his children. Abraham did not personally bequeath these blessings to his son Isaac but waited for G–d Himself to do so. The reason for this will be explained when we deal with the blessing that Isaac bestowed on Jacob. We will also quote the comments of Bereshit Rabbah on that subject.