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ותכהין HIS EYES WERE DIM through the smoke raised by these women in offering incense to idols (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 8). Another explanation is: When Isaac was bound upon the altar and his father was about to slay him, at that very moment the heavens opened, the ministering angels saw it and wept, and their tears flowed and fell upon Isaac’s eyes which thus became dim (Genesis Rabbah 65:10). Another explanation is: They became dim just in order that Jacob might receive the blessings (Genesis Rabbah 65:8).

ותכהינה עיניו, due to old age, as we find in Samuel I 3,20 when the eyesight of the High Priest Eli failed due to old age.

ותכהינה עיניו, just as what happened to the High Priest Eli who had not protested the wrongs committed by his sons. (Samuel I 3,13) In that instance the expression used is ועיניו קמה ולא יכול לראות, (Samuel I 4,15) Neither Avraham nor Yaakov experienced such problems in their old age at the age at which Yitzchok was struck by this affliction. They were both far older than Eli who died at the age of only 98. In fact, the Torah reports Avraham’s youthfulness in 25,1 when it reports him as taking another wife. Yaakov, with all the troubles he had experienced during his life was still able to see at 147 years of age, though with difficulty, (may be was very shortsighted then) as in Genesis 48,8 he is reported as clearly seeing Joseph’s sons, though they may have resembled each other so that he could not tell apart which one was Efrayim and which one was Menashe, This was in spite of the Torah (48,10) having told us ועיני ישראל כבדו מזוקן, “Yaakov’s eyes were heavy with old age,” (problems keeping the lids open?) At any rate, he could see, though not with clarity.

ויהי כי זקן יצחק, It came about when Isaac was old, etc. The reason that the Torah prefaces the paragraph by reporting that Isaac's eyesight failed him was to explain that Jacob took the blessings at a time when he was not afraid that his father would recognise him. The reason the paragraph is introduced with the word ויהי, which always introduces a painful episode, is to remind us that the subterfuge Jacob had to employ had many fateful consequences for the history of the Jewish people.

ויהי כי זקן, the word זקן is a verb in the past tense. The Torah relates that Yitzchok kept on aging until his eyesight was badly impaired. Yaakov experienced a similar problem; (48,10) In fact most people experience the problem of failing eyesight in their old age. In some instances this is a sudden phenomenon, in others it is a phenomenon experienced gradually. In the case of Yitzchok he was struck with this affliction more than 20 years before he died. He misinterpreted the onset of this phenomenon considering it as foreshadowing that his death would occur soon. In the event he was proven wrong. However, this is what prompted him to call in Esau at this time to bestow his blessing upon him before his death. Perhaps this failure of his eyesight at a premature time was one of the afflictions with which the righteous are sometimes afflicted. It may be that the reason why the Torah bothers with telling us this detail is to inform us that G’d subjects some of the righteous to some afflictions in this life in accordance with His wisdom. Some commentators attribute Yitzchok’s premature blindness to the smoke of the incense burned by his daughters-in-law to their respective deities. (quoted by Rashi).

ויהי כי זקן יצחק, “it happened when Yitzchok aged, noticeably;” According to Nachmanides, Yitzchok at that point had intended to bless Esau seeing that he would inherit the land of Canaan being the firstborn, and as such it would be his duty to uphold the covenant G’d had made with Avraham. Rivkah had never revealed to her husband the prophecy she had received while pregnant with the twins in her womb, according to which the older of the brothers would be subservient to the younger one. Had Rivkah revealed this information to him, Yitzchok would have been violating an express commandment by G’d if he had accorded the blessing of Avraham to his son Esau. The reason Rivkah had not revealed this information to her husband, was her innate modesty. She did not want Yitzchok to feel slighted that G’d had revealed information to her that He had not seen fit to reveal to her husband. Alternately, she thought that Yitzchok, being a saint, had to be aware of anything she knew and more than that, so that revealing to him something that he already knew would appear as if she had underestimated her husband’s close relations to his Creator. At any rate, she feared that due to his open preference for Esau, Yitzchok might not bestow a blessing on Yaakov at all. She was afraid that if she would reveal her prophetic vision to Yitzchok at this time, he would decide not to bestow a blessing on either son, but leave everything to heaven, as his father had done before him. Rabbi Joseph Kimchi does not believe that Yitzchok ever had the intention of bestowing on Esau the blessing of Avraham [which carried with it the power to bless or to curse effectively, Ed.] He did not feel that Yaakov needed a blessing, seeing that he was a righteous individual in his own right. He felt that Esau was in need of a blessing precisely because he was a wicked individual. He hoped that by providing Esau with the opportunity of pleasing his father by bringing him venison to eat, the pleasure he would experience eating it would restore a measure of Holy Spirit to him, something that had been lacking in his life of late. Even the prophet Elisha had suffered from the absence of such Holy Spirit until it had been restored to him as a result of the music played for him, something that relieved his mental depression. [in both cases the mental depression had been brought on by the person’s failure to see his words of benevolent instruction take root in the listener. Ed.] (Kings II 3,15)

Because of the smoke of these. This follows its simple meaning: smoke is bad for the eyes. But Rivkah was used to it, as explained in the previous entry. It seems to me that all three reasons are needed, as follows. First Rashi explains that Yitzchok’s blindness was from the smoke, as Scripture juxtaposed it right afterward. But this raises the question: Why did Hashem bring this misfortune on him? [Rashi answers:] Perforce, Hashem did not save him from this cause [of blindness] so that Yaakov could receive the blessing. But a question remains: In any case, if there was smoke, why did not Rivkah, too, become blind? Thus Rashi explains that Yitzchok’s eyes were already weakened from the akeidah, and the smoke caused him to lose his sight altogether. (Maharshal)

Wir folgen, wie schon wiederholt bemerkt, unseren Weisen, und halten es nicht für unsere Aufgabe, die Apologeten unserer großen Männer und Frauen zu sein, so wenig wie das Gotteswort es unterlässt, auch Verirrungen und Schwächen von ihnen zu berichten. Hat Rebekka Jakob veranlasst, den Vater zu täuschen, so steht da ungeschminkt: בא אחיך במרמה. R. Chanina äußert sich ( 67 ב"ר) über die in diesem Kapitel erzählten Vörgänge: כל מי שאומר הב"ה וותרן הוא, "wer etwa sagt, Gott lasse seinen Frommen etwas hingehen, "fromme" Männer dürfen sich schon etwas erlauben, יותרון מעיר, dem sollen die Eingeweide umgewendet, (eigentlich losgerissen) werden", אלא מאריך רוחיה וגבי דיליה ,זעקה אחת הזעיק יעקב אבינו לעשו אימתי נפרע לו בשושן הבירה ויזעק זעקה גדולה ומרה Gottes Langmut (Esther 4, 1 wie 1. B. M. 27, 34) borgt lange und fordert doch zuletzt das ihre, einen Schrei ließ Vater Jakob den Esau schreien, und der ward in Susa bezahlt, wo Jakobs Enkel über Esaus Enkel ebenso bitter schreien mußte". ג׳ דמעות, "drei Tränen׳, heißt es im Thanchuma, ג׳ דמעות הוריד עשו אחת מימינו ואחת משמאלו ואחת נסתלקה בתוך עינו והיא האכילתם לחם דמעה ותשקמו ברמעות שליש ,"drei Tränen weinte Esau, eine entquoll seinem rechte, eine seinem linken Auge und eine unterdrückte er, und sie, die bitterste, die nichtgeweinte hat uns das Brot des Exils mit Tränen gesalzen und uns die Tränen in vollem Dreimaß zu kosten gegeben". — Allein wenn eine besonnene, ruhige Betrachtung dieses Ereignisses eine Überzeugung aufnötigen sollte, bei welcher dasselbe viel von seinem Herben verlieren dürfte, so glauben wir nicht dieselbe deshalb unterdrücken zu müssen, um nicht als Apologeten zu erscheinen. Wird ja immer noch genug übrig bleiben, das sich der Billigung entzieht, zumal wenn es an dem Charaktermaßstab eines Volkes gemessen wird, dessen Ehrennamen, "ישורן" lautet, das nur auf "geradem" Wege alle seine Ziele erreichen, und dem jede Krümme für jedes Ziel widerstehen soll. —

ותכהינן עיניו מראות, “his eyes had become weak from seeing (too much).” One opinion cites Exodus 23,8 where the Torah tells us that accepting a bribe corrupts, i.e. blinds the eyes of even normally honest judges. Yitzchok accepting venison hunted by his son Esau, caused him to overlook the numerous shortcomings of his son Esau without rebuking him. An alternate explanation of the word: מראות, “from seeing.” G–d weakened his eyesight in order to enable Yaakov to secure Esau’s blessing for himself. This is presumably the reason why Rashi wrote that his eyesight became impaired from the smoke rising from the animals offered as sacrifices to a variety of idols. (Tanchuma, 8) The Midrash there explains this by means of a parable. When a person has two implements at his disposal, one made of bone, the other of earthenware. When he chooses to perform certain tasks with the earthenware implement for which it was not designed, it is liable to break into pieces. On the other hand, if he were to perform the same task with the implement made out of horn, it would not break into pieces. Yitzchok who was Avraham’s son, i.e. made of earth as G–d had made Adam, could not tolerate the smoke from these offerings of his daughters-in-law. Rivkah, being a woman, i.e. her origin was the bone of the first woman from which Chavah had been constructed, was not affected by that smoke.

ותכהינן עיניו, his eyes had become weak; but not Rivkah’s eyes; this is so because woman was created from man’s bone, as were the wives of Esau, and we have a rule that one bone does not harm another bone. {Tanchuma Toldot 8)[When bone hits bone nothing breaks. When bone hits vessels made of earth(enware) the latter is liable to be shattered. When G-d made Adam, He used earth. Ed.] An alternate exegesis: Rivkah’s eyes, which had been used to the smoke emanating from sacrifices offered to idols, had become immune to that smoke from childhood.

את עשו, Esau. The reason the Torah does not say ויקרא אל עשו, that Isaac called out to Esau, is that the latter was not present. Isaac merely called out Esau's name.

Suchen wir denn ein Verständnis der Handlungsweise der drei Hauptpersonen in diesem häuslichen Drama, so ist uns Jakobs Verfahren völlig klar und durchsichtig. Von vorn herein appelliert die Mutter an seinem blinden Gehorsam gegen ihren Befehl (Raw Hirsch on Genesis 27: 8). Sie erwartet nicht, dass er es um seines Vorteils willen thun werde, erwartet, dass sein ganzer Charakter als איש תם sich dagegen sträuben werde, und schneidet daher jede Einwendung durch den mütterlichen Befehl und die Pflicht des kindlichen Gehorsams ab. Alles dabei geschehende Unrecht und alle daraus entstehenden Folgen übernimmt sie; er hatte nur zu gehorchen. Was Jakob that, geschah daher nur aus Gehorsam gegen seine Mutter, und seine Handlungsweise trifft nur der Tadel, dass auch der kindliche Gehorsam seine Grenze in dem Gebote des Sittengesetzes findet, wo man auch aus Gehorsam gegen eine Mutter keine Täuschung begehen darf.

ויקרא את עשו בנו הגדול, “he called his senior son Esau.” From this adjective used by Yitzchok when calling Esau, we learn that when fortune smiles on the wicked it is permitted to flatter them. An alternate explanation for the word הגדול: seeing that Esau was such an important person at that time, replacing Nimrod, he is described as “the great.”

ויקרא את עשו בנו הגדול, “he called in Esau his elder son.” Both his father and his mother referred to Esau as גדול, “senior.” Rivkah is on record as doing so in verse 15 when the Torah tells us where Esau kept his valuable clothes. G’d, on the other hand, referred to Esau as קטן, “junior.” We know this from Ovadiah 2 הנה קטן נתתיך בגוים, “here I have made you junior amongst the nations.” The meaning of the word גדול is justified according to the popular proverb לקבל תורא טבחא, “one hands over the fully grown ox for slaughter.” Compare Isaiah 34,6: “For the Lord holds a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.” The prophet speaks of retribution being meted out to the descendants of Esau. Ed.] On the other hand, the reason the description “junior” when applied to Yaakov may be appropriate on occasions is that in verse 30 where he is so described by his mother, G’d retaliated in due cause by referring to Israel as ומי גוי גדול בארץ, “who is a great nation on earth such as Israel” (Deut. 4,5).

בנו הגדול, his older son. The Torah may have given as the reason that Isaac called first on Esau the fact that he was the firstborn; this would presuppose that Isaac did not know about the sale of the birthright. Alternatively, Isaac may have ignored the fact of the sale of the birthright and have based himself on Esau's being the elder, biologically speaking. The reason that Isaac wanted to give the wicked Esau a blessing was that he hoped to effect a change in Esau's character on account of the blessings he would bestow on him. In view of the statement in Bereshit Rabbah 80,1 that Dinah's rape was a punishment for Jacob who had hidden her from Esau's view at the moment of reconciliation, thus preventing Esau from marrying her, we may assume that had Rebeccah and Jacob not interfered with Isaac's intention Esau might indeed have become a penitent as a result of receiving such a blessing.

Allein, was hat Rebekka wollen? Der ärgste Juden- und Bibelfeind wird doch Vernunft, oder wenn man lieber will, Klugheit in ihrem Verfahren suchen müssen, ja, je verschmitzter ein solcher eine jüdische Ältermutter darstellen möchte, um so weniger wird er ihr die vollendete Imbezilität, die kinderhafteste Dummheit anmuten wollen. Und gleichwohl, wenn ihre Absicht nichts anderes gewesen sein sollte, als durch diesen Betrug den Vatersegen auf das Haupt ihres geliebten Jakob zu lenken, welchen irgend nur denkbaren Erfolg konnte sie davon erwartet haben! Schreibe man in ihrer Ansicht dem Vatersegen welche Wirkung man wolle zu, immer musste unausbleiblich der Erfolg in das Gegenteil ihrer Erwartung ausschlagen. Sollte der Vatersegen den vorzüglichen Gottessegen auf das Haupt des Gesegneten herabrufen, wie konnte sie glauben, — gelänge es auch den blinden Vater —, Gott den Allsehenden, durch eine so erbärmliche Mummerei zu täuschen, oder glauben, der Abrahamssegen, den Gott an die Bedingung des zu übenden צדקה ומשפט geknüpft hatte, könne von demselben Gott auf dem Wege einer solchen List und Täuschung erschlichen werden! War aber mit dem Vatersegen irgend ein konkreter Vorteil verbunden, etwa ein Vorzug in der einstigen Erbschaft, wie hätte eine solche, auf Betrug beruhende Erteilung nicht מקח טעות, nicht durch und durch in ihren Folgen nichtig sein sollen! War doch die Entdeckung des Betruges unausbleiblich. Wenn auch die Ausführung der Mummerei gelang, mit Esaus Heimkehr war unabweislich alles an dem Tag — das musste sich ja Rebekka sagen! Und dabei, wie plump die ganze Komödie, ein paar Ziegenfelle um Hals und Hände, wer als die vollendetste Arglosigkeit konnte damit getäuscht werden! — Was konnte sie mit einer solchen Komödie beabsichtigt haben? — Was anderes als eben die Komödie! Nur so, nur wenn die unausbleibliche Entdeckung von vornherein mit berechnete Absicht gewesen, gewinnt alles Sinn und Verstand, und wird von Rebekkas Standpunkt aus — begreiflich, und — wenngleich nicht völlig zu billigen — doch zufällig gleichzeitig auch sehr wohl zu entschuldigen.

Als Einleitung zu diesen Vorgängen haben wir den Bericht gelesen, wie Esau der großen abrahamitischen Aufgabe aus freien Stücken den doppelten Faustschlag ins Angesicht gegeben, indem er zwei chittische Frauen geheiratet. Wenn etwas Jizchak über die vollständige Unwürdigkeit seines ältesten Sohnes hätte die Augen öffnen können, so wäre es ja dies gewesen. Gleichwohl sehen wir Jizchak seinen ältesten Sohn rufen, um ihn zu segnen, d. h. ihn zum künftigen Führer und Lenker des abrahamitischen Hauses zu machen. Was muss Esau für ein "Jäger mit dem Munde" gewesen sein, wie muss er sich zu verstellen gewusst haben, dass er trotz seines ganzen unabrahamitischen Lebens den Vater getäuscht und sein Herz gefangen genommen!

In dem Wörtchen הנה נא זקנתי — נא — "siehe ich bin ja doch schon alt" — liegt klar, dass er schon lange den Entschluss gehabt, einen solchen Segen zu erteilen, dass dagegen aber remonstriert worden. Rebekka hatte ihm wahrscheinlich stets gesagt: lasse es doch noch, hat ja noch Zeit, bist ja noch nicht so alt u. dergl, und hatte gehofft, inzwischen Jizchak zu enttäuschen. Es war ihr aber nicht gelungen. Was wollte sie nun? Was konnte sie wollen? Nichts, als ihm einmal ad hominem zu demonstrieren, dass, und wie er getäuscht werden könne! Wenn ihm gegenüber selbst ein Jakoh, ein איש תם, sich als גבור ציד verstellen kann, wie viel leichter einem Esau, sich ihm als איש תם zu verstellen! Und das — Jizchaks Enttäuschung durch diese Täuschung — gelang auch Rebekka vollkommen. Sobald ihm die Täuschung zum Bewusstsein kam, fasste ihn ein jäher Schreck — er sah, nach dem Ausdruck der Weisen, das Gehinnom vor sich geöffnet, sah, wie er sein Leben lang getäuscht worden. Sofort fiel ihm die Binde von den Augen, er fasste sich rasch und fügte bewusstvoll und aus freien Stücken: ׳גם ברוך יהי hinzu.

So hat auch ר׳ יהושע בן לוי wohl diese Vorgänge aufgefasst, indem er (ב"ר z. St.) äußert: לא ממה שהיתה רבקה אוהבת את יעקב יתיר מעשו עשתה את הדיהבר הזה אלא אמרה לא יעול ויטעי בההוא סבא, "nicht etwa weil Rebekka den Jakob mehr als Esau liebte, hat sie dies gethan, sondern, damit dieser nicht mehr komme und den alten Vater täusche".

Auch Jizchaks Verfahren dürste bei näherer Betrachtung des Segens, den er Esau erteilen wollte, sich klarer herausstellen. Esau selbst hatte gar nicht erwartet, dass Jizchak ihm den ganzen Segen hätte erteilen wollen, fragt er ihn ja sogleich: הלא אצלת לי ברכה hast du denn nicht mir einen Segen vorbehalten, d. h. du hättest doch gewiss, wenn du mich gesegnet hättest, noch einen Segen für Jakob zurückbehalten, gib diesen Segen mir! Wohl gesteht ihm dies Jizchak zu, indem er ihm aber den Inhalt des Jakob erteilten Segens mitteilt, zeigt er ihm, dass nur dieser Segen sich für Esau geeignet hätte, der für Jakob zurückbehaltene Segen für Esau völlig ungeeignet war.

Zwei Elemente waren durch seine beiden Söhne in seinem Hause vertreten, in Esau die materielle Macht, in Jakob die geistige. Beide Richtungen, das war Jizchak wohl bekannt, sind für das Gedeihen der Nation nötig. Es war Jizchak ferner wohl die Prophezeiung bekannt: ורב יעבר צעיר, der materiell Stärkere werde dem materiell Geringeren dienen. Jizchak durfte aber geglaubt haben, die abrahamitische Bestimmung solle von einem Esau und einem Jakob in brüderlicher Vereinigung und gegenseitiger Ergänzung fortgetragen werden, und hatte deshalb Esau einen Segen materiellen Inhalts bestimmt, für Jakob aber einen geistigen in petto. Dieser für Jakob reservierte Segen hatte nun aber für Esau keine Bedeutung, dem Naturell und Sinn für diese geistige Seite des abrahamitischen Hauses abging. Rebekka aber kannte aus Labans Hause die Unmöglichkeit und den Unsegen einer solchen Zerklüftung, sie wusste aus Erfahrung, wie auch das Materielle nur in einem vom Abrahamsgeiste durchwehten Hause, in einer vom Abrahamsgeiste geleiteten Hand zum Segen und zur Heiles- blüte gelangt, sie schaute das Richtige, sie erkannte in dem entgeistigten Materiellen den Fluch, und sah den Segen nur ungeteilt auf einem Haupte erblühen. Solche Erwägungen dürften die Handlungsweise beider erklärlich finden lassen. Sehen wir nun das Einzelne.

לא ידעתי יום מותי I KNOW NOT THE DAY OF MY DEATH — R. Joshua the son of Korcha said: When a person approaches the age at which his parents died he may well be anxious five years before and five years after. Isaac was then one hundred and twenty three years old and he said, “Perhaps I shall only reach the age of my mother who died at the age of 127 and I am now within five years of her age: therefore, I know not the day of my death —I may only reach the age of my mother or it may be the age of my father” (Genesis Rabbah 25:12).

הנה נא, I beg of you, due to my old age and the fact that I want to bestow on you the blessing which is within my power to bestow, the blessing of Avraham concerning inheriting this land.

לא ידעתי יום מותי. Although the blessing will prove more effective the closer the one dispensing is to death, as was the case in the blessings dispensed by Yaakov and Moses, seeing that their souls were already closer to heaven at the time when they dispensed the blessing, Yitzchok was not aware of when he would die so that he could to time his blessing accordingly.

ויאמר...לא ידעתי יום מותי. Perhaps I will die suddenly so that I will not have a chance to bless you close before my death.

הנה נא זקנתי לא ידעתי יום מותי, “here I have aged and I do not know how soon I will die.” If I were to die now, you would lose your share of the inheritance seeing that Yaakov bought it from you. I therefore decided to divide my estate in accordance with the principle that when a father decides to divide his estate between the sons allotting more to one than to the other, but not disinheriting one of them, this is legally acceptable, (Baba Batra 8,5 compare Bartenurah) even if the firstborn thereby loses his extra share of the inheritance.

(3-4) Was mochte Jizchak veranlasst haben, seinem Sohne, den er segnen wollte, zu sagen: koche mir erst ein schönes Gericht! Man hat sonderbarer Weise eine Parallele in Elischas Saitenspiel (Kön. 11. 3, 15) finden wollen; als ob auch einem guten Braten eine das Gemüt begeisternde Kraft inne wohne! Man dürfte jedoch übersehen haben, dass nicht בעבור אברכך, sondern בעבור תברכך נפשי steht. Dies findet sich bei einem ähnlichen Segen sonst nie. Die Persönlichkeit segnet, aber nie irgend ein hervorgehobener Teil derselben, wie נפש. Ähnlich findet sich nur in Hiob: אם לא ברכוני חלציו Da ist es klar. Die Lenden, der erwärmte Leib des nackten .(Kap.31, 20) Armen fühlt die Wohltat des Wohltäters und segnet ihn dafür. Ebenso vom Menschen zu Gott: ברכי נפשי, wo nicht bloß allgemein der Entschluss Gott zu dienen ausgesprochen, sondern der Mensch angeregt werden soll, einmal durch und durch alles zu fühlen, was ihm Gott getan, damit jede Fiber seines Wesens ihm diene!

לא ידעתי יום מותי, I do not know when I shall die;” if I were to die suddenly, you (Esau) will lose all your money and your authority as you have sold your birthright to Yaakov. Therefore I wish to anticipate such an event by giving you my wealth while I am still alive so that Yaakov cannot deprive you of what was yours from birth. Gifts made during one’s lifetime cannot be challenged.

Somit dürfte es auch hier klar sein. Jizchak wollte Esau im Sinne seines künftigen Berufes segnen. Wie er hoffte, dass seine Anlagen sich einst für sittliche Zwecke segensreich betätigen sollten, so sollte er einmal im Momente des Segens erscheinen. Soll einmal das wilde Waidhandwerk für einen edlen menschlichen Zweck betätigen. Denn allerdings scheint es, dass dieses Jagen, um dem alten, schwachen Vater ein kräftiges Gericht zu bringen, nicht zu Esaus täglicher Beschäftigung gehörte. Er hatte Lust am Waidwerk, am rauchenden Blute, an Überwindung der Kraft der Tiere. Aber einem schwachen Kranken damit Labung zu erjagen, lag nicht in Esaus Charakter. "Nimm doch einmal die Geräte deines täglichen Berufes und erjage mir Wildbret und bereite du selbst mir schmackhafte Gerichte", sollst einmal die Geräte der wilden Jagdlust zu einer wohlthätigen, einen alten Mann erquickenden Handlung verwenden, sollst einmal fühlen, wie wohl es thut, mit seiner Kraft andern eine Freude zu machen. Darum lenkt er auch in dem Segen, den er dem vermeintlichen Esau erteilt, ihn von dem Waidhandwerk zu dem "von Gott gesegneten Felde" zu dem Ackerbau hinüber, zur Wahrung des Wohlstandes im jüdischen Nationalleben. Dieses Erquicktwerden und dieses Gesegnetwerden durch die gewährte Erquickung liegt in dem: בעבור תברכך נפשי. Darum auch Raw Hirsch on Genesis 27: 5: Jetzt ging Esau einmal auf die Jagd mit dem Zweck, !es nach Hause zu bringen ,להביא

שא נא — The word שא means sharpen, similar to what שא read in the Mishna (Beitzah 28a) “One may not sharpen the knife in the usual manner but one may sharpen it by passing it (משיאין) over another”. Isaac said to Esau, “Sharpen your knife and slaughter an animal according to the regulations so that you may not give me to eat נבלה” (i.e. the flesh of animal that is not killed according to the ritual rules) (Genesis Rabbah 65:13).

שא נא כליך, the reason for the repetition of the word נא both in verse 2 and verse 3 is similar to that in Genesis 12,11 where I have already explained it. [not found there. Ed.]

שא נא כליך, so that you will not return with your mission unaccomplished.

ועתה...כליך, the tools you use to hunt with.

תלייך, “your quiver.” According to Rashi this is a reference to Esau’s sword, swords being hung in their scabbard. [based on the root תלה, “he hung” Ed.] According to Ibn Ezra the word means “quiver,” i.e. the container within which the arrows are stored. Yitzchok told Esau to equip himself with his hunting tools, these consisting of a bow and arrows and their container, or the sword and its scabbard.

Sharpen your knife and slaughter properly... Meaning: there should not be a nick in the knife. Re’m asks: Granted that Yitzchok relied on Eisov, as he held him to be a good person. Nevertheless, since Eisov slaughtered birds in flight [with his bow], why was Yitzchok not concerned that the slaughter would be invalid because of chaladah [when the simonim — windpipe or esophagus — are cut under the cover of the feathers or skin]? Re’m answers as in Chulin 31a, [that the feathers around the neck were cut; see there]. But Re’m’s discussion is unnecessary, as Yitzchok never asked Eisov to bring fowl, only animals [such as deer]. This is as Rashi explains in v. 9: “The taste of kid is similar to the taste of deer.” Although our verse mentions the bow, which implies that Eisov was asked to shoot arrows at birds, however, the bow could be used for animals: he could shoot the animal so it cannot flee, but in a manner that does not render it a treifah, and then he would slaughter it with a sword. (Nachalas Yaakov)

וצודה לי צידה, “and hunt some venison for me.” The word for venison, i.e. ציד, has been spelled here with the letter ה at the end, to remind us that there are five potential causes that invalidate a ritually acceptable slaughtering of animals from making them fit for consumption by Jews.

תליך, “your quiver,” the bag fastened around one’s midriff containing the supply of arrows;”

תליך means thy sword which is usually hung (at the side).

תלייך¸ his bag containing his arrows.

תליך וקשתך, now he spelled out the tools in detail. Possibly, there were other hunting instruments in addition to these. תליך, is the quiver in which one keeps the arrows. Onkelos translates it as סיפך, “your sword,” (the ending ך in the word as a personal pronoun.). A sword would also be a tool which is hung in a scabbard, or suspended from one’s belt, so. that the root תלה implied in the word תליך is part of his translation.

וצודה לי ציד, “and hunt some venison for me.” This reveals that Yitzchok was quite unfamiliar with Esau’s lifestyle, as if he had been familiar with it he would not have eaten anything that had been killed by his son. Still, it is problematic how Yitzchok could have eaten animals that had been killed by an arrow. Some commentators therefore explain that Esau had perfected a technique of luring animals by imitating their voices so that when they came close he could slaughter them. This is what the Torah alluded to when it wrote כי ציד בפיו, “he hunted with his mouth.”

From the ownerless and not from the robbedtherwise, why does it say, “For me,” when it is written (v. 4), “Bring it to me”? Thus Rashi explains: “From ownerless....”

וצודה לי ציד, “and hunt some game for me.” If you were to question how it is possible for Yitzchok to have been eating the meat of animals that had not died through ritual slaughter even inadvertently, seeing that we have a statement by our sages that G-d protects the righteous from becoming guilty of this, seeing that He even protects their livestock from becoming guilty of this? (Talmud Chulin 7) We have to answer that Yitzchok stopped eating meat slaughtered by Esau after he found out that he was a heretic. He acquired his name as a ציד בפיו, before he had become a heretic.

צודה לי AND HUNT FOR ME [SOME VENISON] of animals that are ownerless, but not of such as are acquired by theft (literally, by robbery).

The word is derived from the root תלה, “to hang,” We find it used in this sense in Genesis 40,22 in connection with Pharaoh hanging the chief of the bakers, as well as in Judges 5,12 where the word שביך בן אבינועם is derived from the root שבה, Similarly, the word עניך in Genesis 16,11 כי שמע ה' אל עניך, “for the Lord has paid heed to your suffering,” is derived from the root ענה.

וצא השדה, Yitzchok issued this instruction as Esau did not go out hunting on a daily basis.

צידה, the letter ה at the end of this word is unnecessary. Our sages explain it as an acronym, warning the ritual slaughterer of 5 possible problems that would invalidate the halachically acceptable slaughter of an animal, i.e ,שהייה דריסה, חלדה, הגרמה, עיקור, undue delay in completing the severing of the vital pipes; leaning on the knife performing the cutting; a rusty blade, sliding of the knife from the correct position, tearing loose either of the two pipes.

צידה, spelled with the letter ה, but read as ציד. According to a well known aggadic interpretation the letter ה is an allusion to 5 major halachic requirements in killing an animal to make it fit for consumption by Jews. (compare Torah Shleymah 23)

THAT MY SOUL MAY BLESS THEE. It was Isaac’s intent to bless Esau that he merit the blessing of Abraham to inherit the land and to become the one with whom G-d would make the covenant since he was the firstborn.
It would appear that Rebekah never told Isaac of the prophecy which G-d had related to her, i.e., And the elder shall serve the younger,¹⁹⁹Above, 25:23. else how would Isaac transgress the commandment of the Eternal, seeing that it shall not prosper.²⁰⁰Numbers 14:41. Now at first she did not tell it to him due to ethical modesty, for the verse, And she went to inquire of the Eternal,²⁰¹Above, 25:22. suggests that she went without Isaac’s permission.²⁰²Hence due to ethical modesty she did not tell him of the prophecy for it would indicate a breach of wifely modesty for her to have gone without permission. [Perhaps she did not tell him because] she said, “I need not relate a prophecy to a prophet for Isaac is greater than the one who told it to me.”²⁰³This is a reference to the tradition mentioned by Rashi (25:23), which says that the prophecy was told to Shem the son of Noah and he told it to Rebekah. Therefore Rebekah said: “There is no reason for me to tell Isaac since he is greater in prophecy than the one who told it to me.” And now she did not want to tell him, “So was it said to me in the name of G-d before I gave birth,” for she reasoned that because of his love for Esau he will not bless Jacob, but he will leave everything in the hands of Heaven. And she further knew that by this arrangement of hers, Jacob will be blessed from Isaac’s mouth by an undivided heart and a willing mind. Perhaps these are causes induced by G-d so that Jacob would be blessed, and Esau as well with the blessing of the sword, And by Him alone actions are weighed.²⁰⁴I Samuel 2:3.

Made it into a tasty dish. Yitzchok knew that Eisov was not worthy of the blessing that he wished to confer upon him. For this reason he instructed him to perform an act of honor towards him to give him merit. By contrast when he blessed Yaakov (28:3) he knew that he needed no additional merit.

ועשה, he did not ask for venison because there was shortage of food in his home, for he was exceedingly wealthy. We observe that aged people progressively get tired of the food they are used to, and they crave something new to give them an incentive to eat and enjoy their food. Venison is a different kind of meat, not comparable in taste to the meat of sheep or goats or beef. Therefore Yitzchok asked Esau to bring him something which would put him in a pleasant frame of mind, the kind of good feeling which is a necessary prelude to bestowing a blessing with one’s entire heart. He was well aware that he needed something to put him into the right frame of mind as Esau’s general conduct was not one that commended itself to his father so that he would gladly volunteer such a blessing as he felt he was obligated to dispense. There would be no need to send Yaakov on such an errand prior to blessing him, as his righteousness made blessing him something natural.

ועשה לי מטעמים ואוכלה, “and prepare it for me into a delicacy so that I will eat it.” Seeing you had forfeited your birthright through something that you ate, I will help you to regain it through the food you give me to eat.

והביאה לי ואוכלה, “and bring it to me so that I may eat it.” Yitzchok said to Esau that he had sold his birthright in order to taste part of a single meal. He would now restore it to him by his acquiring the merit of feeding his father a meal prepared by him. This is what was meant by the words: הוי גביר לאחיך “become senior to your brother.” (27,29) [The reader is reminded that the blessing Yitzchok bestowed on the brother who fed him, Yaakov, had been intended for Esau. Ed.]

בעבור תברכני נפשי, “so that my soul can bestow a blessing upon you.” Yitzchok said to Esau: “tonight is the night on which in the future the Israelites will all offer the Passover, and the angels will respond with many songs of praises to the Lord. This will make blessings pronounced today especially acceptable in heaven, as they will become part of the myriads of blessings uttered at this time.” (Based on Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 32.)

לצוד ציד להביא TO HUNT FOR VENISON IN ORDER TO BRING IT —What is the force of to bring it? It means that he intended that if he would find no venison (flesh of a wild, ownerless animal) he would bring home of the flesh of an animal acquired by theft (Genesis Rabbah 65:13).

ורבקה שומעת, and Rebeccah was listening, etc. The Torah tells us that Rebeccah was a prophetess who always listened to Isaac's words even though she did not speak up in his presence. The. Torah alludes to this by saying ורבקב שומעת בדבר יצחק, "Rebeccah was listening whenever Isaac spoke." Normally we would have expected the Torah to write: ותשמע רבקה, "Rebeccah happened to overhear." The present tense employed here by the Torah here is most unusual. Maybe Isaac spoke to Esau in a whisper and that is why he believed that Jacob was really Esau; Isaac thought that Jacob could not have have heard of Isaac's instructions to Esau. Although Isaac's eyesight had begun to fail him, he called Esau to help him with something confidentially. Both Isaac's call and Esau's response, "I am ready" may be an allusion to the conspirational nature of the conversation.

ורבקה היתה שומעת בדבר יצחק, she saw that Esau had gone to carry out his father’s instructions and she told Yaakov about it as she was jealous that Esau should obtain this blessing. She did not realise that Yaakov would be blessed even if he did not receive a blessing from his father, and that was also what his father had assumed. Yitzchok was a righteous man, and he would never have become guilty of depriving Yaakov of a blessing which he deserved by giving it to Esau instead. Rivkah was so consumed with her love for Yaakov that she advised him to engage in cheating in order to secure the blessing for himself. She did not feel that there was something sinful in doing that.

בדבר, spelled with the “strong” ב.

ורבקה אמרה אל יעקב, And Rebeccah said to Jacob, etc. The reason that the Torah introduces the verse with the conjunctive letter ו is to tell us that Rebeccah agreed with the Holy Spirit which had conveyed this conversation between Isaac and Esau to her.

ורבקה..לאמר, she had a conversation with her son Yaakov, at the end of which she told him that his father had sent out Esau to bring him venison as a prelude to receiving the blessing.

לאמר, הנה שמעתי. to say, "here I have heard," etc. She wanted to make sure that Jacob realised that she had only just become aware of what had transpired between Isaac and Esau and that she could not be accused of having allowed too much time to elapse to take countermeasures. Jacob had enough time to carry out his mother's instructions.

אחיך לאמר, "your brother, saying." She did not mean that Esau was a true brother of Jacob in character; she used the word "your brother" to indicate that just as Isaac plotted with Esau, she now did the same thing with Jacob.

She also used the word לאמר to protect herself since she had not quoted Isaac's words to Jacob verbatim. She meant that she had told Jacob the gist of Isaac's words to Esau.

'לפני ה BEFORE THE LORD — By his permission: that He should approve of what I do.

AND I WILL BLESS THEE BEFORE THE ETERNAL BEFORE MY DEATH. In this entire section, the expression, before the Eternal, is not mentioned except in this place. This is because his mother said to Jacob, “The blessing will be before the Eternal with the Ruach Hakodesh,²⁰⁵See above, Note 90. and if Esau your brother be blessed with it, it will remain with his children forever, and you will have no standing before him.”

'לפני ה. “in the name of the Lord.” However, when the same expression לפני ה' occurs in 10,9 describing the prowess of Nimrod as a hunter, the meaning is that his prowess was something of global dimensions, that no other hunter could match him in this respect. Similarly, the expression לאלוקים in Jonah 3,3 describing the vastness of the city of Nineveh, refers to the unique size of that city, none other matching it throughout the world.

הביאה, she gratuitously added the words 'לפני ה, as if they had been Yitzchok’s words (which they were not). She intended thereby to convince her son Yaakov that the blessing about to be given to Esau was of an unusual, critical importance, one that would reflect a prophetic utterance by Yitzchok.

ואברכה לפני ה', “I will bless you in the presence of G’d.” Although Yitzchok had only said: בעבור תברכך נפשי, “in order that my soul will bless you, without adding the name of the Lord, he was certain that G’d would fulfill such a blessing when pronounced by him. After all, all blessings originate with the Lord.

With His consent... Question: How could Rivkah say, “In the presence of Hashem,” something which Yitzchok never said? The answer is that Rashi had a question: If Yitzchok considered Eisov righteous, why did he warn him so much on this day about neveilah and robbery? Rashi, [by explaining, “With His consent,”] answers that Yitzchok intended the blessings to be with Hashem’s consent — that He should grant His approval. This is why Yitzchok especially exhorted Eisov on this day. [And when Rivkah heard his exhortation, she understood that Yitzchok intended to bless Eisov “in the presence of Hashem.”] Rivkah said [to herself] about this: Since Eisov is going to bring any animal, even a stolen one [see Rashi on v. 5], he also will not obey his father regarding neveilah. If so, Hashem surely will not grant His approval. Thus she told Yaakov (v. 9, see Rashi there): “Take for me from there,” i.e., they are not stolen ones. (Nachalas Yaakov)

Das לפני ד׳ ist eine Umschreibung des נפשי: ich will dich als vor ד׳ wirkend, d. h. mit deinem Berufe wohlthuend, segnen.

'ואברככה לפני ה, “I shall give you the blessing that is approved by the Lord.” [Seeing that after Avraham’s death the Lord had conferred his power to bless on his son Yitzchok. (Compare 25,11). Ed.] Yitzchok explained that this was why he encouraged Esau now to perform deeds to be worthy of such blessings. The author refers to his commentary on Genesis 10,9, in connection with the expression: 'גבור ציד לפני ה.

The last two letters in the word ואברככה are כה.

ועתה בני שמע בקולי, "and now my son, listen to me and obey my instructions!" "hasten to bring me two young kids at once."

Listen to my voice as I instruct you. The word “to my voice” is redundant. What would have been lost had the scripture merely said “Listen as I instruct you”? We have already explained that every place “my voice” is used careful attention and understanding is implied. She told him to listen carefully as she was commanding, to hint to him that she is speaking with Divine authority.

ועתה...לך נא אל הצאן, to their flocks.

טובים, fat ones. We find that Avraham (18,7) also offered the angels calves which were רך וטוב, “tender and fat.” When we read about the seven good cows Pharaoh saw in his dream (41,26), the word for “fat” is also טובות.

שמע בקולי. "listen to my voice!" Although there is some deception involved in what I will instruct you, you still have to obey me apart from your duty to honour father and mother which is a positive commandment. Rebeccah stressed the fact that she was a prophetess and the Torah commands us to obey the prophets' instructions (Deut. 18,15). We have already explained (in connection with Genesis 16,5) that when a prophet asks you to disobey one of G'd's laws temporarily he is to be obeyed.

וקח לי AND TAKE FOR ME — (The words may mean “Take that which belongs to me”) — these are mine and not the proceeds of theft. Isaac had made provision in her marriage contract that she should receive daily two kids of the goats (Genesis Rabbah 65:14).

לך נא אל הצאן, take time out from your usual pursuits [in the tents] and go to the pens where the sheep and goats are kept.

שני גדיי עזים טובים, “two choice kids.” Rivkah specifically commanded Yaakov to bring her two choice kids. The question that is almost forced upon one is: “did Yitzchak consume two whole young kids every day?” According to Bereshit Rabbah 65,14 the marriage contract between Rivkah and Yitzchak made her a daily allowance of two young kids (so that she was not encroaching on her husband’s property when slaughtering these animals and selecting the most tasty parts thereof to prepare for him). Rabbi Chelbo, in the same Midrash, concentrates on the word טובים which appears superfluous seeing that Yaakov had no reason to select mediocre or undernourished kids. He says that the word is an allusion to what was going to prove “good,” i.e. beneficial for Yaakov and his descendants. Seeing that these kids would be the instrument of securing the blessings for Yaakov they would prove to be “good” for him. In addition, they would prove to be good for Yaakov’s children as they would be the principal sin-offerings offered on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16,5) securing forgiveness for the Jewish people, Yaakov’s descendants. “They are good for you,” i.e. Yaakov’s ascendancy over Esau who is described as an איש שעיר, “a demonic individual,” was due to the scapegoats one of which was offered to the azzazel, the spiritual equivalent of Satan-Esau by the Jewish people as something like a bribe. (compare Bereshit Rabbah 14 that the words ונשא השעיר עליו את כל-עונותם, “he (the scapegoat) will carry (figuratively speaking) upon himself all their sins,” refer to the sins committed when no warning had been received by the perpetrators. The sinners were תם, not rebellious. Seeing that Yaakov has been described as איש תם, it was appropriate that such an animal should serve as the instrument of atonement for his descendants.
The delicacies which Rivkah instructed her son Yaakov to enable her to prepare for Yitzchak were not of the type of free-roaming beasts to be found in the field, but they were domesticated animals. This is why she emphasised: “please go to the flocks.” Yaakov, after all, was not a hunter; he was a homebody, a dweller of tents who despised the sword as an instrument to gain one’s livelihood. The Israelites never offered sacrifices from categories of animals which are free-roaming, not domesticated. The prophet Jeremiah characterised the distinction between the Jewish people and the Gentiles when he said (Jeremiah 10,16) “not like these is the portion of Yaakov.” The word חלק means either “portion,” or it can mean “smooth” (with different vowels). The prophet referred to Yaakov as being a smooth-skinned man (according to 27,11). As a result of these considerations, Yaakov’s descendants were never told to offer sacrifices from the free-roaming beasts but only from the domesticated beasts as the Torah said (Leviticus 1,2) אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה' מן הבהמה, “anyone of you who wishes to offer a sacrifice to G’d, from the domesticated beasts, etc.”

One ... his Paschal offering and one ... as delicious food... You might ask: How does Rashi know it was Pesach? It seems the answer is: Yitzchok was born on Pesach, as Rashi explains in Parshas Vayeira (18:10). And Hashem completes the days of the righteous — they die on the same day they were born. This is as it says about Moshe (Devarim 31:2): “Today I am one hundred and twenty years old,” and Rashi explains: “Today, my days became complete. On this day I was born, and on this day I will die.” Since Yitzchok said (v. 2), “I do not know the day of my death,” i.e., perhaps I will die today, it must have been Pesach. (Maharshal)

טובים, “tasty.”

שני גדיי עזים TWO KIDS OF THE GOATS — Did then two kids of the goats form a meal for Isaac? But the explanation is: it being Passover he offered one as his Paschal sacrifice and of the other he prepared the savoury food. So is it stated in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 32).

גדיי עזים, on account of their skins whose hair is hard like human hair. This is why he took goats instead of lambs.

כאשר אהב SUCH AS HE LOVETH (Genesis 27:5) — For the taste of a kid is similar to the taste of a deer.

והבאת לאביך ואוכל, “and bring it to your father so that he may eat it.” She meant that through eating and enjoying its taste he would be in the mood to bestow his blessing. It is a fact that Holy Spirit comes to rest on people only when they are in a good mood. (Shabbat folio 30)

Fetch me two choice kids. The Midrash Rabba (Ber. 65:14) states, “good for you and good for your descendants: Good for you, because you will receive the blessings through them; good for your descendants, because they will pardoned through them on the Day of Atonement, one for God and one for Azazel [cf. Lev. 16:8] One ought to inquire as to the intent of the Midrash in stating this and for what purpose the Midrash points out that this alludes to the two kids that are part of the service on the Day of Atonement. One also ought to inquire as the the root cause of Rebeccah’s concern that the blessings be given to Jacob and she made several interventions with food and hides to ensure this. Also, Jacob received significant heavenly intervention. One ought to understand, first, that one main point is that all blessings pertain only to this world – “the fat of the earth, abundance of new grain and wine. (Gen. 27:28)” We do not generally find that the righteous make such an effort to engage in the materialism of this world. The second point is more difficult in that we see that even though Jacob is now blessed, most of the blessings of material benefits of this world accrue to Esau and the lesser portion accrued to the children of Jacob for only a few years. Therefore, it appears that all of this effort was for nothing, and Jacob suffered tremendously as a result of this because he needed to run away and be afraid of Esau.

איש שער means A HAIRY MAN.

ויאמר...שעיר. seeing that his skin was covered with hair all over, even his hands and throat.

Wiederholt heißt es hier und im Verfolge immer אמו, da sie nur als Mutter es forderte und er nur als Sohn gehorchen zu müssen glaubte.

איש שעיר, according to the Jerusalem Targum, “a very virile and hairy man.”

ימשני HE WILL FEEL ME — The word is of the same root as the verb in (Deuteronomy 28:29) “One groping (ממשש) at noon-day”.

PERHAPS MY FATHER WILL FEEL ME. The reason that Isaac will feel him is not for the purpose of recognition. Instead, Jacob said, “Perhaps he will bring me near him to kiss me or to put his hand on my face in the manner of a father demonstrating affection for his son, and in feeling me he will discover that I am smooth.”
Now I wonder why Jacob was not afraid of vocal recognition for all people are recognizable by their voice as our Rabbis have said, “How is a blind man permitted to live with his wife? And how are people permitted to live with their wives at nighttime? Only by vocal recognition.”²⁰⁶Chullin 96a. Now if ordinary people have such power of recognition, what of Isaac, who was wise and expert in distinguishing between his sons?²⁰⁷As Scripture testifies (25:28), his love was centered on one. He should truly have the power of recognition by voice. Perhaps the brothers had similar voices, and therefore the Sages said that the verse, The voice is the voice of Jacob,²⁰⁸Further, Verse 22. refers not to Jacob’s voice but to his words, i.e., that he speaks gentle language and mentions the Name of Heaven.²⁰⁹Bereshith Rabbah 65:16. Due to the fact that the voices of the brothers were alike, it was necessary for the Sages to interpret the verse, The voice is the voice of Jacob, as referring to the kind of language Jacob used. It may be that he altered his voice in order to speak as his brother did, for there are people who know how to do this.

ימושני אבי, the word is derived from the expression ממשמש בצהרים in Deuteronomy 28,29 describing people unable to find their way around at high noon, in spite of the sunshine, and having to feel their way about, using their hands in order not to stumble and fall. It is also similar in meaning to the word יסובבהו ערבי נחל in Job 40,22 where it describes the foliage of the reeds forming a protective cover..

ולא ברכה, if perhaps he had intended to bestow a blessing upon me also, if I deceive him, then instead of such a blessing I will receive a curse.

אולי...כמתעתע, seeing that he can hardly see I would deceive him saying that I am Esau, and if he will feel me and find that my skin is smooth, he will become angry and demand to know how I dared to deceive him and instead of blessing me he will curse me.

אולי ימושני אבי, “perhaps my father will subject me to a “touch-test.” Yaakov did not worry that his father would need such a test to recognise him, but he was concerned that in the process of offering and serving him the meal, Yitzchok would unintentionally touch him, even wanting to kiss him, something which could alert him to the fact that he was not Esau. Actually, it is remarkable that Yaakov did not worry that his voce would betray him for who he was in reality. We know that in the event, Yitzchok became immediately aware that the voice speaking to him sounded like that of Yaakov (Genesis 27,22). It is possible that the brothers, being twins, had very similar sounding voices, and that is why Yaakov was not worried about being recognised by his voice. When the Torah wrote: “the voice sounds like the voice of Yaakov,” this is not a reference to the tone of voice, etc., but to the manner of Yaakov’s speech, which was so totally different from the mode of speech used by his brother. It is also possible that he had tried to fake his voice to sound like that of his brother. The art of impersonating other people’s voices is a well known phenomenon.

כמתעתע, wie ein Betrüger, wie einer, der jemanden irre führen will! Dieses "כ" erklärt alles. Jakob war kein Betrüger, wollte nicht täuschen, allein er wird, meint er, gar nicht Zeit haben, Jizchak aufzuklären, dass er nur der Mutter nicht ungehorsam sein wollte, Jizchak wird ihm sofort als Betrüger fluchen. Damit hatte er ihr aber auch indirekt auf die ehrerbietigste Weise gesagt, wie verwerflich ihm das Ganze, wie es ihm als fluchwürdige Täuschung erscheine.

והבאתי עלי קללה, “I will bring a curse upon myself as I am bound to lie by saying ‘I am Esau;’ if I do not lie, he will not believe me.” Furthermore, all he has to do is to touch me and he will know that I am not Esau. He will curse me for having deceived him.”

ימושני, the root of the word is משש, the letter shin has a dagesh.

כמתעתע, the root of the word is תעה, even though both the first and second root letters appear twice in the word. We have a parallel expression מעשה תעתועים in Jeremiah 10,15, as well as in Chronicles II 36,16 ומתעתועים בנביאיו, a reference to false prophets and religious dignitaries who deceive their followers.

והבאתי, I will be the cause of bringing a curse upon myself.

עלי קללתך, upon me and my neck; she was relying on the prophecy she had received during her pregnancy that the older son would serve the younger one (25,23)

עלי קללתך, I will take your curse in your place should you become the subject of a curse. We find in Sanhedrin 48, that Solomon is reported to have accepted for himself any curse which would devolve upon him for carrying out his father’s dying wish not to let Yoav die a peaceful death and David’s curses against Yoav. In the event, Solomon or his descendants were afflicted with these curses. [I presume the author just wished to authenticate that Rivkah’s statement was not spurious, and that one can substitute oneself for the target of curses pronounced on someone else. Ed.]

עלי קללתך בני, "may your curse be on me my son!" The reason that she added the word "my son," although she had been talking to him all the time was that she referred only to what Jacob had said last. We have a rule in Makkot 11 that the curse of a Torah scholar, even if uttered only conditionally, is effective. Had Rebeccah not added the word "my son," we would have thought that she referred to Jacob's being cursed by Isaac when he found out he had been tricked.

ותאמר לו אמו עלי קללתך בני, “His mother said to him: “any curse will devolve upon me, my son.” According to Onkelos, Rivkah said what she said in view of the prophecy which had been revealed to her during her pregnancy that her older son would serve the younger one as his master. Another approach suggests that she meant: “he will not curse you but he will curse him or her who made you deceive him.” (in other words, “he will curse me”.) Yet another commentary offered is that the word קללה, loosely translated as “curse,” actually implies that the victimised party will be deprived of something. Rivkah assured Yaakov that if he were to be deprived of his inheritance as a result of this charade, she could make it up to him out of her marriage settlement.

עלי קללתך בני, “may any curse your father curses you with strike me instead.” What Rivkah meant by these words was that: “your father would not curse you, but me.” It is something generally accepted that when children do not behave in the manner they should, it is their parents that are blamed for not bringing them up properly.

עלי קללתך בני, “neither you nor I need worry as I am certain that what G-d has told me before the two of you have been born will come true. So I can safely say that I will absorb any curse you might be cursed with.”A different exegesis: Rivkah meant that even if Yitzchok would subject Yaakov to a “touchtest” in order to assure himself that he was Esau, he would never curse him, as he would realise that you would never have tried to deceive him if I had not put you up to this charade. If he would curse anyone, he would curse me.”A third possible exegesis of this line: the curse would backfire on me; why would he curse someone who had brought him such tasty food? Our author uses the line על עמך ברכתך, “Your blessing be upon Your people” in Psalms 3,9 as a comparison. [The curse in that context would befall the people mentioned in the previous verse. Ed.] You would only become cursed if you refused to carry out what I command you. Listen to me and go and get me the goats.”

In order to understand Rebeccah's special love for Jacob the following considerations may help. Rebeccah generally was looked upon askance because she had given birth to the wicked Esau. We find in nature that parts of a whole display an affinity for other parts of the same whole. Rebeccah testified that this rule did not apply in her case, that her deeds proved that she had no affinity for Esau. Her womb was indeed blessed, and the good part (Jacob) represented that which was normal, hence her love for Jacob. The Torah teaches us this by repeatedly describing Jacob as Rebeccah's son even in instances where these additional words are otherwise quite superfluous (compare verses 6,8,11,13,15,17,42). All of this is to underline that Jacob's righteousness was a direct outgrowth of his righteous mother. The fact that she had given birth also to an Esau was not a reflection on his mother's personality.

Kabbalists, of course, are aware that there are mystical dimensions which account for the emergence of Esau as a potentially wicked person, whereas it was Rebeccah's union with Isaac which was the cause of any pollutant disturbing her holiness. Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai is quoted in the Zohar (Sullam edition Chayey Sarah 251) as explaining that the reason the Torah describes Isaac as loving his wife Rebeccah, something that is natural and does not require special mention, is that the love of the male for the female is rooted in the "left" side of the emanations. in Isaac's case it was the fire of the גבורה, his predominant characteristic which stems from the "left side" of the emanations.. If the holiness of the two was tainted in any way this was due more to Isaac than to Rebeccah. Jacob's physical perfection is compared to that of Adam's before the sin, as we know from Baba Metzia 84. He did not therefore inherit any pollutant from his mother. Students of the Kabbalah will understand all this. [I have elaborated on the author's text to make it more intelligible for the non-kabbalist. Ed.] When we wrote earlier (25,20) that the reason that Esau was wicked was because Rebeccah had a wicked brother called Laban, this did not influence Rebeccah's character.

החמדות THE COSTLY GARMENTS — the clean ones, as the Targum has it, דכיתא (clean); (cf. Rashbam). Another explanation: They are called חמדות literally, coveted ones, because he had coveted them from Nimrod (who also was a hunter; cf. Genesis 10:9) (Genesis Rabbah 65:16)

ESAU HER ELDER SON, JACOB HER YOUNGER SON. The reason why Scripture mentions this is to accentuate the unusual action of the righteous one,²¹⁰Rebekah. for parents customarily give recognition to the firstborn in blessing, honor, and gift,²¹¹See Ramban above, 25:34. but she, knowing of the righteousness of the younger and the wickedness of the elder, went to all this trouble to transfer the blessing and the honor from the elder to the younger. Similarly, it says further on, And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah, and she sent and called Jacob her younger son.²¹²Further, Verse 42.

החמודות, the ones his father would use when he ate his meals.

ותלבש את יעקב בנה הקטן, she dressed Jacob her younger son. This means she adapted these clothes to fit her smaller son though they were tailored to fit the measurements of her bigger son Esau.

וילך..ותקח...החמודות, costly garments which he would wear on special occasions, especially when taking his places among the leading personalities of his time. He would keep these clothes wrapped in fragrant flowers from the field so that they would exude such a fragrance when worn. This is why Yitzchok reacted to Yaakov’s appearing before him dressed in these garments by saying: “the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of the field.” Rivkah also covered Yaakov’s throat and arms with the skins from the goats so that Yitzchok would think that Esau was indeed standing before him.

את בגדי עשו בנו הגדול, ”the garments of her older son Esau.” The use by the Torah of the terms בנו הגדול and בנו הקטן, instead of the customary בנו הבכור and בנו הצעיר, for the older son (the firstborn) or the younger son, is intended to underline that although, usually, honour is accorded to the firstborn, etc., Rivkah being aware that her firstborn son had forfeited any claim to such honour, thought of her two children in terms of the physically older one and the physically younger one, i.e. הגדול והקטון, respectively. She was now concerned with arranging for the transfer of the undeserved privileges of birth from her undeserving older son to her deserving younger son.

The ones he coveted from Nimrod. Meaning: These garments bore pictures of all kinds of animals, and when Nimrod would wear them and go out to the field, the animals would think the pictures were animals, and would approach him. Eisov killed Nimrod and took the garments.

אשר אתה בבית, beiläufig ein charakterisierender Einblick in Esaus Ehe. Seine Kostbarkeiten vertraute er nicht seinen Frauen an!

החמודות, “the choice ones;” these garments had pictures of all the animals and birds in the world painted outside in a manner that the viewer considered these creatures as being alive. Whenever the wearer walked in the field, the animals in that region were attracted by these pictures so that they were easy prey for the hunter. Esau had taken them from Nimrod, when he slew him (B’reshit Rabbah 65,16). According to this Midrash it is difficult to understand why Yaakov would dress up in those clothes. We must assume that Rivkah was anxious for Yaakov to appear as much as possible like his brother Esau.

החמודות, “the valuable ones, the new ones with which Esau wants to impress the people with whom he deals. They are the ones which he wears when he performs tasks his father asks him to perform.” And that is why Yitzchok could smell them, for the smell of new clothes is noticeable. A different exegesis: החמודות, the one he wears always when he goes out hunting to kill venison. Your father is familiar with the smell of these garments and will not question the identity of the wearer of them. [This makes little sense to me, as Esau had already left on his errand to hunt game to feed his father. He would not likely have possessed two such sets of garments. Ed.]

אשר אתה בבית WHICH WERE WITH HER IN THE HOUSE — But he had several wives and yet he stored them with his mother! But the reason for this was that he was acquainted with their practices and was suspicious of them (Genesis 10:9) (he feared that they might steal his clothes) (Genesis Rabbah 65:16).

.הלבישה על ידיו, “she placed on his hands and arms.” The reason why she took goats’ skins was that these hairs are harder than those of sheep and more closely resemble human hair.

ותתן את המטעמים, no mention is made of the meat as it was included in what is described here as מטעמים, The latter are considered as the major ingredient of the meal as this is what Yitzchok had asked his son Esau for (verse 4). He wanted the meal to be well spiced so that he would find it tasty, to his liking.

She placed the tasty dish and the bread. Yaakov did not take them on his own because he was not enthusiastic about this subterfuge.

בנה, siehe Raw Hirsch on Genesis 27: 11.

ואת הלחם, for she prepared fresh bread for him.

ויבא אל אביו, into the room where he was lying down. He called to him: אבי, seeing he (Yitzchok) could not see him.

הנני, with a dagesh in both letters נ.

?מי אתה, seeing that he had addressed him simply with the word אבי, he had doubts about whose voice he had heard he had to ask: “who are you?”

אנכי עשו בכרך I AM ESAU THY FIRST-BORN — I am he that brings food to you, and Esau is your first-born.

ואכלה מצידי, the letter א has a chataf kametz abbreviated kametz, underneath it as the word is in an imperative mode. We have a parallel mode in Kohelet 9,7 אכול בשמחה לחמך, “eat your food joyfully,” the letter א having an abbreviated vowel segol for the same reason. On the other hand, the word ואוכלה in ואוכלה מציד בני in verse 25 of this chapter has the vowel cholem, as it is in a future mode. Just as the word זכור in זכור ה' לדוד, ”O Lord, remember in David’s favour” is in an imperative mode, and the words זכרה לחסדי דוד, “remember the loyalty of Your servant David” in Chronicles II 6,42 are in an imperative mode, so the word אכלה here is also in the imperative mode.

אנכי עשו בכרך. "I am Esau your firstborn." Jacob meant that seeing he had purchased the birthright from Esau, he was now the legal Esau. He added: עשיתי כאשר דברת אלי, "I have done in accordance with what you have said to me," meaning that the reason you told Esau to hunt game, etc., was because you assumed that he was your firstborn.

ויאמר...אנכי עשו בכרך, some people wonder how Yaakov, a righteous person, could say something like this, an outright lie in their opinion. Actually, the matter is not so strange seeing that Yaakov knew that he was entitled to the blessing more than his brother, and that the spirit of prophecy would come to rest on Yitzchok so that he would bless him instead. If, in a situation such as this, the tzaddik changes words so that they sound like a lie, this is in order and does not reflect on him negatively. Our example is Samuel I 16,2 where G’d tells the prophet Samuel to go and crown one of Yishai’s sons as the future king of Israel. In order to escape suspicion in case Sha-ul would challenge his trip to Chevron where Yishai lived, G’d told him to take with him a calf and to claim that he was taking it to Chevron to offer as a sacrifice. Besides, Yaakov was well aware that both his father and his grandfather had on occasion told lies about the marital status of their wives. No one ever accused either as having told lies, seeing there was an adequate reason for telling such a lie. Yaakov therefore was entitled to tell such a lie under the circumstances, and by representing himself as the one who was to get this blessing this did not turn him into a liar. Furthermore, in doing what he did he carried out his mother’s instructions. The Torah specifically orders איש אמו ואביו תיראו “you shall be in awe of your mother and father.” (Leviticus 19,3) Also, his mother was known to be a prophetess, so that her instructions could be trusted without reservations. Onkelos translates verse 13 עלי קללתך בני, to mean that what Rivkah said was “I have received a prophetic vision telling me that you will not be cursed.”

I am the one who brings you, and Eisov is your first-born. Otherwise, Yaakov lied. You might object: He still lied, for Eisov had sold him the birthright. How could he say, “Eisov is your first-born”? The answer is: Yaakov bought only the rights, i.e., the sacrificial service entitled by the birthright, not the birthright itself. Eisov remained the first-born for the double inheritance. Another answer: Eisov was indeed the one born first [although he sold the accompanying rights].

אנכי, עשו בכור, “it is I; Esau is your firstborn.” There are some commentators who claim that Yaakov considered the situation as so critical for his future that he permitted himself the kind of lie his grandfather Avraham had used when he referred to his wife by saying that she was his sister. (Ibn Ezra) He had also used a similarly false statement before the binding of Yitzchok, when he told the accompanying lads that both he and Yitzchok would return to them from Mount Moriah, something which at that time was a lie, as he expected to slaughter Yitzchok. (Genesis 20,13) David in Samuel I 21,3 told the High Priest in the town of Nof that he was on a mission from his king, which was not true, as he was in the process of fleeing from him. The prophet Michayu told the king of Israel, Achav, in Kings I 22,15 who had asked him if his planned war to recapture Yavesh Gilad would be successful. He wished the king success, making it appear that his answer was in the affirmative, though he knew that Achav would not return alive from that battle, but would be killed. In Kings II 8,10 the prophet Elisha sent a message to King Ben Haddad of Aram who was ill that he would recover, when he knew full well that this was not so. He had told the messenger whom the king had sent to him the truth, however. An alternate exegesis of Yaakov’s words: “I am taking the place of Esau your firstborn.” He felt entitled to use this formulation as Esau had already sold him the birthright (48 years earlier).

עשיתי I HAVE DONE many things at different times כאשר דברת אלי ACCORDING AS THOU SPAKEST UNTO ME

קום נא שבה, he told his father to get up and sit up as he had found him lying down.

בעבור תברכני נפשך, “in order that your soul will bless me.” The question that presents itself here is if Yaakov only fed his father for the sake of receiving a reward? Yaakov spoke words that would help convince his father that he was Esau, as Yitzchok had said to Esau when he had not been present: בעבור תברכך נפשי, “so that my soul will bless you.” (verse 4)

שבה SIT — The word means to sit at the table and therefore it is translated in the Targum by אסתחר (from סחר to “go round” corresponding to the Hebrew סבב from which the term מֵסֵב to recline at, to sit round the table at a meal is derived).

ואכלה, an imperative mode with an added letter ה, the letter א having a chataf kametz, an abbreviated vowel kametz.

ויאמר יצחק, because of the sound of Yaakov’s voice his mind had been alerted so that he began to examine the person standing before him more closely. The fact that so little time had elapsed since he instructed Esau to go hunting made him suspicious that it might not be Esau standing there.

How is it that you found it so quickly. Yitzchok had intentionally given Eisov an arduous assignment to increase his merit. Hashem … brought it about for me. I myself did not expect to find the prey so close by. Your God. This was a sign the animal was sent for this purpose in your merit.

כי הקרה ה' אלוקיך לפני, “because the Lord your G–d has so arranged it for my benefit on this day.” Esau used the same phraseology that Eliezer had used when on his way to find a wife for Yitzchok (Genesis 24,12) The ram which was entangled by its horns in Genesis 22,3 was also something that G–d had made happen just for that occasion, so that Avraham would not feel that he had come all the way without G–d accepting an offering from him. The root קרה occurs only in connection with things which occurred without visible preparation for use at a certain moment. (B’reshit Rabbah, 65,19) According to the Midrash there, the moment the person before him used the tetragram when referring to G–d, Yitzchok knew that that person could not be Esau.

כי הקרה ה' אלוקיך, “your merit has assisted me to accomplish my mission so quickly, seeing that what I did was for your sake.”

גשה נא ואמשך STEP NEAR, I PRAY THEE, THAT I MAY FEEL THEE — Isaac said to himself, “It is not Esau’s way to mention the name of God so readily, and this one says, “Because the Lord thy God caused it thus to happen to me! קול יעקב (Genesis Rabbah 65:19).

COME NEAR, I PRAY THEE, THAT I MAY FEEL THEE. Rashi comments: “Isaac said to himself, ‘It is not Esau’s way to have the Name of Heaven so readily in his mouth.’” This interpretation is found in Bereshith Rabbah.²⁰⁹Bereshith Rabbah 65:16. Due to the fact that the voices of the brothers were alike, it was necessary for the Sages to interpret the verse, The voice is the voice of Jacob, as referring to the kind of language Jacob used.
But I wonder about this for Esau was not wicked in his father’s eyes!²¹³This being so, how could the mention of G-d be a distinguishing mark for Jacob? Perhaps Isaac thought that since Esau is a man of the field and his heart is set on the hunt, he is not wont to mention the Name of Heaven for fear that he might mention it in some unclean place and without proper concentration. In the eyes of his father, this was considered a manifestation of his fear of Heaven. In line with the simple meaning of Scripture, this was because of vocal recognition.²¹⁴Since the voice instilled doubt as to his identity, Isaac desired to feel him.

ויאמר...ואמשך בני, the letter ש in the word ואמשך lacks the dagesh we would expect if it were in the transitive mode. It should have had this dagesh just as it is written with the dagesh in the word ימושני in verse 12 and in verse 22.

It is unusual for Eisov to readily mention God’s Name... You might ask: Did not Yitzchok consider Eisov completely righteous? The answer is: For the very reason that he was completely righteous, he would not mention Hashem’s Name needlessly! [You might object:] This surely should be true of Yaakov, and Yitzchok considered him more righteous than Eisov, as explained above. [The answer is:] Yitzchok reasoned that Eisov cannot avoid filthy places, thus he is more careful than Yaakov about mentioning Hashem’s Name. For Yaakov dwelled in tents [of Torah study] and did not enter filthy places.

THE VOICE OF JACOB, because he speaks in an entreating strain —“Arise I pray thee.” Esau, however, spoke in a harsh strain (v. 31) “Let my father arise” (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 11).

הקול קול יעקב, seeing that Esau and Yaakov were twins, their voices were similar to one another. This made it easy for Yitzchok to err as to who was in front of him if he were to rely only on his sense of hearing. Having first established that unlike Yaakov who was smooth skinned, the son in front of him was hairy, Yitzchok was now faced with a dilemma whether to trust his sense of hearing or his sense of touch.

והידים ידי עשו. There can be no question that the skins had been prepared in such a fashion that the hair on them were just like the hair on human skin, for in its natural state the hair on goatskin is considerably different from that on a human skin. What the Torah testifies to then is that Yaakov’s hands now were just as hairy as the hands of Esau. It is quite possible that not only Yitzchok’s eyesight had deteriorated to the point where it did not serve him to identify objects with any degree of certainty, but that also his sense of touch had become weakened as a source of identifying objects he touched. Samuel II 19,36-37 would support this where Barzilai lists a number of his faculties which suffered weakness as a result of old age.

ויגש...והידים, he did not examine the skin on the (supposed) smooth part of his throat. He relied solely on checking his arms.

הקול קול יעקב, “the voice sounds like the voice of Yaakov, etc.” Rashi writes that Yitzchok meant it was not the habit of Esau to mention the name of the Lord in his conversation, something that made Yitzchok wonder who stood before him. Nachmanides writes that it his hard to imagine that Yitzchok viewed Esau as a wicked person and yet he was about to give him the blessing of Avraham. Possibly, he thought that seeing that Esau was a man of the field, he deliberately refrained from mentioning the name of the Lord, as he might utter it in a location where it would not be appropriate to do so. In other words, Yitzchok considered the very fact that Esau did not usually mention the name of the Lord as a point in his favour. From the point of view of the plain text, we are being told that the voices of the two sons were quite different from one another, and Yitzchok could not fail to notice this.

הקול קול יעקב, “the voice is the voice of Yaakov.” We are taught in Bereshit Rabbah 65,21 that “Yaakov (the Jewish people) controls (employs as his weapon) only his voice (his weapon is prayer).” The Midrash bases this on our verse here. The Midrash continues that by the same token Esau’s control extends only over his hands (he relies only on the sword), as Yitzchak had added: “and the hands are the hands of Esau.” Similarly, we have a verse in Psalms 20,8 אלה ברכב ואלה בסוסים ואנחנו בשם אלוקינו נזכיר, “They (call) on chariots, they (call) on horses, but we call on the name of the Lord our G’d.” Moses referred to this in Numbers 20,16 when he reminded the king of Edom of the experiences of the Jewish people in Egypt. He said: “We cried out to the Lord and He heard our voice.”
Rabbi Abba bar Kahane said that the most prominent Gentile philosophers such as Bileam son of Beor and Avnimus the Ardi were asked how one could overcome the power of the Jewish people. They were told to go to the synagogues and check on whether the young children were busily engaged studying Torah and praising the Lord. If so, they were told, there was no chance in the world to overcome these people, as their principal weapon was their voice appealing to G’d to come to their support.

He spoke gently and entreatingly... [Rashi knows this] because if it follows its simple meaning, i.e., Yitzchok recognized his voice, then Yitzchok immediately should have commented when hearing him say, “It is I, Eisov your first-born.” Furthermore, when Yaakov said to his mother, “Suppose my father touches me” (v. 12), why was he not worried [also] about being recognized by voice? Perforce, their voices were similar, and this is why Rashi explains “the voice of Yaakov” as speaking entreatingly.

הקול קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו, “the sound of the voice is that of Yaakov, whereas the feel of his hands is like that of the hands of Esau.” According to Midrash Rabbah, 69,20 the deeper meaning of these words is that Yitzchok knew that Esau could cause harm only with his hands, when near the victim, whereas Yaakov, whose weapon was prayer, could use that weapon over vast distances.

.הקול קול יעקב, “the voice is distinctly the voice of Yaakov;” Yitzchok was not willing to base his judgment on the voice alone, as people are apt to disguise their voices on many occasions, both voluntarily and involuntarily. However he did not let this disturb him as the evidence of Yaakov’s arms and hands which were hairy were a much better indication that Esau indeed was standing in front of him. This was why he proceeded to give him a blessing that he had intended to give Esau.

Spoke stridently... Although Yitzchok considered Eisov completely righteous, this does not show Eisov’s wickedness. There are many people who speak stridently although they are good people.

They were hairy and he blessed him. Until he felt him he suspected he was an imposter and intended to curse him and as the Sages have taught — one who wrongly suspects his colleague is required to bless him.

ולא הכירו כי היו ידיו כידי עשו, he did not recognise him since his hands were like those of Esau. Isaac rejected the doubt created by Jacob's voice since a person can change his voice or the listener may mistake a voice for that of someone else, whereas he cannot change the hairs on his hands, a very distinctive mark of identification.

Die Stimme und auch wohl die Redeweise — ד׳ אלקיך, wie die Weisen bemerken — erkennt Jizchak als Jakobs Stimme, und lässt sich doch durch eine solche einzelne Äußerlichkeit wie die haarichte Hand täuschen! So mag es wohl auch im ganzen Leben gewesen sein. Der Totaleindruck Esaus auf Jizchak war gewiß auch kein günstiger, und dennoch ließ er sich durch einzelne erkünstelte Äußerlichkeiten irre leiten.

ויברכהו, he blessed him. Before Isaac touched Jacob and established that he was Esau nothing had contradicted his impression that it was Jacob's voice he heard and that therefore he was faced by a swindler. Isaac had begun to think along the lines Jacob had been afraid of, i.e. that the swindler deserved to be cursed. Even though Isaac had not yet thought that far, he did begin to hate the person who he thought was trying to swindle him. The Talmud reports in Baba Metzia 84 that when the righteous are looking at someone with displeasure this brings a curse in its wake. [Rabbi Yochanan's displeaure at Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish's remarks resulted in the latter dying. Ed.] The Torah reports Isaac as blessing Jacob as a result of feeling his hands to teach us that he reversed his erstwhile intentions.

ויאמר אני AND HE SAID I AM — He did not say, “I am Esau”, but “It is I”.

אתה זה בני עשו, it would appear that you are my son Esau.

ויאמר אתה זה בני עשו He said: "you are indeed my son Esau" Isaac justified his bestowing the blessing. This verse is not a question. Jacob's reaction was a confirmation that Isaac was correct, of course.

ולא...ויאמר אתה זה, this is a form of a question, even though it is not accompanied by the letter ה in front of the word אתה which we would have expected to introduce such a question. We find a similar construction in Kings I 1,24 אתה ומרת אדניה ימלוך אחרי? “did you (King David) say that “Adoniah will rule after me?” There are numerous similar constructions in Scripture. The reason why Yaakov phrased this as a question was that he was still not convinced that it was Esau because the voice [as well as the mode of speech. Ed.] was so similar to that of Yaakov. He was afraid of appearing as swindling Esau to whom he had promised the blessing, if he we were to bless Yaakov instead, although he loved Yaakov dearly. This is why he still continued with the examination.

There is another meaning to the words אתה זה. Inasmuch as Isaac had thought up to that moment that the voice indicated that Jacob stood before him, he now pointed at the body of the person before him saying: "you are Esau" seeing the hands had convinced him. When he articulated the blessings he concentrated on the person opposite him without regard to that person's name. This actually made Jacob the true recipient of the blessings, even though Isaac had made mention of Esau. At the time of the actual blessing Isaac concentrated exclusively on the person in front of him.

ויאמר...ואכלה מציד בני, as if he had said: “from your venison.” However, he used a formulation which was customary at the time.

ויבא לו יין וישת, “he brought him wine, and he (Yizchok) drank it.” Where did Yaakov take the wine from, seeing that his mother had only given him bread to accompany the delicacies she had prepared? According to the Midrash the angel Gavriel brought the wine whose origin was in Gan Eden to Yaakov. Presumably, the words of the Midrash were inspired by the fact that this is the only time in Scripture that the drinking of wine is described as having only positive results. When wine is mentioned as a gift by Malki Tzedek to Avraham, it was a subsidiary to the bread. (Genesis 14,18)

ויבא לו יין וישת, “he brought him (his father) wine and he drank.” Where did Yaakov suddenly get the wine from? We have not heard a word about his mother having given him wine to take along. Our sages assume that the angel Michael brought that wine from the celestial regions. This occasion, and the one when Malki Tzedek brought wine to Avraham when the latter had miraculously defeated the greatest army of its time, (Genesis 14,18) are the only two instances in the Torah when wine is described as a source of blessing. In both instances the people drinking the wine pronounced a blessing.

ויבא לו יין וישת, “he brought his father wine and Yitzchok drank it.” Wine was apt to confuse a person’s mind at times, so that he would not proceed further with worrying if this was indeed Esau or an impostor.

ויבא לו יין, in order to gladden his heart. In those days people generally did not drink wine with their meals unless the expression משתה, is employed by Scripture to indicate that wine was served.

"And kiss me". And he did not say "And I will kiss you". Kissing always depends on the greater party who kisses someone of lesser status. When they are equal each one kisses his fellow as in "And each man kissed his friend". Rather he said so (kiss me) because Yitzchak could not see Yaakov and was not able to kiss only to feel. Therefore he told his son to kiss him.

גשה נא ושקה לי בני, “come closer please and kiss me, my son.” Yitzchok was confused seeing that on the one hand, the voice of the person serving him sounded like that of Yaakov, whereas his skin felt like that of Esau. By making a third test, the fragrance of his clothing, something that could not be determined unless the person came very close to him, Yitzchok meant to decide who this person was. When he smelled the familiar fragrance of Esau’s clothes, he conferred the blessing having been convinced that Esau was in front of him.

’וירח וגו AND HE SMELLED etc.— Surely there is no more offensive smell than that of washed goat-skins! But Scripture implicitly tells us that the perfume of the Garden of Eden entered the room with him (Genesis Rabbah 65:22).

ריח בגדיו, the costly ones. The clothing worn by people in those days were scented with incense.

וירח את ריח בגדיו, in order to expand his good mood by enjoying the fragrance. Our sages have described such an experience in Berachot 42 where they said: “which is something which the soul enjoys while the body does not benefit from it? It is a pleasant fragrance.”

ויברכהו ויאמר ראה He blessed him saying: "re-ey." This word does not mean "see!" as usual, but is connected to the word ראוי, suitable, worthy. Isaac meant that it was fitting that the fragrance of his son should reflect the fragrance of the fields which themselves enjoyed G'd's blessings.

ויגש...וירח את ריח בגדיו, while he was still engaged in kissing him the fragrance of Yaakov’s clothes inspired Yitzchok. We had described the fact that one kept good clothing in scented bags or wooden boxes until they would be worn again.

ראה ריח בני כריח שדה, “indeed the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of the field.” The meaning of the word ראה here is that the expression does not reflect something Yitzchok saw with his eyes, but that this is what he observed internally, when thinking about what his son Esau’s presence projected. He felt that there could not be any doubt that of his two sons it was Esau who represented the fragrance of blossoming flowers and all the blessings associated with nature when it unfolds. This is why he determined to accord him the blessing. Other commentators see in this statement about the fragrance simply a reference to the perfume with which Esau sprayed his garments, something which matched what could be found in the field.

This teaches that the smell of the Garden of Eden entered with him. This is because Eisov coveted these garments [and took them] from Nimrod, who inherited them from Adam, who wore them in the Garden of Eden.

(27-28) Wir wissen bereits, welche Vorliebe Jizchak für den von Gott gesegneten Ackerbau hatte. Siehe, spricht er daher, mein Sohn duftet bereits nicht nach dem Walde, sondern nach dem von Gott gesegneten Acker: so möge dir denn Gott geben die Stätte der Fruchtbarkeit und das von ihm gesegnete Aufblühen.

וירח את ריח בגדיו, “he smelled the aroma of his clothes,” and as they smelled just as he expected them to smell,

כריח שדה אשר ברכו AS THE ODOUR OF A FIELD WHICH THE ETERNAL HATH BLESSED — to which God has given a pleasant perfume: it refers to a field of apple-trees. So have our Rabbis, of blessed memory, explained it (Taanit 29b).

'אשר ברכו ה, a reference the word שדה, to the field which has been blessed by G’d. This is also how Rabbi Eliezer Hakalir understood it in his liturgical poem where he wrote שדה מבורך כהריח ברכו במתן טל. [the poem starts with the words אאגרה בני, this is part of the full length Tal prayer printed in the German Machzorim as well as in the older editions of Machzorim featuring the whole range of the Piyutim. Yaakov is described there as smelling as fragrantly as a field blessed with dew. Ed.]

ויברכהו, What happened here is similar to what is described in Kings II 3,15, where the prophet Elisha, who had been unable to secure a prophetic vision he had craved, after listening and enjoying music played for him, was able to secure the prophetic insight for which he had been waiting. Yitzchok, who, though desirous of blessing his son Esau, had not felt in the right frame of mind to do so successfully, now was able to proceed with full confidence.

ויברכהו, after having inhaled the pleasant fragrance of his clothes and having said: 'ראה ריח בני כריח שדה אשר ברכו ה, that he enjoyed the odour of his clothes. Why, if he blessed him after inhaling the fragrance, does the Torah write the word ויברכהו before describing the odour of the clothing in detail? This was to tell us that Yitzchok’s heart was already gladdened by both the food and the wine so that the Holy Spirit came to rest upon him and to inspire the blessing.

Which is that of an apple-orchard. “Blessed by Hashem” refers to “field”, as if saying: Like the fragrance of a field to which Hashem has given a pleasant scent, i.e., an apple-orchard.

ויאמר: ראה בני, he said: “see, “ etc; as soon as he had smelled the aroma of the clothes Yaakov wore he no longer had any doubts and began to bestow his blessing: commencing with the words: “see the fragrance emanating from my son is like the fragrance from the field;” he even omitted to say the first word in the line that we would have expected, i.e. “see my son, this fragrance is etc;”a different exegesis: the word ראה can have a number of meanings depending on the context in which it appears. The equivalent word in other languages also has different meanings on different occasions. For instance: Deuteronomy 1,8 ראה נתתי לפניכם את הארץ, “see here I have given to you the land;”

ראה ריח בני, “you my son, take note that this is the appropriate fragrance.”

ראה, an imperative mode; who was this addressed to? This was not addressed to a specific person, but it is a mode of speech addressed to anyone who considers what follows as pertinent to himself. We have a similar usage of the imperative not being addressed to someone specific in Jeremiah 13,18 אמר למלך ולגבירה, as well as in Isaiah 60,6 קול אומר קרא!, “a voice says: call out!” No specific person is addressed by this proclamation. Similarly, in Isaiah 35,3 חזקו ידים רפות. Also in verse 4 of that chapter we encounter a similar construction.

כריח שדה, “like the smell of the field;” Yitzchok smelled the field in which Esau made his livelihood reflected in the aroma exuded by the clothes he wore.

כריח שדה, the field does not only provide physical nourishment, its herbs, etc., but in addition it provides enjoyment for the soul which appreciates and is nurtured by the body it inhabits inhaling the fragrance of these herbs. [Yitzchok establishes the connection between ריח and רוח, “fragrance” and “spirit,” something alluded to frequently when the Torah describes G’d’s reaction to man’s sacrifices, especially the incense. Ed.]

'אשר ברכו ה, He blessed the field, i.e. the grass growing there was of good quality. “The fragrance of my son is comparable to the growth of the vegetation on the field which G’d has blessed.” The meaning of the letter ו at the beginning of the next verse which commences with the actual blessing, is not that it adds to what preceded it, but that it introduces something new. It is similar to the letter ו in וישא אברהם את עיניו in 22,13 where it also is not a continuation of what preceded it but the beginning of a new paragraph, a new detail of the story being discussed. There are many examples of the letter ו performing such a function. It is, however, also possible to explain the letter ו at the end of the word ברכו, as referring to Yitzchok’s son, so that Yitzchok would be saying: “behold the fragrance of my son which is like a field which G’d has blessed, so that his blessing would be that Yaakov should continue to enjoy such fragrance also in the future. The blessing would then continue in the next verse with the words ויתן לך spelling out specific elements of that blessing. The letter ו in ויתן would then be the standard connective letter ו.

'אשר ברכו ה, “which the Lord has blessed;” some commentators understand these words not as applying to the field, but to Yitzchok’s son, i.e. בני; in other words: “my son whom the Lord has blessed.” The blessing he refers to is the gift of the land of Israel.

It is part of G’d’s goodness, 'אשר ברכו ה, to provide phenomena on earth which are apt to lift his spirits.

ויתן לך THEREFORE GOD GIVE THEE — May he give thee and give thee repeatedly (Genesis Rabbah 66:3). However, according to its real meaning it must be connected with the preceding statement — viz., with the words, “See, the smell of my son, which the Holy One, blessed be He, has given him is like the smell of the field etc.“ And may He also give thee of the dew of heaven

OF THE DEW OF HEAVEN. The blessing is not that G-d give him of the dew of heaven for the dew descends in all places. Now had he said that G-d give him an abundance of dew, or that it come in its season, even as it says, Then I will give your rains in their season,²¹⁵Leviticus 26:4. that would have constituted a blessing. Instead, its meaning is as follows: Since above he mentioned G-d’s blessing, As the odor of a field which the Eternal hath blessed,²¹⁶Verse 27 here. meaning “which G-d had blessed for my son”²¹⁷Ramban interprets the phrase, which the Eternal hath blessed, as referring back to the word b’ni (my son), thus making it “the field which G-d had blessed for my son.” Isaac thus continues his blessing by saying, “Just as He has blessed the field for you, my son, may He also give you another blessing, namely, of the dew of the heavens.” — that is, since G-d blessed him in the field by giving him success there in his hunt and by guarding him from death or any mishap — he now says, So G-d give thee, [as an additional blessing], of the dew of heaven, and of the fat places of the earth. It is thus a blessing of addition and abundance. It may be that the expression, And plenty (‘verov’) of corn and wine, is written in the Torah with an extra vav, [which should not affect the meaning], with the sense of the verse being: “So G-d give thee of the dew of heaven and of the places of the earth, i.e., plenty of corn and wine.”
In my opinion the correct interpretation is that G-d’s gift is steady and there is never any interruption in it. Therefore he says, “So G-d give thee for the extent of your days upon your land of the dew of heaven, and give thee of the fat places of the earth,” meaning the fattest of all lands, even as it is written, The beauty of all lands.²¹⁸Ezekiel 20:6.
Now Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says that the prefix mem in the word mital, (of the dew) applies to itself and yet to another word, [namely, mishmanei (the fat places of the earth), which is then to be understood as] umimishmanei ha’aretz and from the fat places of the earth.²¹⁹According to Ibn Ezra, reference is thus to the fruits from the fat places of the earth.
To Esau, on the other hand, he gave a blessing which mentions neither through a gift of G-d nor with abundance. Rather he said, “For you too I have reserved a blessing after him: of the fat places of the earth and of the dew of heaven shall your dwelling be.”²²⁰Based on Verse 39 here. That is “as long as you will dwell there,” thereby alluding that he will ultimately be destroyed and lost, for only as long as he will live will his lot be good.

ויתן לך, these words are a continuation of the words אשר ברכו ה' which precede them. They describe the type of blessing G’d will provide for Yaakov (Esau). מטל השמים, essentially what is known as the “blessing of the field.”

ויתן לך אלוקים מטל השמים, "May the Lord give you of the dew of the heavens, etc." The resason this verse commences with the conjunctive letter ו is because it continues the theme begun in verse 27, i.e. ויברכהו, "He blessed him." Those blessings had not been detailed because the Torah merely told us that just as the key to blessings had first been entrusted to Abraham and subsequently by Abraham to Isaac, Isaac now handed this key to Jacob. (based on Bereshit Rabbah 39,11). Accordingly the word ויברכהו means that Isaac transferred this key to blessings to Jacob.

ויתן לך...מטל השמים, something that you will require. Yitzchok did not mention rain, seeing that dew is always beneficial whereas rain can prove very destructive on occasion, as we know from the deluge or when it falls at the wrong time. These blessings were said not only to Yaakov (Esau) personally, but were meant to remain effective also for his offspring. Similarly, the blessing Yitzchok gave to Esau afterwards was also meant not only for himself but for his descendants afterwards.

ויתן לך האלוקים, “and may G’d grant you, etc.” Rashi emphasizes that Yitzchok deliberately chose the attribute of Justice to be the origin of Esau’s blessing, i.e. אלוקים, instead of Hashem, as this implied that the blessing would be fulfilled only if Esau remained worthy of it in the eyes of the attribute of Justice. [note that when Yaakov made his vow after the dream of the ladder, he too conditioned fulfillment on the promise that he would be worthy of what he asked for in the eyes of the attribute of Justice. (Genesis 28,21) Ed.] Later on, when Yitzchok knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was Esau who had stood before him, he promised him material blessings without conditioning this on his worthiness. (Genesis 27,39-40) This is remarkable, as by then Yitzchok had been made aware of Esau’s true character and he had confirmed the blessing he had given to Yaakov.

May he give repeatedly. Rashi is answering the question: Why is it written ויתן, with a ו? Perforce, it means as follows: He will give to you — and even if sins cause the blessing to cease, He will give again. This explanation follows the Midrash. But according to the simple meaning, the ו connects it to what preceded, saying: Hashem gave you one blessing; may He give you another. And where did Hashem bless Yaakov before? The answer is: It is written (v. 27), “Blessed by Hashem.” Here, Hashem blessed Yaakov, as this phrase refers back to, “My son,” written earlier in the verse. It is as if saying: “See that the fragrance of my son, whom Hashem has blessed, is like the fragrance of a field to which Hashem gave a pleasant fragrance.”

ויתן לך אלוקים, “and may G–d give you, etc.;” Yitzchok, -remarkably- addresses the attribute of Justice of G–d when we might have expected him to address the attribute of mercy. By doing so he implied that this blessing was conditional on the person on whom it had been bestowed being worthy of it. Nonetheless, when it comes to Esau, we see that Yitzchok does not include such a condition in his blessing, as in verse 39 in our chapter he reassures him by saying: “your dwelling will be in the fat parts of the earth and you will enjoy the dew from above. You will live by the sword, although you will serve your brother.” He adds that on the contrary, the blessing given to his brother Yaakov is conditional on his not making your life intolerable.” [my choice of words. Ed.] It is noteworthy that in his lengthy prayer after consecrating the Temple he has built, King Solomon attaches the condition of worthiness when speaking of how G–d shall respond to the prayers of the Israelites, whereas when speaking of gentiles coming to Jerusalem to pray there, he does not attach such a condition but asks G–d to grant the wishes of such gentiles, regardless. (Kings I 8,32-43) Solomon is concerned that the gentiles should not get the impressions that our G–d is someone with Whom one needs to bargain. Yitzchok was concerned about the same when realising that Esau, if he insisted on his blessing surely credited G–d in heaven with being the One Who would provide its becoming reality. If he did not think so, why would he demand it? [When G–d fulfills the requests of a gentile, without regard to his worthiness, if the gentile as a result does not become G–d fearing and grateful, he will find that the very fulfillment of his request will eventually boomerang and he will more than lose its benefit. Ed.] You will also find that there are ten different categories of blessings, corresponding to the ten utterances used by G–d when He created His universe, and corresponding to the Ten Commandments. These blessings were pronounced on seven different occasions. 1) here; 2).Genesis 28,3: ואל שדי יברך אותך and the attribute of G–d known as shadday will bless you. 3) Genesis 28,13 (to Yaakov); 4) Genesis 32,27: “I will not let you depart (Yaakov to the angel he had wrestled) until you bless me;” 5) Genesis 35,9: “G–d appeared to Yaakov;” 6) Genesis 46,3; and Genesis 12,2, where G–d blessed Avraham for the first time. Avraham was blessed by G–d on seven different occasions. The Jewish people were given seven different (days) that are holy, most of them festivals: Sabbath, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Sh’mini Atzeret. There are seven stars that serve the sun and the moon in their orbits. [The author adds some astronomical observation that have to do with the time to plant and harvest being related to sunset and sunrise which I have not understood. Ed.]

מטל השמים OF THE DEW OF HEAVEN — Take it in the ordinary sense of the words; but there are Midrashic explanations giving many different meanings

And abundance of grain. Sufficient that he would be able to support others.

ומשמני, the letter מ in the word מטל is to be understood as if it were written twice as if the Torah had written וממטל (the מ in front of the letter ש not having been a formative letter in the word ומשמני) Alternatively, the meaning of the word assuming the letter מ was a formative letter, it would be the same as the word משמני in the blessing Esau received in verse 39.

ויתן לך האלוקים מטל השמים, “and G’d will give you from the dew of the heaven, etc.” According to Nachmanides this is not a formula appropriate for use in blessings. Dew descends on the earth all over the earth, and does not require a special blessing to make it happen. If Yitzchok had implored G’d to give Esau an additional amount of dew, this would be different, but all he did was to assure him that he would participate on an equal basis in the blessing of dew, something that every farmer enjoys. Yitzchok’s blessing meant that Esau should enjoy the blessing of dew and the other blessings G’d bestows on the earth, and through it on His creatures, without any interruption through famine of drought, etc. Alternately, the letter ו at the beginning of the word ורב דגן ותירוש means that the ordinary amount of dew, etc., should result in his crops being especially abundant. [I have difficulty with this kind of blessing, seeing Esau was a hunter, not farmer. Maybe Yitzchok suggested obliquely that Esau should stop hunting and become a farmer instead. Ed.] Possibly, what is introduced as a consolation prize for Esau, the blessing in verse 40 that he would survive by means of his sword, was in fact a denial of the blessings he had given Yaakov while he thought that Yaakov was Esau.

It is also possible that Isaac divided the blessings into both spiritual and material ones. The spiritual blessings are referred to by the word ויברכהו, whereas the material blessings are introduced by verse 28. The letter ו then introduces the material blessings as something additional to the spiritual blessings Isaac had already bestowed upon Jacob.

האלהים GOD [GIVE THEE]—What denotes the use here of the Divine Name אלהים which signifies God in His attribute of Justice? May He act in justice! If you are worthy of it may He give it to you, and if not, let Him not give it to you. But to Esau he said, (Genesis 27:39) “The fat places of the earth shall be thy dwelling” —whether you be righteous or wicked He will give you this. From him (Isaac) did Solomon learn when he built the Temple how to compose his prayer (having in mind a similar idea): An Israelite who is a man of faith and acknowledges that God’s judgment is just will not reproach You;—therefore (1 Kings 8:39) “Render unto every man (Israelite; 1 Kings 8:38) according to his ways whose heart thou knowest”. A stranger, however, is lacking in faith; therefore Solomon said, (1 Kings 8:43) “Hear thou in heaven … and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for — whether he be worthy or unworthy grant him his request in order that he may not reproach You. This explanation of האלהים is found in an old and correct text of Rashi.

Aternately, the mention of the word האלוקים, the attribute of Justice, is to show that whereas up to then Isaac had invoked only the attribute of Mercy, he now also invoked the attribute of Justice, asking it to agree to the blessing he bestowed on his son.

בני אמך THY MOTHER’S SONS — Jacob, however, said to Judah (49:8) “Thy father’s sons (shall bow down to thee]”, because he had sons by several wives, but here, because he (Isaac) had but one wife he said “thy mother’s sons” (Genesis Rabbah 66:4).

CURSED BE EVERY ONE THAT CURSETH THEE, AND BLESSED BE EVERY ONE THAT BLESSETH THEE. But in the case of Balaam it says, Blessed be every one that blesseth thee, and cursed be every one that curseth thee.²²¹Numbers 24:9. The question thus arises: Why did Isaac mention first the curse and then the blessing while Balaam did the opposite? [The reason for this change in order is that] the righteous begin with affliction and ultimately attain tranquility, so that those who curse them precede those who bless them.²²²Therefore, Isaac, himself a righteous man, speaks first of those who afflict the righteous, and then mentions those who bless them. The opposite is true in the case of Balaam. But the wicked experience tranquility first and their end is affliction. Hence Balaam mentioned the blessing before the curse. This is Rashi’s language quoting Bereshith Rabbah.²²³Bereshith Rabbah 66:5.
But if this be so, why did the Holy One, blessed be He, say to Abraham, And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee?²²⁴Above, 12:3. Now here in the case of the righteous, it still mentions the blessing first! This however is no difficulty since He concludes there, And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Thus there is a blessing at the beginning and at the end. It may be, as we have explained it there, that He speaks in terms of both an individual and many,²²⁵The blessing is expressed in plural form — And I will bless ‘those’ who bless thee — while the curse is expressed in singular form — and curse ‘him’ that curseth thee. suggesting that Abraham will be universally blessed, and the single person who will curse him will be cursed.²²⁶Hence He mentions the blessing first as there will be many who will bless Abraham.

בני אמך, here the word וישתחו appears in the singular, whereas in a parallel blessing pronounced by Yaakov who had several wives (Genesis 49,8) the word וישתחוו appears in the plural.

וישתחוו לך לאומים, for even the kingdoms which will not serve you directly will be in a state of dependence on you seeing that you will be the superpower.

יעבדוך עמים וגו׳. "Nations will serve you, etc." This might mean that the king would not impose on the people the taxes due him. We find that even when the second Jewish commonwealth was still a satellite of the Persians, their leaders, i.e. their Torah scholars were exempt from taxes as we know from Ezra, 7,24. When verse 40 continues "and you will serve your brother," this refers to a descendant of Esau when the latter had become king.

יעבדוך....הוה גביר לאחיך, a reference to Esau’s sons (descendants); the same is meant when Yitzchok speaks about בני אמך, “your mother’s sons,” i.e. her descendants. These blessings came true in the time when David defeated the Edomites, and they will come true again in the days of the Messiah.

יעבדוך עמים וישתחוו לך לאומים, “nations will serve you, and states will pay homage to you.” This promise/blessing was fulfilled at the threshing grounds of Atad, (Genesis 50,11) when the various Canaanite kings, and representatives all paid homage to Yaakov’s coffin as it was on the way to burial in the cave of Machpelah. According to tradition, these kings saluted Yaakov by placing their crowns on the fence of that threshing ground.

Whereas here that he married only one woman he says, “Your mother’s sons.” [Yitzchok said it in this manner] because he did not want to say that his sons will be slaves, relating the curse to himself. (Gur Aryeh)

Völker und Staaten beugen sich nicht der geistigen, beugen sich nur der materiellen Größe. Jizchak meint ja, Esau stehe vor ihm. Gott hatte Abraham verheißen, sein Volk werde zum Segen werden für alle Völker. In dieser Aufgabe, meint Jizchak, sollte Esau das Pensum des materiellen Wohlstandes werden, dem sich der Respekt der Völker und Staaten zuwendet. הְֶנֵה ist Imperativ, nicht Segen, sondern Aufgabe: durch die materielle Fülle, die dir Gott gewähren wird, werden Völker und Staaten sich vor dir beugen; suche nun aber auch mit Jakob um die geistige Größe zu wetteifern, dass nicht bloß die Fremden dich achten, dass auch die Söhne deiner Mutter mit Achtung vor dir sich beugen, du auch ihnen als "Mann" dastehest, dann, wenn dir dies gelungen, dann: אורריך ארור ומברכיך ברוך!

ארריך ארור ומברכיך ברוך THEY THAT CURSE THEE SHALL BE CURSED AND THEY THAT BLESS THEE SHALL BE BLESSED — But in the case of Balaam Scripture says (Numbers 24:9) “Blessed be everyone that blesseth thee and cursed be every one that curseth thee”. The explanation is: the righteous have sufferings first and happiness afterwards, so that in point of time those who curse and afflict them (cause them suffering) come before those who bless them (cause them happiness) — therefore Isaac, a righteous man, invokes a curse upon those who themselves curse before he invokes a blessing upon those who bless. The wicked however have happiness first and suffering afterwards; therefore Balaam, a wicked man, invokes the blessing before the curse (Genesis Rabbah 66:4).

הוה גביר לאחיך, seeing that Yitzchok was under the impression that he was speaking to Esau, he thought that it would be in Yaakov’s interest to endure some degree dependence upon Esau while at the same time holding on to the Land of Israel as its Abrahamitic heritage. Such a political dependence would ensure that Yaakov’s descendants would turn their attention to matters other than geo-politics, conquest, etc. The fact is, that at some time in the future the Jewish state did display expansionary tendencies, only to suffer setbacks as a result. The prophet Amos 6,8 already warned his people against such tendencies when he quotes G’d’s loathing for power politics practiced by the Kingdom of the ten tribes under the kings of Samaria. Moreover, Yitzchok thought that if Yaakov had to be subjected to foreign domination, it would be better for it to be subjected to the rule by his brother than by other nations which would treat it more cruelly. Our sages (Gittin 17) phrased this as או בטולך או בטולך דבר עשו, “it is better to be under the protection of You (G’d), or the protection of the descendants of Esau than to have to live under the rule of the Persians.” The way Yitzchok phrased his blessing was based on his knowledge that the Land of Israel would be Yaakov’s descendants exclusively, that Esau’s descendants would not have a share in it. This is why he made no mention at all of the blessing G’d gave to Avraham, nor did he make any mention of the Land of Israel.

אררך ארור, in the singular mode, meaning each person cursing you will be cursed individually.

הוי גביר לאחיך, “be your brother’s superior, etc.” Seeing that at this point Yitzchok thought that Esau stood in front of him, we cannot escape the conclusion that Rivkah had never told him of the prophecy that the younger son would be the superior one, otherwise Yitzchok would have now rebelled against the prophecy.

Regarding Bilam it states, “Those who bless you... and those who curse you...” Meaning: Concerning the righteous, the troubles come first. Thus Yitzchok mentioned the curses of the cursers first. The Ramban asks: Why is it written in Lech Lecha (12:3), “I will bless those who bless you, and he who curses you, I will curse”? He answers: Because it is written afterward, “And through you, will be blessed...” Thus, the curses of the cursers indeed precede the blessings of those who bless. Although Bilam said to B’nei Yisrael, “Those who bless you are blessed,” he spoke as he did because he was accustomed to addressing the wicked. Alternatively, he blessed them with the reward of the wicked: B’nei Yisrael too, should have tranquility at the beginning.

הוה גביר לאחיך. "Be your brother's superior;" This refers to Esau personally, i.e. that Esau himself will never become Jacob's servant, as opposed to some of his descendants to whom the words וישתחוו לך בני אמך, "your mother's sons will bow down to you" will apply.

אוויך ארור, the word אורריך is in the plural mode seeing that there would be numerous nations or individuals who would curse the kings and ministers of Esau when they would not be granted their rightful aspirations. The Torah therefore warned the Jewish people not to curse the political leadership or the judiciary as such curses might backfire (Exodus 22,27)

אורריך ארור ומברכיך ברוך, “the ones who will curse you will themselves become cursed, and those who will bless you will themselves become blessed.” In Bileam’s blessings, the order is reversed; he said מברכיך ברוך ואורריך ארור, “those who bless you will themselves be blessed, and those that curse you will find themselves cursed.” The righteous will endure problems before finding themselves rewarded and blessed, whereas the wicked may start out as if enjoying blessings, whereas in reality they will wind up being accursed. Still, when G’d spoke to Avraham in chapter 12,2-3 He phrased it thus: ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה, “all the families of the earth will enjoy blessing, thanks to you.” Seeing G’d wanted to conclude with this blessing, He commenced also with a blessing.

Another meaning contained in the blessing may be that as long as Jacob will exercise his dominion over Esau by serving the Lord in holiness, the blessing would remain in effect; were he not to do so, one brother could never become a servant to another brother. Should Jacob (or his descendants) fail to serve the Lord, Esau would assume dominion over him. This is why we find that even a relatively mild dereliction of duty towards G'd by the kingdom of Yehudah led to Edom recovering politically (Kings II 8,22).

אררך ארור ומברכיך ברוך. "Those who curse you will be cursed and those who bless you will be blessed." Those who plan to curse you in the future will already be cursed now so as to make their curse ineffective, whereas those who plan to bless you will already be blessed now so as to make their blessing effective.

The reason the Torah employs the plural when referring to those who will bless, whereas the word "will be blessed" is in the singular, (and similarly when referring to the cursers and the cursed) is to tell us that not all those who curse will be cursed, such as in the case of Achiyah Hashiloni and people like him (Kings I 11,29). The same applies in reverse to people such as Bileam who blessed the Jewish people. He was not blessed as a result because his intention was not honourable.

The reason the Torah adds the conjunctive letter ו before the word ומברכיך is to allude to the type of person who curses and is yet within the category of people deserving blessings since he uses the wording of a curse in order to bestow a blessing. We find an example of this in Moed Katan 9 where the Rabbis couched their blessing for Rabbi Eleazar, son of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, in words which sounded like a curse. We are therefore able to read the verse as if the three words ארריך ארור ומברכיך belonged together.

יצא יצא [JACOB] WAS YET SCARCE GONE OUT — this means, as one went out the other came in (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 11).

ויהי אך יצא יצא, this detail has been recorded to illustrate the miracles which were performed in order to enable Yaakov to obtain this blessing. If Esau had returned just one minute sooner, Yaakov would not have secured this blessing.

ויהי כאשר כלה, As soon as he had finished, etc. The reason for the apparently superfluous word ויהי which always introduces something of a painful nature, is that the Torah testifies that Isaac completed his blessing prematurely; instead of giving Jacob the entire blessing he was capable of bestowing as he did for Esau afterwards, he did not do so now. Had Isaac truly completed giving Jacob all the blessings he was capable of bestowing, Esau would have gone out empty-handed.

ויהי...מצידו, as if the Torah had written מצודו, “from his hunting expedition.” The Torah chose a noun instead of a verb in its infinitive form. We find a similar construction in Numbers 10,2 ולמסע את המחנות, which means the same as ולהסיע את המחנות, “and to set the camps (army groups) in motion.” We also find such a construction in Ezekiel 17,9 למשאות אותה משרשיה, “and to remove it from its roots.” A third example which comes to mind is Numbers 23,10 ומספר את רבע ישראל, “or number the animals born to the livestock of Israel?” The word מספר is used there as if the Torah (Bileam) had said לספר, “to count.” [I assume that when the Torah quotes a human being, such as here, G’d dictated Bileam’s words to Moses, seeing that neither Moses nor any other Jew had heard a single one of Bileam’s blessings. Ed.]

ויהי אך יצא יצא, “and as soon as Yaakov had left the presence of his father,” The reason why the Torah speaks of 2 exits, i.e. יצא, יצא, indicates that as soon as Yaakov saw Esau approach he quickly hid himself, and when the way was clear he emerged from his hiding place and left the house of his father.

As one went out the other came in. Otherwise, why does it repeat: יָצֹא יָצָא? Perforce, Yaakov left his father’s tent while Eisov left the field and came to the house. But Re’m explains that [Rashi knows this because] אך diminishes the leaving. [I.e., before Yaakov finished leaving, Eisov had come].

ויהי אך יצא יצא יעקב, “and it happened when Yaakov only just left, etc.”, Yaakov had actually seen Esau come in by the opposite door as it was lit up when opening it, whereas Esau, standing in the light, could not see Yaakov who stood in relative darkness across from him at the other door. (B’reshit Rabbah 66,5)

ויהי אך יצא יצא יעקב, Jacob had barely left his father's presence, etc. The extra words: ויהי, אך, יצא are all meant to draw our attention to the fact that Jacob would not have left yet except that he noticed that Esau was arriving (as pointed out at the end of the verse). This caused Jacob to make a hasty exit. The Torah hints at the embarassment Jacob felt at leaving the presence of his father as if he were a thief beating a hasty retreat. Our sages in Midrash Rabbah pursue a different approach.

ויעש...ויאמר, this is quite clear.

יקום אבי, “arise my father!” Esau awakened his father who had taken a nap after having eaten.

WHO ART THOU? When Esau said to him, Let my father arise,²²⁷Verse 31 here. Isaac thought that it was Jacob, i.e., that because Jacob knew that he had eaten of Esau’s venison and blessed Esau, he too prepared savory meats so that he should bless him also. Therefore he asked, Who art thou?, in order to know the truth.²²⁸If Isaac did not think him to be Jacob, why should he ask, “Who art thou?” He himself had told Esau to make him savory food, and now he came and said, “Let my father arise.” However, since Ramban explains that Isaac thought him to be Jacob, the question is understandable.

מי אתה?, “Who are you?” He thought that he was addressing Yaakov who when he had heard that his father had eaten of Esau’s venison, had also prepared a dish for him in order to secure a blessing for himself. He therefore asked: “who are you?” in order to ascertain the true facts.

ויחרד [AND ISAAC] TREMBLED — Explain it as the Targum renders it ותוה, which means he was perplexed. The Midrashic explanation (Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 11) is that he saw Gehinnom opening beneath him (Esau).

AND ISAAC TREMBLED VERY EXCEEDINGLY, AND SAID, WHO THEN IS HE THAT HATH TAKEN VENISON AND BROUGHT IT TO ME, AND I HAVE EATEN OF ALL BEFORE THOU COMEST AND HAVE BLESSED HIM? YEA, AND HE SHALL BE BLESSED. It is not natural for a person who just trembled violently and complained, “Who was it that subtly made me bless him?” to conclude his complaint by immediately saying, Yea, and he shall be blessed! Rather, it would have been proper that he curse him! Moreover, Esau would then complain to his father, saying, “But why do you bless him now, my father?” And how would Esau believe his father that it was originally done through subtlety²²⁹Verse 35 here. when he saw that he was now blessing him willingly!
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that it is in the present tense.²³⁰The word yihyeh, generally understood as a future tense — and he shall be blessed — is here to be understood as a present tense, as explained below in the text. Isaac is saying, “Who then is he that hath hunted venison, who could have beguiled me so that I should bless him and that he should remain blessed under all circumstances for I knew that he is a blessed one?” Or it may be that the expression, Yea, and he shall be blessed, means “against my will, since it is impossible for me to transfer the blessing from him.” From the moment he blessed him, Isaac knew by Ruach Hakodesh²³¹See above, Note 90. that his blessings indeed rested upon Jacob. This then is the reason for his violent trembling for he knew that his beloved son Esau had lost his blessing forever. This also is the explanation for his saying, Thy brother came with subtlety,²²⁹Verse 35 here. meaning that after he said, Who then is he etc. he realized that Jacob had been the one who came before him to receive the blessing for it would have been impossible for the blessing to rest on any but his offspring, [and, as mentioned above, Isaac knew by Ruach Hakodesh that the blessing had taken effect. Hence he was sure that it was Jacob who had come before him.]

ויחרד יצחק, he was upset at having found hair on the smooth part of Yaakov’s neck.

?מי איפוא הוא, if it is indeed true that you are Esau, who was the one who served me venison? When the word איפוא appears with the letter א at the end, the word is an alternative for the two words אם כן, “if so.” When the same word (phonetically speaking) is spelled with the letter ה at the end, as for instance, in Genesis 37,16 איפה הם רועים?, the word means the same as איה, “where?”

ויחרד יצחק. Isaac trembled. Isaac experienced contradictory feelings; he trembled because he had been tricked. At the same time he was aware that he had blessed Jacob by saying that anyone cursing him should himself be cursed. When he understood that the person upon whom he had bestowed the blessing was his son Jacob he blessed him because he realised that the fragrance that emanated from Jacob's clothing indicated his moral superiority over Esau. This prompted Isaac to confirm his blessing. He may also have been afraid to bring a curse upon himself if he were to revoke the blessing.

ויחרד; he displayed his emotional upset in front of Esau in order that Esau should not think he had deliberately fooled Esau by blessing Yaakov. He said:

גם ברוך יהיה,”he shall also retain his blessing.” Since when is the reaction to someone who complains that he has been tricked out of a blessing, that one tells him that the party who received the blessing in his place is to keep it? Surely, the normal reaction would be to curse the swindler who came by the blessing by devious means! Moreover, seeing that Yitzchok repeated the blessing he had given to Yaakov a second time, this clearly indicates that Yaakov did not obtain the blessing by deceitful means in the first place! Why else would he now bless Yaakov willingly and knowingly? This is why Nachmanides explains the entire verse commencing with the words: מי איפוא הצד ציד ויבא לי ואכל מכל as referring to Esau, i.e. “who is the person who has fed me a line which I swallowed hook line and sinker all these years so that I was befuddled enough to bestow the blessing on him?” Alternately, what Yitzchok meant was that once he had uttered the blessing it was too late for him to recall it and to invalidate it, even if it had been obtained under a false premises. Yitzchok had realized as soon as he had finished blessing Yaakov, that he had indeed blessed the son who deserved the blessing. It was this belated inspiration supplied by the Holy Spirit, which made him tremble in the sudden realization that he had lost his beloved son permanently..

As Onkelos translates it ותוה, meaning surprise. But its Midrashic... According to the Midrash, ויחרד means fear of the opening of Gehinom. It does not mean what it sounds like, i.e., surprise. Yet even according to the simple meaning, the word ויחרד denotes “fear” and not “surprise.” Rather, Rashi is explaining that [according to the simple meaning,] the fear came from the surprise of, “Who, then, is he?” as the verse sounds like it is saying. Whereas according to the Midrash, the fear was of Gehinom.

ויחרד יצחק חרדה גדולה עד מאד “Yitzchok was overcome by an exceedingly strong trembling;” Yitzchok actually experienced two separate fits of trembling; the first time had been when he lay bound on the altar of Moriah, expecting to have his throat slit. The second time occurred here. (B’reshit Rabbah 67,2). He asked himself what sin he had been guilty of, so that he had blessed the younger son before he had blessed the older son. He had caused Esau to groan, complaining (if I had no blessing left for him). Our author quotes a line in our version of Rashi, that did not appear in some later editions, such as the ones relied on by Luzzato.

ויחרד יצחק, “Yitzchok became frightened;” according to Rashi, he had a vision of gehinom opening up beneath him. He had this vision as soon as he wanted to curse Yaakov for having deceived him. Some commentators understand the expression as Yitzchok now realising that if he could not even have known the difference between his two sons he could no longer be surprised why he had been struck with blindness as a punishment. Nonetheless, there was one thing he was not frightened of. Seeing that nothing is concealed from G-d, how could He have allowed the birthright to be transferred from the older son to the younger son?

מי אפוא WHO THEN IS HE — The word אפוא is an independent particle having no etymological connection with any other Hebrew word and is used with many different shades of meaning Another explanation of אפוא is that it is the same as איה פה where here, — so that מי אפוא means “Who is he and where is he here that hath hunted venison”?)

מי איפוא, this is a turn of phrase, as is the word איזו in the Talmud Baba Metzia70 אימא לי איזו, “tell me my dear friend.”

גם ברוך יהיה, the appropriate translation of the whole verse would be: “if this is so that you are indeed Esau, who is the one who brought me the venison and still achieved that he will remain blessed?!” Yitzchok had felt instinctively at the time he had bestowed the blessing that it would become fulfilled for the person whom he was blessing at the time. This confirms something told us by Rabbi Chanina in Berachot 34 that whenever he prayed for the recovery of a sick person he could feel while praying for him if his prayer would be effective.

He saw Gehinom open beneath him. It means beneath Eisov, [not beneath Yitzchok]. Yaakov entered accompanied by the Garden of Eden, and Eisov was accompanied by Gehinom. (Gur Aryeh)

מי איפוא, the words mean: “who is he, and where is he now?”

מי איפוא, “who and where?” Yitzchok questioned himself who was now destined to wind up in Gehinom, either he himself, or Yaakov for using deceit, or Esau for having used deceit for all these years? The words following are the ones provided from the Holy Spirit, stating clearly that he who had “hunted venison”, (metaphor for deceit, as animals must be lured to their death by deceit). Hearing this, Yitzchok continued

גם ברוך יהיה “he shall also remain blessed.” Yitzchok reasoned that seeing that he had intended to bless his firstborn son, [and Yaakov had bought the birthright already a long time ago,] he had actually blessed the son to whom this blessing belonged legally. Another exegesis: seeing that I already said to Yaakov that anyone who would curse him shall himself become cursed, if I cursed him now I would bring a curse upon myself. If you, [the reader] were to ask me, if so at least Yitzchok should not have given Yaakov an additional blessing? The answer is that I also said that anyone who would bless him should be blessed. Therefore it is in my own interest to bestow another blessing upon him. Another interpretation for the words: “he shall also retain the blessing;” Yitzchok asked G-d to confirm the blessing that he had bestowed upon Yaakov.

ואכל מכל AND I HAVE EATEN OF ALL — all tastes that I desired to find in it I indeed found therein (Genesis Rabbah 67:2).

גם בראך יהיה. “Because he carried out my request so promptly.” Also, Yitzchok was aware that Yaakov had done what he did at the advice and request of Rivkah. Clearly, he reasoned, Rivkah had realised that Yaakov was entitled to this blessing.

An independent word, used with many situations... I.e., it is not [always] a compound word from איה and פה. Rather, it [often] is a word on its own and has various meanings depending on its context.

ואכל מכול, of all the tasty dishes which he served me.

גם ברוך יהיה YEA, AND HE SHALL BE BLESSED — In order that you may not say “If Jacob had not deceived his father he would never have received the blessing”, he, therefore, confirmed it, blessing him now of his own free will (Genesis Rabbah 67:2).

Any taste that I wished to taste... Otherwise, why does it say מכל?

בטרם תבא, “before you could come. If I had not eaten of all the type of food he had prepared for me, and you would have arrived while I was in the middle of eating, I would have stopped eating from his food and have helped myself to yours and have blessed you. However, since I have eaten my fill before you came I cannot do this now since I have blessed him already.”

So you may not say: had Yaakov not tricked his father... Question: [If so, why] was “He has deceived me” (v. 36) written after “He shall be blessed”? It seems the answer is: Eisov surely wailed immediately, “What has this brother done to me? He has deceived me twice!” Upon hearing this, his father said, “He shall be blessed.” When Eisov heard his father respond, “He shall be blessed,” to the claim of, “He has deceived me twice,” paying him no heed, Eisov exclaimed (ibid): “Is he not rightly called Yaakov?” I.e., I see that you like his deceit and trickery, and that is why you named him יעקב [“He will deceive”], in the future tense, rather than עקב [“he held the heel”] — because he would deceive me twice! (Maharshal)

גם ברוך יהיה, since I have already blessed him I confirm my blessing for I knew that he was my son (not an outsider).

Therefore he affirmed it and knowingly blessed him. Otherwise, why does it say, “He shall be blessed”? He had already blessed him!

כשמוע...גם אני, “I am also your son, no less than he is.” The letter א in the word אני has the vowel kametz, although it does not signify a comma or something similar, as it is intended to stress the word “I.” We find a similar construction in 31,52 אם אני לא אעבור אליך, where we also would not have expected the kametz instead of the vowel patach. There too, the kametz is used to provide emphasis on the word “I.” Another example of the use of the kametz in the word אני as a means of emphasizing the speaker is Psalms 89,28 אף-אני בכור אתנהו, “I will appoint him firstborn.”

Have you not saved a blessing for me. Eisov understood that he could not receive the same blessing that his brother had received, but he was hoping for a similar one.

במרמה WITH SUBTLETY — with cleverness (cf. Onkelos).

ויקח ברכתך, the blessing that would have been appropriate as suitable and effective for you. The blessing which Yaakov had been given (mistakenly), concerned matters of importance in our material life on this earthy both while in our own land or in the Diaspora. The reason Yitzchok had phrased it thus was because the blessing G’d had given Avraham and which was to be given to one of Yitzchok’s children was not appropriate for Esau. [the latter blessing was given to Yaakov in 28,4 so that Yaakov indeed had secured both blessings. Ed.]

ויאמר...במרמה, by making his hands appear hairy.

בא אחיך במרמה, “your brother came using trickery.” Even though initially, Yitzchok had asked: ”who then is the one who came, etc.”, having had the revelation from the Holy Spirit, now he knew for certain that it had been Yaakov who had come and snatched the blessing from his father.

With cleverness. Otherwise, [if it meant deceit], why should he be blessed?

ויקח ברכתך, “he has taken the blessing that I meant to bestow upon you.” [Yitzchok meant that the reason that he had wanted to bestow this blessing on Esau originally, was only because biologically speaking,] for he had been the firstborn.

הכי קרא שמו IS IT BECAUSE HE HAS BEEN CALLED [JACOB]—This is a question, like (29:15) “Is it because (הכי) thou art my brother?” Perhaps that is why they have given him the name Jacob — in reference to what was to happen in the future — that he would some time or other supplant me (יעקבני)? (Tanchuma). Why did Isaac tremble? He thought: Perhaps I have sinned in blessing the younger before the elder, thus changing the order of relationship between them. But when Esau began to cry out, “for he hath supplanted me these two times”, his father asked him, “What did he do to you?” He replied, “He took away my birth-right”. Isaac thereupon said, “It was on account of this that I was grieved and trembled: perhaps I had overstepped the line of strict justice. Now, however, I have really blessed the first-born — ‘And he shall indeed be blessed’”.

?הכי קרא שמו יעקב, the line is a rhetorical question. Esau says: “although Yaakov had been named thus because at birth he had held on to my heel so that I became the firstborn and entitled to a double inheritance and he was without such distinction, is he now going to turn the tables on me and get the share of the firstborn, i.e. both blessings?” The word הכי as a question also occurs in connection with Lavan and Yaakov when the latter works for his uncle. When the question of wages came up, Lavan exclaimed הכי אחי אתה ועבדתני חינם, “would there be any justice in your working for me without wages merely because you are my brother (and one does not have to pay one’s family)?” (29,15) Lavan implied: “on the contrary, you should be paid more generously because you are my family.” We have learned in Baba Batra 139 that when someone dies leaving behind many children (sons) and the estate is substantial, the sons share the inheritance whereas the daughters receive a stipend from the estate pending their getting married. When the estate the father left behind is meager, the daughters get the stipend whereas the sons will have to fend for themselves even if it involves begging. Admon says וכי בשביל שאני זכר ויפה כח בנכסים מרובים הורע כוחי בנכסים מועטין? “Am I supposed to suffer because I am male, able-bodied and my parents were wealthy?” [his argument was accepted by Rabban Gamliel, as was every other argument quoted in the name of Admon in the Talmud. Ed.]

הכי קרא שמו יעקב ויעקבני, did all this happen to me because at the time Yaakov was born he was named Yaakov so that he could now trick me? He was wondering if whoever had named Yaakov had predetermined some of his future character traits.

ויאמר הכי קרא שמו יעקב, He said: "Was he not named Jacob (the crooked one)?" Esau was amazed having believed that Jacob's name referred to only a single act of subterfuge whereas he now found himself fooled by Jacob for a second time. Had Jacob's name been עקבות or something similar, Esau would not have been so surprised.

ויאמר, when Esau heard that his brother had used subterfuge to obtain the blessing by making his hands appear as if they were hairy, he said: הכי קרא שמו יעקב, “he was called the crooked one for good reason!” The letter ה at the beginning of the word הכי serves as confirmation of something, as if to say: “truly!” We find it used in a similar sense in Kings I 21,19 הרצחת וגם ירשת!, “ You not only murdered but meant to inherit!” Or, Numbers 20,10: המן הסלע הזה! “from this very rock!” Esau said that Yaakov had truly deserved the name they had given him at birth. Actually, the word יעקב has two connotations; one is connected to deviousness, deceit, as in Jeremiah 17,10 עקוב הלב , “the heart is full of deceit;” or, also from Jeremiah 9,3 כי כל אח עקוב יעקב, “every brother takes advantage.” On the other hand, the word also is derived from עקב, heel, not a negative connotation at all, but possibly a positive one, suggesting humility, modesty, the opposite of pushiness. Yaakov combined both qualities.

As in “Is it because you are my relative?” From what was said after “You shall work for me without pay,” it is clear [that it was an incredulous question,] and Lavan was not actually requesting this. For Lavan said right after: “Tell me, what should your wages be?”

את בכורתי לקח, “he had purchased my birthright;” with these words he tripped himself up by revealing that Yaakov was legally entitled to this blessing.

ויעקבני THAT HE HATH SUPPLANTED ME — Explain it as the Targum renders it, וחכמני, which means “and he lay in wait for me.” The word (Deuteronomy 19:11) וארב “and he lies in wait” is rendered by the Targum וכמי. There are some who read in the Targum not וכמני but וחכמני which means “he showed himself clever against me” (outwitted me).

הלא אצלת לי ברכה, seeing that you thought at the time you dispensed the blessing that it was I who stood before you, and you surely did not have in mind to bestow upon me the spiritual blessing, the supreme blessing, you must have reserved this blessing for my brother. You surely had not intended that I, Esau, would be the sole beneficiary of all your blessings?

ויעקבני, he tricked me twice.

Esau may also have meant that the name יעקב alluded to frequent use of subterfuge. So far he considered himself as having become Jacob's victim twice.

אצלת HAST THOU NOT RESERVED — the word means “separating״, “setting aside״, like (Numbers 11:25) “And he separated.

את בכורתי לקח, there is no greater type of craftiness than to exploit one’s brother’s hunger and fatigue and to buy his birthright for a dish of lentils. Now he has also taken my blessing by deceit.

הלא אצלת לי ברכה, “you have not even reserved a minor blessing for me!” You have given everything to him. How could that be?

הן גביר AND BEHOLD I HAVE MADE HIM THY MASTER — This blessing is the seventh in the series of blessings which Isaac gave to Jacob (cf. w. 28. 29) and yet he (Isaac) singles it out as though it were the chief blessing? But the explanation is, he said to him (Esau): “What benefit will a blessing be to you? If you acquire property, it will belong to him, for “Behold, I have made him thy master״, and whatever a servant acquires becomes the property of his master (Genesis Rabbah 67:5).

AND ALL HIS BRETHREN HAVE I GIVEN HIM AS SERVANTS. This is not the blessing, Be lord over thy brethren,²³²Verse 29 here. for Isaac had already said, Behold, I have made him thy lord.²³³In the beginning of the present verse. However, it is possible that Jacob be the lord and they not be his servants, just as the verse says, For Judah ‘gavar’ above his brethren.²³⁴I Chronicles 5:2. There the word gavar does not indicate a master and servant relationship. Similarly, the word gvir (lord) does not indicate such a relationship. But the source for his saying, I have given to him as servants, comes from his expression, And let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee,²³²Verse 29 here. for this refers to the bowing of the servant to his masters, just as he says, Let people serve thee,²³²Verse 29 here. and then repeats, And nations bow down to thee.²³²Verse 29 here.
The meaning of the expression, And all his brothers,²³⁵Jacob had only one brother. Why then does Isaac use the plural form, “his brothers?” is the same as that of thy brothers and thy mother’s sons.²³²Verse 29 here. These he mentions in the plural in order to allude to all of Esau’s offspring. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says that it refers to the children of Abraham’s concubines.²³⁶See above, 25:6.

נתתי לו לעבדים, whatever a slave purchases automatically becomes the property of his master.

ואת כל אחיו נתתי לו לעבדים, a reference to the sons of Ishmael, and the sons of Keturah, as well as the kings of other nations. As he had said in verse 29. יעבדוך עמים, “nations will serve you.”

ויען יצחק, Isaac replied. Actually Isaac still had the chance to bless Esau. Having realised in the meantime that Esau deserved a curse rather than a blessing, that he was in fact an enemy of his brother Jacob, Isaac was afraid to bless Esau because he would thereby neutralise the blessing to Jacob that those who curse him would themselves be cursed. The Torah therefore mentions the expression ויען יצחק twice to tell us that he did not tell Esau the true reason why he could not bless him outright.

ויען, concerning the exclamation that Yitzchok had not even reserved a small blessing for Esau, he answered: הן גביר שמתיו לך, ואת כל אחיו נתתי לו, seeing that I have appointed him as senior to you and to all his brothers, (compare verse 29) i.e. to Esau’s brothers (kin)

ואת כל אחיו נתתי לו לעבדים, “and I have designated that all his bothers be his servants.” These words are not a reference to the line הוי גביר לאחיך in verse 29. It is possible that someone is senior to his brothers without the brothers therefore considering themselves as subservient to that brother. The best example in Scripture is that of Yehudah, who was the leader of his brothers without his brothers ever considering themselves as servants of Yehudah.

Was Jizchak, als er Esau vor sich zu haben glaubte, nur als Aufforderung auszusprechen wagte: הוה גביר לאחיך, das ist ihm jetzt von Jakob eine Gewissheit. Dass er die geistige Führerschaft haben werde, versteht sich von selbst, und — nachdem ihm die Binde von den Augen gefallen — hatte er mit dem גם ברוך יהיה ihm auch mit vollem Bewusstsein die materielle Grundlage zuerkannt. Es war ihm ja nun klar geworden, wie im abrahamitischen Kreise alles, auch Soldat und Kaufmann etc. vom abrahamitischen Geiste erfüllt sein müsse. Im Abrahamshause sah er daher keine Stellung mehr für Esau.

ולכה איפוא, what then can I do for you? the word ולכה here is spelled with the letter ה at the end, (numerical value of 5) something most unusual; Yitzchok hinted to Esau that after 5000 years of human history will have passed his descendants will achieve superiority on earth, but that seeing that he, Esau, will wind up in Gehinom, he, his father, cannot do anything in the meantime to interfere with G–d’s decree.

ואת כל אחיו, “and all his brothers, etc.;” Yitzchok refers to Yishmael and his extended family and the children of Keturah.

ולכה אפוא מה אעשה בני AND WHAT SHALL I DO NOW UNTO THEE [MY SON?] — Where here (איפה) shall I look for something that I can do for you?

ולך איפוא מה אעשה?, in view of this what can I do now for you? What kind of blessing is left which will be of use to you?

סמכתיו, I have appointed him as central, i.e. have decreed that all his family be close to him for all times (compare the word תסמכני in Psalms 51,14 ורוח נדיבה תסמכני, “let a vigorous spirit sustain me.” This can only be effective if all the relatives are close by. It is also possible that the meaning of the word סמכתיו is סעד, משען support of a financial and psychological type. If so, the prefix ב in the word סמכתיו would be missing, as if Yitzchok had said: ובדגן ותירוש, “and with corn and wine,” instead of ודגן ותירוש.

ואת כל אחיו, “and all his brothers, etc.” Even though he had only one brother, Yitzchok speaks of him in the plural, as he meant to include all of Esau’s future descendants in his remarks. Other commentators feel that the plural extends to Ishmael, as well as Ishmael’s descendants as well as the sons of Keturah.

ולכה, “and as far as you personally are concerned;” the unusual spelling with the letters כה at the end is not a scribe’s error, but is deliberate.

ולכה איפוא, as for you, now מה אעשה, what can I do? What kind of a blessing remains for you after all this? The formulation is similar to Isaiah 22,16 מה לך איפוא, “what have you here?”

איפה מה אעשה בני, “what can I do then my son?” Yitzchok explains that seeing that his descendants had been promised by G-d only the land of Canaan, and he had already “given” the whole of it to Yaakov’s descendants, there was no other inheritance he could pass on.

הברכה אחת HAST THOU BUT ONE BLESSING? The ה in הברכה is the interrogative prefix, as in (Num. XIII. 19, 20) “whether in camps (הבמחנים)”, “whether it is fat (השמנה)", and (2 Sam. III. 33) “Should Abner die (הכמות) as a churl dieth”?

ויאמר...אחת, can you not even grant me a blessing concerning any aspect of life which you have not given him?

Gibt es denn außer dem Abrahamshause gar keinen Segen?

משמני הארץ וגו THE FATNESS OF THE EARTH etc. — This refers to the Greek portions of Italy (Graeca Magna) (Genesis Rabbah 67:6).

BEHOLD (‘HINEI’), OF THE FAT PLACES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE THY DWELLING. The intent of the word hinei (behold) is: “Now I could give you of the fat places of the earth and of the dew of heaven, for of these there is sufficient [abundance] for both of you to have of the fat places of the earth and of the dew of heaven, but in the matter of lordship, that will be his, and you shall serve him.” Isaac also did not give him plenty of corn and wine as he gave to his brother since he wanted to honor the one who had been blessed first above him. Later he said to Jacob, And G-d Almighty give thee the blessing of Abraham… that thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings,²³⁷Further, 28:4. meaning that he should have the plentifulness of the corn and wine in the land of Canaan, which was Abraham’s gift, while Esau would have the dew and the fat places of the earth in another land.

הנה משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך, I am able to bless you, assuring you that you and your descendants will reside in fruitful areas of the earth, even if they will be marginally subservient to your brother.

ויען יצחק אביו. Isaac his father replied. The words "his father" explain why Isaac decided to give Esau a blessing after all. In the final analysis his fatherly feelings were stirred by Esau's outburst.

ויען...הנה משמני הארץ, the earth which you will inherit and on which you will dwell will belong to the most productive areas of the earth, i.e. the Mountain of Seir.

הנה משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך, “here you are assured that the region in which you will dwell will belong to the most productive ones on earth.” According to Nachmanides, the expression הנה here introduces the limitation of any blessing Yitzchok can bestow now. He says, that although I can assure you of a materially brilliant future, riches based on what the earth you dwell on will produce, but the political power, ממשלה, will belong to your brother. Yitzchok did not bless Esau with the parallel blessing of רוב דגן ותירוש, “an overabundance of grain and wine, either, as he had done when he blessed Yaakov thinking that he was Esau. (verse 28) Both of them, Esau and Ishmael, are sufficiently blessed with the wish that they will dwell on the fertile parts of the earth. Yitzchok was concerned that the one whom he had blessed first would enjoy a clear advantage even in the wording of the blessing he had obtained. This is also why, before sending Yaakov to look for a wife, he added specifically; ויתן לך את ברכת אברהם וגו', “and may G’d grant you the blessing conferred upon Avraham, etc.” The fulfillment of the blessing of “overabundance of grain and wine,” was thus deferred to the period after the land of the Canaanites had been conquered by Yaakov’s descendants. (28,4) The dew of the heaven and the fatness of the land promised to Esau applied to some country other than the land of Israel. There was a distinct difference in the qualities of the blessings extended before Yaakov was dispatched to look for a wife, and the blessings resulting from Yitzchok’s eating the venison. In the first and last blessing the name of G’d as the source of the blessing does appear, whereas in the blessing to Esau, the “consolation prize,” Yitzchok does not even mention the name of G’d. The reason was that Esau had not mentioned the name of G’d either. It is of significance that when blessing Esau as Esau, Yitzchok mentions the fatness of the earth before mentioning the dew of the heavens, whereas when speaking of the same phenomena to Yaakov, Yitzchok reversed the order by mentioning the heavenly part, the dew before mentioning the earth’s contribution to man’s success as a farmer. The reason is that when blessing Yaakov, Yitzchok had already blessed him specifically by invoking the name of G’d.

הנה משמני הארץ, “here from the fat part of the earth, etc.” You do not find mention of the name of G’d in the blessing Esau received, whereas the name of G’d has been mentioned in the blessings given to Yaakov when Yitzchak had said: “and may the Lord give you from the dew of the heaven, etc.” This teaches that Yitzchak did not invoke a direct bounty from G’d when he promised Esau that he would enjoy the bounty of nature, i.e.משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך , “you will reside in a part of the earth which is of the best, the most fertile.” Yitzchak left Esau’s fortunes to the vagaries of the stars, to astrological influences only. This is what he meant by מטל השמים מעל, “from the dew originating in the sky above.” The words ומשמני הארץ יהיה מושבך, are a thinly veiled hint that Yitzchak was concerned only with Esau’s life on earth; he did not foresee an afterlife for him. We have a parallel expression in Numbers 24,21 when Bileam prophesied about the future of the various nations surrounding the people of Moav and Israel and said of the Kenite איתן מושבך, “your dwelling is strong.” There too the implication is that all this will come to an end with the physical death of the person who receives the blessing. The mention of the word הנה is equivalent to an invitation, i.e. Yitzchak inviting these blessings of nature to be available to his son Esau. We find G’d Himself using the same expression when He answered Avraham’s prayer concerning the well-being of his son Ishmael in Genesis 17,2 when he said הנה ברכתי אותו, “I have prepared a blessing for a him.” Blessings introduced with the word הנה are applicable only in this terrestrial world, and in the case of Esau only at times when the Jewish people fail to carry out G’d’s will. These blessings were all subject to certain conditions. When a blessing commenced with the letter ו, i.e. ו-יתן לך האלוקים, “and the Lord may give you, etc.,” this implied “if you have met the prerequisites for this blessing to become effective.” It is clear from verse 40 in our chapter that when the prerequisites of Yitzchak’s blessing have not been met the blessing was not to materialise. This is the meaning of the words והיה כאשר תריד ופרקת עולו מעל צוארך, “and whenever you are aggrieved you will cast off his yoke from your neck.” In other words, the blessings for Esau even in this world are applicable only when Israel is not deserving of its own blessings.

This refers to the part of Italy belonging to Greece. It was previously stated (v. 28), “Of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the land,” referring to the fruit of the land. I.e., the grain and produce of your land should be rich and good. But here it refers to the place. I.e., that it should be located in the richness of the earth. Thus, here it says, “Your dwelling,” meaning the place he dwells in. Otherwise, [if it meant rich produce,] the question arises: Yitzchok had already given to Yaakov the blessing of the fatness of the land. [How then could Yitzchok now give it to Eisov?]

(39-40) Nicht ויתן לך האלקי, nicht unter besonderer Gottes-Waltung und Führung; soweit es in "Himmel und Erde" in der natürlichen Ordnung der Dinge liegt, wirst du irdische Fülle erreichen. Dein Schwert wird der Schöpfer deines Geschickes sein. Du wirst der Stärkere werden, wirst die Welt erobern, um — die eroberte Welt Jakob zu Füßen zu legen. "Rom" erobert die Welt, um sie schließlich nach allen Verirrungen dem siegreichen Genius Jakob-Jisraels zu Füßen zu legen. So lange du herrschen wirst, jede materielle Eroberung nur als Staffel zu immer weiteren Eroberungen betrachten und benutzen willst, so lange arbeitest du nur für den Bruder, so lange du רב bist, so lange רב יעבד צעיר; nur erst כאשר תריך wenn du freiwillig herabsteigst. freiwillig dich dem Brudergenius huldigend unterordnest, wirst du dich emanzipieren und ihm ebenbürtig als Bruder zur Seite treten. — ריד und רור verwandt mit ירד (vergl. היום רד מאוד Richter 19. 11): erniedrigt werden, sich erniedrigen. אריד בשיחי (Psalm 55, 3): ich fühle mich nicht erhoben, ich sinke in Wehmut hinab im Gebete. (Hoschea 12, 1).: Juda ist selbst in der Erniedrigung noch mit ויהודה עוד רד עם א׳ Gott, oder, da es Raw Hirsch on Genesis 27: 3 heißt וריב לדי עם יהודה: fühlt sich noch erniedrigt in seinem Wandel mit Gott. Zu אריד בשיהי bietet יורד בבכי (Jes. 15. 3) eine Parallele.

הנה משמני הארץ, “from the best parts of the land of Canaan will be your personal home;” a reign of the Holy Land is as the best parts and sweets of the Land [Yitzchok referred to the region known as har seir, which adjoins the ancestral region settled by the tribe of Yehudah, a very fruitful region and irrigated from the heavenly dews no less than the Holy Land itself. How did Yitzchok know that G-d approved of the blessing he just pronounced? The reader is referred to Joshua 24,4].

ומטל השמים מעל, ועל חאבך תחיה, you will be able to live on the blessings provided by the dew without needing rainfall or having to toil the earth; you will live by your sword in times of war. even though at the same time you may be in a state of subservience to your brother and even engage in war as a mercenary on behalf of your brother or someone else. From this it follows that if you were to complain about unreasonable harshness of your brother’s yoke, כאשר תריד, and would want to ופרקת עלו מעל צוארך, “shake off his yoke from around your neck.,” i.e. revert to a different lifestyle, such as engaging in agriculture, know that then you will never become free from subservience to your brother or to someone else.

ומטל השמים, your land will be rich and from above it will enjoy the dew from heaven so that this will be a blessing adequate to sustain you and will be also a blessing for him, seeing that his land will also be fruitful, productive.

ואתן לעשו את הר שעיר, “I gave to Esau the region of Mount Seir.” which is close to Eretz Yisrael near the territory of the tribe of Judah. This is a fertile land which is watered by dew just like Erez Yisrael. And how do we know that G-d permitted Yitzchok to give to Esau Mount seir? By the formulation of יהיה מושבך, “is going to be your legal residence,” This is supposed to mean that regardless of whether you or your descendants merit it, it is assured to you. If the matter were to depend on individual or collective merit, the promise would never be fulfilled. The problem with the promise to the Jewish people is that it was made by the Attribute of Justice, hence it is subject to the Israelites deserving it.

ועל חרבך—The phrase is equivalent to בחרבך BY THY SWORD. The word על is sometimes used instead of the prefix ב, as (Ezekiel 33:26) “Ye stand by your sword (על חרבכם)”, which is the same as בחרבכם; (Exodus 6:26) “by their hosts (על צבאותם), which is the same as בצבאותם.

AND ON THY SWORD (‘VE’AL CHARBECHA’) YOU SHALL LIVE. The meaning of ve’al charbecha is as if it were written, becharbecha (by thy sword). A similar case is the verse, For man does not live ‘al halechem’ (on bread) alone,²³⁸Deuteronomy 8:3. which means belechem (by bread). Now the blessing is not that he live on the booty he takes from his enemies by the sword, for he has already given him of the fat places of the earth and of the dew of heaven by which he shall live. Instead, the purport of the blessing is that he survive his battles and be victorious, and not fall by the sword of an enemy. It is for this reason that immediately following this he said, And thou shall serve thy brother, meaning, “but you will not prevail over him. Instead, he will prevail over you.”

ועל חרבחך תחיה, a reference to Esau’s vocation as a hunter, promising him success with his hunting tools.

ואת אחיך…והיה כאשר תריד ופרקת עלו. "And your brother…but when you will grieve, you will be able to shake off his yoke." There are many explanations on this verse. It is possible to say that all the blessings of Esau are applicable only as long as Esau is content to serve his brother but not when Esau would try and shake off the yoke of serving his brother. The word תריד may also be derived from the root רדה. It would then mean that once Esau was persecuted and subjugated by Jacob he would begin to shake off Jacob's yoke; at a still later stage the prophecy of "the house of Jacob becoming fire and the house of Esau turning to straw" would be fulfilled (compare Ovadiah 1,18). The reason that the word והיה which signifies a happy occurrence is used may lend support to this interpretation. Esau's destruction would cause joy both in heaven and on earth.

ועל חרבך תחיה. This is the one blessing which will be exclusively yours, your ability to survive by means of your sword and the fear you will inspire in your enemies. They will fear your prowess in war.

ועל חרבך תחיה. “and by means of your sword you will survive.” The expression על חרבך is equivalent to בחרבך,”through your sword.” Yitzchok meant that the hands of the one who had pleased him by feeding him venison will be saved through the successful use of the sword that these hands make. Yitzchok most certainly did not wish Esau to become a conqueror and to survive by consuming the loot he had acquired from the enemies he had slain. Having blessed Esau with success in agriculture in the previous verse, there certainly was no call for wishing him success as warrior. He did, however, assure him that in his war against adversaries he would not become the victim of the swords of his enemies. Some commentators hold that the words ועל חרבך תחיה are a consolation to Esau, seeing his father had blessed his brother by appointing him Esau’s superior. Yitzchok now hedged his blessing by assuring Esau that he would not become the victim of any abuse of his stronger brother’s power. Esau’s service to his brother would consist of being employed as his brother’s mercenary, using his sword to what are essentially Yaakov’s battles. Rabbeinu Saadyah Gaon, questions why Yitzchok chose such an unusual wording for his blessing to Esau, instead of saying: “may the Lord give you from the fatness of the earth and the dew of the heaven.” The reason is, according to Rabbeinu Saadyah, that in fact Yitzchok did not bless Esau at all; he merely stated that seeing he had already said to Yaakov that those that curse him would be cursed, if he were to accord something to Esau at the expense of Yaakov, He would make Himself liable to a curse by having diminished what had been promised to Yaakov. However, he consoled Esau by assuring him that his fate already included the fact that bounty of nature would always be at his disposal in the shape of the fatness of the land and the dew of the heaven that would ensure bountiful harvests.

ועל חרבך תחיה, “and you will live (survive) by means of your sword.” This blessing was an acceptance by Yitzchak of Esau’s vocation as a hunter, a person who spends most of his time in wildernesses, uncivilised countries where danger always lurks. It was appropriate then that Yitzchak assured his son of protection against these dangers, blessing his sword as an instrument of his survival, so to speak. Esau’s patron was the planet Mars, the planet associated with warfare, bloodshed, with the sword. This is why the descendants of Esau also excelled in military conquest. Basically, Esau’s patron in the celestial spheres indulges in killing and represents the power of the sword in this world. In order to contrast Yaakov’s (Jewish) philosophy with that of Esau, the Torah legislated that the altar or Sanctuary of the Jewish people must be built without any metal instruments being used as these instruments symbolise war and bloodshed. In connection with the construction of the Tabernacle, the Torah writes in Exodus 25,3 where the materials to be donated for that structure are listed, that gold, silver and copper are to be contributed. Iron was not solicited as a contribution at all. In Kings I 6,7 we are told ומקבות והגרזן כל כלי ברזל לא נשמע בבית בהבנותו, “and hammers and axes and any other iron instruments were not heard in connection with the Temple’s being built.” The reason was that iron symbolised war and the sword which brings destruction to the world. The function of the Temple, on the other hand, is to ensure hat the world endures.

And you will have reason to grieve over the blessings... You might object: It does not say anywhere that Yitzchok placed conditions on his blessings to Yaakov. The answer is: It is written, “And may האלהים give you” (v. 28). The word האלהים implies justice: “If you deserve it, ‘He will give to you.’” (R. Noson)

והיה כאשר תריד, “it will come to pass when you will break loose; (the most common translation, rejected by our author);” (the root רדה, meaning “to subdue) occurs again in Numbers 24,19, in Bileam’s blessings, when that prophet predicts that eventually a time will come when the descendants of Israel will subdue the descendants of Esau, and that at that time Esau’s descendants will accept Yaakov’s yoke willingly.

ועל חרבך תחיה, “you will live by grace of your sword.” Yitzchok promises Esau that as a reward for having hunted deer in order to bring him delectable food, he will also henceforth be able to survive by his sword in his dangerous vocation. [The word “sword” here is used by Yitzchok as a general term for instruments used to kill, seeing that Esau had hunted for him with bow and arrow. Ed.]

AND והיה כאשר תריד AND IT SHALL CAME TO PASS THAT WHEN THOU ROVEST ABOUT — The word תריד signifies grief, pain, as (Psalms 40:3) “I am distraught (אריד) in my complaint”. It means: when Israel will transgress the Torah and you will have reason to feel aggrieved with regard to the Blessings, ופרקת עלו וגו THEN THOU SHALT PULL HIS YOKE FROM OFF THY NECK (Genesis Rabbah 67:7).

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS WHEN THOU SHALL BREAK LOOSE in thy suffering on account of Jacob’s transgression,²³⁹Specifically, the transgression of the command, Contend not with them, as is explained further on. THEN THOU SHALT SHAKE HIS YOKE FROM OFF THY NECK. This is an indication to Israel that they should not contend with the children of Esau too much in order to do them evil. This is what Scripture commanded: Take ye good heed, contend not with them, etc.²⁴⁰Deuteronomy 2:4-5. referring to the children of Esau in the land of Se’ir. And so did our Rabbis²⁴¹Yerushalmi Rosh Hashanah, I, 1. say: “For Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom.²⁴²I Kings 11:16. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to David, ‘I said, Contend not with them, and you did contend. By your life, these six months will not accrue to you and your reign.’ We know this was fulfilled since it is written, And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years,²⁴³Ibid., 2:11. but in truth he reigned six more months, as it is written, In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months.”²⁴⁴II Samuel 5:5. And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years for a total of forty years and six months. Yet he is credited with only forty years. The Rabbis also said,²⁴⁵Devarim Rabbah 1:15. “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to David, ‘Thy hands are sharp and pointed, and I seek to rule my world with them, etc’”²⁴⁶The Midrash concludes: “Moses your teacher has already desired to confront them, and I told him, ‘It is sufficient for you.’” (Deuteronomy 2:3).

וכאשר תריד, the word is used in the same sense as in Psalms 55,3 אריד בשיחי, “my conversation is full of agitation,” (as a result of feeling oppressed) i.e. “if your brother will subjugate you too harshly so that you cannot endure it, “ ופרקת עלו, “you will shake off his yoke.”

ואת אחיך תעבוד, this too is a blessing as it is of benefit to you to serve your brother rather than to have to serve others.

והיה כאשר תריד, “it will come to pass when you have reason to grieve, etc.” when Yaakov will abuse this power of superiority by giving you justifiable reason to complain especially since at a time when Yaakov’s descendants do not live up to the terms of their covenant with G’d, you will be able to shake off his yoke. Yaakov then will not regain his superiority, as Bileam already stated in Numbers 24,19 וירד מיעקב והאביד שריד מעיר, [the root of the word תריד is not ירד “to descend,” but רדה, “to rule, exercise authority.”] “The one who ruled obtaining his power from Yaakov, will lose it, retaining only a city.” This is a reference to the time when the Romans would rule over the entire region of Mesopotamia. Bileam describes the period in the distant future at the time of the redemption when Yaakov/Israel will regain its position of dominance. After that Esau will never again experience a rise in stature.

Alternately, the meaning could be that even when Esau dominates the rest of the world, his dominion will not extend over Jacob (the Jewish people) except inasmuch as he will not be dominated by Jacob. He himself will not dominate Jacob. There would be a stand-off between Israel and Edom.

By doing so, Esau will, in effect, shake off the yoke of Yaakov as he will not feel it as subjugation.

והיה כאשר תריד, when the time comes when it is your turn to rule over him,

והיה כאשר תריד, the word תריד is used in a sense similar to Psalms 55,3 “if the Israelites oppress you more than is justified, turn to G’d in prayerful complaint and He will throw off his yoke from you.” Yitzchok hints to Esau that Yaakov will not be at liberty to use his power over him injudiciously. Another explanation sees in the word תריד a variant of רדוי, being vanquished, captive, as if Yitzchok were saying to Esau: “when you do not wish to endure Yaakov’s dominance, conquer his land and shake off his yoke.”

ואת אחיך תעבוד, “but you will be subservient to your brother.” Esau had first complained that this is a put down for him. Yitzchok explains to him that prevailing in military confrontations is never a “put down,” but on the contrary, the victors are held in high esteem and are feared. Esau complained that having to live by constant confrontation with others is a very demanding task; Yitzchok answers that he has the option to be peaceful and subservient to his brother. If so, his brother will surely display mercy and tolerance for him.

ופרקת עלו, and then you will not serve him as this (your shaking off his yoke) is his punishment for his sin

כאשר תריד, an unusual expression, similar to Psalms 55,3: אריד בשמחי, “I am complaining;” Yitzchok assures him that if in the future the descendants of his brother will oppress those of Esau so that they will complain to Him, they will be able to shake off the yoke of the Israelites, i.e. ופרקת עולו. It is best for him to find himself another land in which to live so that he will never be exposed to subjugation by Yaakov’s descendants. [Esau chose to do so from his own free will, as we know from Genesis 36,68. Ed.] An alternative exegesis for the words: כאשר תריד. The root is ירד to descend, (compare Numbers 24,19, Bileam’s blessings) וירד מיעקב, “when you rule then you will shake off his yoke.” We find that history proved Bileam correct when we read in Kings II 8,20, that during the rule of Yoram, son of Achav, the Edomites rebelled against his rule. They proceeded to set up a state of their own by crowning a king.

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי THE DAYS OF MOURNING FOR MY FATHER APPROACH — Explain it according to the evident meaning of the words — (I will wait to kill him until my father is dead), that I may not cause grief to my father. There are Midrashic explanations of various kinds.

AND ESAU SAID IN HIS HEART. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said, “It is possible that he revealed his secret to one of his friends.”²⁴⁷If not, how did Rebekah become aware of the fact that Esau was planning to kill Jacob? (Verse 42 here).
But this is not necessarily so for any decision which a person reaches after deliberation is referred to in Hebrew as “speaking with the heart,” even when it also includes speech with the lips. A similar case is found in the verse, And with a double heart do they speak,²⁴⁸Psalms 12:3. for the will is synonymous with the heart. And all Israel were of one heart to make David king,²⁴⁹I Chronicles 12:39. meaning that they had all arrived at the same decision and were talking of it. Similarly, And Jeroboam said in his heart.²⁵⁰I Kings 12:26. Further on it says, And the king took counsel, (Verse 28). Here also there was speech which Scripture had referred to as being said in his heart. Similarly did Eliezer say, And before I had finished speaking in my heart,²⁵¹Above, 24:25. whereas the prayer there was with his lips, as Scripture states, And he said, O Eternal G-d of my lord Abraham.²⁵²Ibid., Verse 12. However it is possible that the expression, before I had finished speaking in my heart, means “before I had concluded the thought in my mind.”
Now here the verse states that when the great hatred of Jacob permeated Esau’s soul because of the blessing, he conceived the idea of murdering his brother, and with this he comforted himself from his depressed state. This explains the verse, And the words of Esau were told to Rebekah.²⁵³Verse 42 here. As Ramban explained, a decision in one’s heart, even though coupled with speech, is still referred to in Hebrew as “the speech of heart.” Therefore, the verse means that Esau decided upon a course of action, and he himself informed his mother of his decision. This is why she said to Jacob, Thy brother Esau comforts himself to slay thee.²⁵⁴Verse 42 here.
Now Rashi comments, “She was told, through Ruach Hakodesh,²³¹See above, Note 90. what Esau was thinking in his heart.” And so it is found in Bereshith Rabbah.²⁵⁵Bereshith Rabbah 67:9. If so, Esau’s words and thoughts were only in his heart, just as in the verse, I spoke with my own heart.²⁵⁶Ecclesiastes 1:16.
The reason that Esau said, Let the days of mourning for my father be at hand then will I slay my brother is because he would not bring grief to his father during his lifetime. Perhaps it was due to his fear lest his father curse him, and his blessing would then turn into a curse. Rebekah, [who nevertheless advised Jacob to flee], feared that perhaps the elderly one would die suddenly, and Esau would then kill Jacob, or perhaps he might find occasion to kill him even during Isaac’s lifetime.

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, "the days of mourning for my father are not far off." Esau referred to the time after his father's funeral when the days of mourning commence. He was afraid to murder Jacob before his father would be buried since the dead are reputed to be aware of what goes on as long as the grave or coffin has not been sealed (Shabbat 152).

וישטום...יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, he wished fervently for the day of his father’s death which was expected soon as else why did he already bless his sons? He planned to kill Yaakov after the mourning period after his father would have passed. He did not ant to kill Yaakov while their father was still alive, so as not to be responsible for Yitzchok dying as a result of grief over having lost his son.

ויאמר עשו בלבו, “Esau said to himself: etc.” According to Ibn Ezra, Esau may have revealed his intention to one of his intimate friends. Nachmanides feels that there is no need to resort to such an explanation, [which distorts the meaning of the text, Ed.] seeing that something that a person resolves in his heart is often described by Scripture as אמירה, “something that has been said.” Esau’s resolve to eventually murder Yaakov was as good as if he had actually said so with his lips. The fact that he had made such a resolution consoled him over the present situation.

ויאמר עשו בלבו, “Esau said to himself, etc.” Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 67,8 used this phrase to remind us that the wicked are always “prisoners” of the dictates of their hearts, whereas the righteous are in full control of their hearts. We have a number of verses speaking of wicked people in which the Bible uses the same expression. Examples are: Psalms 14,1: “Naval said in his heart,” (to himself), Jerobam said to himself (Kings I 12,26) et al. The word בלבו must be contrasted with the expression אל לבו, “to his heart,” as distinct from “in his heart.” When you speak “to your heart,” you are the boss. When a voice speaks “in your heart,” the heart is the boss. This why we find in Samuel I 1,13 where Chanah is praying that the wording used to describe this is וחנה היא מדברת אל לבה, “and Chanah, she was speaking to her heart.” When G’d is reported as speaking to Himself in Genesis 5,21 the wording used is also ויאמר ה’ אל לבו.

So that I will not grieve my father... Although he was wicked, he would never grieve his father. He treated his father with honor, as proved by (28:8): “Eisov realized that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Yitzchok, his father...”

שטם ,וישטם verwandt mit שתם mit (Klagel. 3, 8) und סתם, versperren, verstopfen, bezeichnet einen verhaltenen Hass, ähnlich wie נטר, das auch allgemein: bewahren, bergen und speziell: Hass bewahren und bergen heißt. Es ist traurig, dass hier vorausgesetzt zu sein scheint, dass wohl selten ein Mensch den andern mehr liebt als er zeigt, wohl aber ihn mehr hasst, und dass daher "bergen" stillschweigend das Bergen einer feindlichen Gesinnung bedeutet. — "Wegen des Segens, den der Vater ihm gegeben". Man darf schwanken, ob: wegen des Segens, den sein Vater dem Jakob, oder den er ihm, dem Esau, gegeben. Denn in diesem spricht sich ja erst vollständig aus, wie seine ganze Stellung dem künftigen Jakobshause gegenüber eine untergeordnete sein werde. "Was du bedeutest im Leben", war ihm ja gesagt, "fällt Jakob zu, und du musst dich ihm unterordnen, wenn du ihm gleich werden willst" — ואהרגה, mein Vater hat ja gesagt: על הרבך תחיי, das soll der erste Gebrauch von meinem Schwerte sein.

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, “the time of mourning for the passing of my father will come about soon, etc.” Esau means that if he were to bring about his father’s premature death by murdering Yaakov, he would have accomplished nothing, as his father would then die prematurely through grieving over the loss of his son Yaakov. This is why he will await his father’s death from natural causes before carrying out his plan to kill his brother.

וישטום עשו את יעקב על הברכה, “Esau hated Yaakov on account of the blessing;” there are some commentators who do not consider the words: על הברכה in our verse as referring to the blessing that Yaakov had “robbed” Esau of, but they consider these words as Esau’s complaint about the blessing that he did receive from his father, i.e. that he would always have to fight for his survival, על חרבך תחיה, “you will live (only) by the sword.” He placed a great deal of trust in that blessing. We would then have to understand our verse as follows: “Esau hated Yaakov, as from now on he had an assurance that by means of the sword he would always survive.”

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, “the days of mourning for my father’s death are approaching;” according to the plain meaning, Esau looked forward to his father’s death as he would not have wanted to cause his father such a painful experience as losing a son. Not only that, his father might curse him for what he had done. Other commentators believe that the words do not mean that Esau looked forward to his father’s death, but that he said: ”I will bring my father’s mourning Yaakov’s death closer by murdering Yaakov.”

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, “may the days of mourning for my father approach, etc.” He did not want to kill Yaakov while Yitzchak was alive as he was afraid of being cursed by his father and that the blessing he had received would turn into a curse. Seeing that Yaakov had gone into hiding and left town, Rivkah had to send a message to him [ותשלח in verse 42] to warn him of Esau’s plan.

יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, Esau was sure that his father would not live long enough to sire another son who could avenge Yaakov when he would murder him.

ואהרגה, “when I shall kill, etc.” The letter ו is vocalised with the semi vowel sheva, and the letter aleph with a patach.

ויגד לרבקה WERE TOLD TO REBEKAH — It was told her by the Holy Spirit what Esau was thinking in his heart (Genesis Rabbah 67:9).

AND SHE SENT AND CALLED JACOB. The meaning thereof is that Jacob was in another place, not in the tent of his father and mother, since he was hiding from his brother Esau who was complaining about him, and he was ashamed or afraid of him.

עשו בנו הגדול, her elder son Esau. The reason she used the word הגדול "the bigger one," instead of הבכיר, "the older one", was because she was describing Esau's relative prowess compared to the physically smaller Jacob.

ויגד לרבקה, how did she get to know about Esau’s intentions which he had not articulated? It is possible that she experienced a prophetic revelation, seeing that she was a prophetess. (compare Rashi) It is also possible that what Esau had thought about doing, he inadvertently mentioned to someone so that the one who had heard him reported it to Rivkah.

ותשלח ותקרא ליעקב, “she sent a message to Yaakov calling him to come and see her.” She had to send him a message as he was not at his usual place, being in hiding, either in fear of Esau’s revenge or because he was too embarrassed to face his brother, being ashamed of what he had done, and Esau having loudly complained about him to all who would listen.

Your brother Eisov is consoled (misnachem). Misnachem can also mean to “glorify oneself” — Eisov boasted of what he would do to Yaakov.

The meaning of consolation... You might ask: Does it not mean consolation according to the Midrash as well? The answer is: Rashi is saying that if we explain it as the Midrash does, meaning consolation — rather than as regret — then the verse can be explained [quite simply]: Eisov will comfort and console himself over losing the blessings by killing you. Thus, we need not explain it as referring to the cup of consolation.

יעקב בנה הקטן ,עשו בנה הגדול, wird gewiss nicht umsonst hervorgehoben, ebenso am Schlusse der ganzen Erzählung: אחי רבקה אם יעקב ועשו. Nach allen diesen Vorgängen blieb Esau der Ältere, Jakob der Jüngere und Rebekka Esaus Mutter wie Jakobs. In diesem ganzen spricht sich vollständig die edle reine Gesinnung Rebekkas und Jakobs aus und findet sich unsere Auffassung bestätigt. Bei gemeinen Naturen wird derjenige, der dem andern Unrecht gethan, dem andern dann erst recht böse, sucht nach Vorwänden und Gründen, um das getane Unrecht hinterdrein zu rechtfertigen. Gemeine Seelen werden nach getanem Unrecht nur noch rücksichtsloser. Und Rebekka und Jakob? Dass Esau nach dem Geschehenen mehr als ungehalten war, das findet Rebekka ganz natürlich. Esau konnte ja ihre Gründe niemals verstehen, geschweige verzeihen. Und hat Jakob auch nur im geringsten von der ברכה und der בכורה Gebrauch gemacht? Nicht im mindesten. Vielmehr sehen wir Jakob entschieden im Nachteil. Sie waren doch Zwillingsbrüder. Esau aber verheiratet sich bereits zu vierzig Jahren, bringt zwei, später bereits drei Schwiegertöchter ins Haus, nimmt Teil an des Vaters Wirtschaft und Hausstand, und Jakob geht nackt fort, ohne Heller, um sich als Knecht zu verdingen, und durch Knechtesarbeit sich einen Familienstand zu erwerben, ויעבד באשה ובאשה שמר. — Vielfach hat man es auffallend gefunden, wie Jizchak, der doch sowohl durch die Erbschaft von Abraham als durch selbstgewonnenen Segen ein mehr als gewöhnlich reicher Mann war, seinen Sohn Jakob so von allem entblößt mit seinem bloßen Wanderstab habe fortwandern lassen. Allein dieser Umstand wurzelt tief in all den Motiven, die diesen Vorgängen zu Grunde lagen. Wenn Jakob durch Rebekkas Veranlassung die ברכה und die בכורה erhalten, so sollte klar hervortreten, dass dabei auch nicht eine Spur von Rücksicht auf materiellen Wohlstand obwaltete. Esau sollte nach Jakobs Abreise auch nicht eine Stecknadel vermissen können. Es ist dies das größte Dokument für Rebekkas und Jakobs Seelenadel. Diese Worte אם יעקב ועשו sind gleichsam die Grabinschrift Rebekkas. Fortan tritt sie nicht mehr tätig auf. Sie war in allem und bis an ihr Ende Mutter Jakobs und Esaus, hat stets mütterlich gehandelt. —

ויגד לרבקה את דברי עשו בנה, “Rivkah was informed of the words of her son Esau;” he was saying quite openly what was in his heart, i.e. that as soon as his father would die, he would murder his twin brother. Someone who had heard him say this told his mother.

מתנחם לך DOTH COMFORT HIMSELF CONCERNING THEE — He regrets the brotherly relationship existing between you, harbouring thoughts other than those of brotherhood, to estrange himself from you and to kill you. The Midrashic explanation (Genesis Rabbah 67:9) is: In his eyes you are already regarded as dead and he has drunk for you (i. e. because he regards you as dead) the cup of consolation (which it was customary for near relatives of the deceased to drink). But according to the real meaning the word signifies “comforting” — he will comfort himself for the loss of the blessings by killing you.

HE DOTH COMFORT HIMSELF (‘LECHA’) TO SLAY THEE. “He comforts himself for the loss of the blessings by killing you.” Thus the language of Rashi.
But the simple interpretation is that “he comforts himself with you.”²⁵⁷According to Rashi, the comfort is for the blessings Esau lost. Thus the verse states that “his comfort for the loss he suffered is to slay thee.” But according to Ramban the comfort is for his own personal sake, and the meaning of the word lecha (to you) is as if it were written becha (with you), and the thought of the verse is that “his comfort with you is to kill you.” Similar cases [of the letter lamed having the meaning of a beth] are found in the verses, Thou hast chosen the son of Jesse,²⁵⁸I Samuel 20:7. The Hebrew: l’ben Yishai (to the son of Jesse). The verse thus means that “your choice lies with the son of Jesse.” And he took hold of him,²⁵⁹II Samuel 15:5. The Hebrew vehechezik lo here means vehechezik bo. and many similar cases.
Perhaps the interpretation is that “he is comforting himself concerning you,” just as in the verses: And the men of the place asked him of his wife;²⁶⁰Above, 26:7. The Hebrew word le’ishto in this verse does not mean “to his wife,” but “concerning his wife.” And he fell on his face;²⁶¹I Samuel 20:41. The Hebrew word le’apav in this verse does not mean “to his face,” but “on his face.” For the king had so commanded concerning him.²⁶²Esther 3:2. The word lo (to him) here means alav (concerning him). Onkelos, however, translates it as kemin lecha, meaning, “he lies in wait for you.” It would appear from his opinion that the meaning of the Hebrew expression, mithnachem lecha, is that “Esau effects the appearance of having been consoled about the matter of the blessings as if he no longer cares for them, but in truth he lies in wait for you and acts this way so that you should not be on guard.” Now Onkelos translated according to the intent of the verse but not according to the language.

מתנחם לך להרגך, he acts as if he is already consoling himself over the death of Yaakov. Or, the meaning of this phrase could be that Esau has made peace with his own death because he knows that at least he had first killed you. Once he has accomplished

מתנחם לך להרגך, “he is consoling himself with the plan to kill you.” According to Rashi this either means that he consoles himself over the loss of the blessings by killing you, or that he had already prepared the cup of wine given to a mourner to allow him to comfort himself over the loss of a dear relative.

מתנחם לך, consoles himself concerning you. The thought of killing you acts as consolation for him regarding what you have done to him. By killing you he means to restore to himself both the birthright and the blessing.

ותשלח, Jakob war also nicht zu Hause, nicht ein Muttersöhnchen, das immer um die Mutter gewesen wäre. אחיך, der dein Bruder ist und bleibt, und gegen den du nie vergessen darfst, dass er dein Bruder ist.

ועתה בני, "and now my son, etc." This has to be understood in the same vein as the statement by our sages that one should be a penitent a day before one's death (Avot 2,10). Rebeccah reminded Jacob that no one is assured of his life for even a single day. As a result one must always be penitent. This is why she chose the expression "now." קום ברח, "arise and flee!" She urged Jacob to flee at once although Esau had indicated he would not murder Jacob until after his father's death. Rebeccah was afraid that Isaac might die at any time, thus enabling Esau to try and carry out his evil intention.

ועתה..חרנה, she had heard that her brother had migrated from Ur Casdim to Charan.

ברה לך, gehe als Flüchtling fort.

ברח לך אל לבן. "Flee to Laban." Laban would stand up against Esau if the latter were to pursue Jacob in order to kill him.

אחדים means A FEW.

עד אשר תשוב חמת אחיך. "until such time as your brother's anger subsides." Anger has a habit of cooling with the passage of time. The reason that Rebeccah continued to belabour the same point in verse 45 was that she knew that the mere passage of time would not be enough to bring about the desired cooling off of Esau's anger. Until such time as Esau would not become furious when others mentioned what had happened there was no knowing if it would be safe for Jacob to return home.

וישבת...אחדים, a few; since the number אחד is the lowest of the numbers it is no more than natural to describe a small number in terms of a multiple of “one.”

עד אשר תשוב חמת אחיך, “until the anger of your brother abates.” This was the anger at having sold the birthright.

חמה ist ein höherer Grad von אף .אף ist der im Gesichte sich äußernde Zorn, ohne dass man notwendig im Herzen so böse zu sein braucht. חמה ist die wahre Glut des Zornes.

ימים אחדים, “one year.”

ושלחתי ולקחתיך, "I will send and fetch you." She did not want Jacob to risk returning under any circumstances until she would send for him.

למה אשכל means WHY SHOULD I BE BEREAVED משניכם OF BOTH OF YOU? — The one who buries his children is termed שכול bereaved: so we find in the case of Jacob (43:14), “If I am to be bereaved (שכלתי) let me be bereaved”.

גם שניכם, if he will kill you he in turn will be executed by the blood avengers.

גם שניכם יום אחד. "both of you on the same day." Rebeccah said to Jacob: "even assuming that Esau would die in an act of self defense by you or an act of revenge by a relative of yours this would not give me any satisfaction at all." Rebeccah's concern was only for the life of Jacob; she did not care about Esau at all.

עד שוב...גם שניכם, one to include the other. We find a similar construction of lumping two people together when they share a single common denominator [such as death in this verse. Ed.] in Genesis 43,8 גם אנחנו גם אתה, “both we and you,” where the wordגם introduces two entities instead of merely adding one to another, and Yehudah tells his father that sending Binyamin with him will result in both his father and the brothers and their families being spared death from famine. The rationale of אשכול שניכם יום אחד, is simply that the death of one of the brothers will inevitably be followed immediately by the death of the other.

למה אשכול שניכם יום אחד?, “why should I be bereaved of both of you on the same day?” According to the plain meaning of the text she referred to the death of both Yaakov and Esau. Some commentators believe she was referring to the death of Yaakov and Yitzchok, as Esau had said he would kill Yaakov as soon as Yitzchok would die.

עד שוב אף אחיך, “until your brother’s wrath subsides.” This was a reference to the blessing Yaakov had stolen from him. This is the reason the Torah speaks of two different types of anger Esau was filled with.

עד שוב אף Es genügt nicht, dass sich die Hitze des Zornes gelegt. Ich werde warten, bis du ihm entgegenkommen kannst, ohne von ihm Unfreundlichkeit erwarten zu müssen. Man sieht, Rebekka hat die beste Vorstellung von Esaus Gemüt, dass er selbst das Unrecht, das ihm geschehen, und dessen Größe von seinem Standpunkt aus sie keineswegs verkennt, werde ganz vergessen können. "Soll ich euch denn auch verlieren an Einem Tage," wohl: wie ich euch an Einem Tage geboren? Den Gemordeten hätte sie nicht mehr, und der Mörder wäre nicht mehr ihr Sohn. Indem sie aber beide zu verlieren fürchtet, hat sie beide noch, hängt ihr Herz noch an beiden, und Esau ist ihr nicht minder Sohn als Jakob. Es sind dies alles Züge, die nicht zu übersehen sind.

למה אשכל גם שניכם יום אחד, “why should your father and I be bereft of both of you on a single day? Rivkah referred to her becoming widowed on the day Yitzchok would die, and immediately thereafter would also be bereft of Yaakov when Esau would carry out his threat. (verse 41) The principal commentary on this line is that of Rashi, who understands Rivkah as saying to Yaakov that even if he were to kill Esau first, his sons would avenge him by killing him. The word: גם, “also,” in this verse refers to herself, who meant that if she were to lose both her sons she would consider herself as dead.

גם שניכם OF YOU BOTH — If he attacks you and you kill him his children will rise and kill you. The Holy Spirit poured itself forth upon her and she prophesied (had a presage) that they would both die on one day just as it is stated in the Chapter המקנה לאשתו (Sotah 13a).

שכל: iKinderberaubtsein — und אשכל: die Traube! Vielleicht bedeutet אשכל nicht sowohl die Beeren, als vielmehr das kürze Stengelgeäste, an welchem die Beeren sitzen. So lange die Beeren daran sind, sieht man das Geäste nicht. Es wird nur sichtbar, wenn es der Beeren beraubt ist. אשתך כגפן פוריה: die kinderreiche Mutter ist ein fruchtgesegneter Weinstock. Sterben ihr ihre Kinder, so steht sie wie das nackte Traubengeäste da, dem man die Beeren abgepflückt.

יום אחד, even though they might not both die on the same day, they would be buried on the same day. (Based on the Talmud in Sotah 13)

קצתי בחיי means I AM DISGUSTED WITH MY LIFE.

If Yaakov marries. This was a stratagem to distance Yaakov from Eisov without revealing to Yitzchok the reason for it.

קצתי בחיי. "I am fed up with my life." She did not want to reveal the true reason for her state of mind because it is forbidden to tell tales. This is why she gave Isaac a different reason for wanting Jacob sent away. When she had revealed Esau's intention to Jacob this was not tale-bearing but was fulfilment of the commandment in the second half of the verse dealing with tale bearing, "do not stand idly by when the blood of your fellow man is being shed" (Leviticus 19,16).

ותאמר...מפני בנות חת, the ones referred to were only those whom Esau had married. Rivkah says that if Yaakov were to marry someone similar, it would be better that she would die now. She considered Yaakov as already single for too many years so that she asked Yitzchok to order him to go to her brother Lavan, thereby saving him both from the avenging sword of his brother and from the daughters of the Canaanites one of whom might want to marry him Once in the house of Lavan, Yaakov would either marry one of Lavan’s daughters or some other woman related to Rivkah.

קצתי בחיי מפני בנות חת, “I am fed up with my life on account of the Hittite women” (Esau’s wives). You notice that the letter ק at the beginning of the word קצתי is written is smaller script. The reason was that Rivkah foresaw with her holy spirit that the Holy Temple which measured 100 (ק) cubits in length would one day be destroyed due to he sin of intermarriage between the Israelites with local Gentile women. We find a similar occurrence of the letter ק being written in larger than usual script in Psalms 84, 4 (גם צפור מצאה בית ודרור קן לה, “even a sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself”). The Psalmist in this instance refers to the silver and gold David had amassed in preparation for the building of the Holy Temple which his son Solomon would complete. In other words, when you look forward to establishing a Temple 100 cubits long, the letter ק is written larger, whereas when one envisages the destruction of this Temple the same latter ק is written in smaller script. David had complete details of the precise measurements of the Temple which would be built by Solomon as we know from Chronicles I 28,19 “All this that the Lord made me understand by His hand on me, I give you in writing—the plan of all the works.”

Wäre Rebekka ein gewöhnliches Weib gewesen, was hätte ihr willkommener sein können, als Jizchak Esaus Mordgedanken zu verraten, ihm damit zu sagen, wie sie ja nun wohl Recht gehabt, Esau ein zweiter Kain werden wolle etc. etc. Das tut sie jedoch nicht, lässt vielmehr Jakobs Reise nach Padan Aram aus ganz natürlichen und in sich völlig gerechtfertigten Motiven hervorgehen. — כאלה, wie wir sie bereits leider an den beiden Schwiegertöchtern kennen, מבנות הארץ, von dem Gott gesprochen: לא שלם עון האמרי עד הנה.

אם לוקח יעקב אשה מבנות חת, “if Yaakov were to take a wife from amongst the Hittites;” She said this only in order to insure that Yaakov would be physically out of reach to Esau. [She could not imagine that Yaakov actually would do such a thing. Ed.] She wanted Yitzchok to specifically warn Yaakov not to marry a Hittite woman. She was afraid that unless specifically instructed, he would not want to leave his home and appear like a fugitive. He might instead marry someone from a powerful family and take his chances that they would protect him against his brother.