ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף דברים 28:29

(1) "It happened when Isaac had become old, and his eyesight weakened from seeing," describes a process not only related to physical eyesight. Achievement of a person's maximal spiritual power is closely related to his physical state, and the proper functioning of all his senses. Of all senses, eyesight is so important that the Bible frequently equates the ability to know and comprehend with the ability to see (I saw them in my heart,” Kohelet 2; "Man cannot see Me, " Exodus 33; “I saw the Lord," Isaiah 6). In a lesser degree we find this applied to the sense of hearing, i.e. "Hear O Israel" (Deut 6). In a still lesser degree the sense of smell serves as a medium for comprehension and perceptions of the mind. "From afar he can smell war." (Job 39,25) "He lets him smell the fear of the Lord." (Isaiah 11) The foregoing leads our sages to state in Sanhedrin 93 that there is substance to smell (though it is not tangible). The sense of taste is ranked still lower among the list of our senses (see commentary on the tree of knowledge in Chapters Seven and Nine), but even it can confer on people perceptions of the true state of affairs. At the lowest rung of the ladder of our senses, re their usefulness as a means of perception, is the sense of touch. The knowledge conveyed by it, is the most unreliable of all our five senses. For that reason, we find that he who relies on it is considered a fool, "You will be groping in the dark at noon as the blind gropes in the dark" (Deut 28,29). Even Aristotle points out that reliance on one's senses cannot be considered sinful except reliance on one's sense of touch. When man's sense of sight functions at optimal efficiency, it hardly ever deceives him, even while his other senses do not function at their respective best. G-d presumably withdrew good eyesight from Isaac at this time to enable him to make the error necessary to prevent Esau from receiving this blessing. The story illustrates the length to which Isaac went to compensate for his failing eyesight by employing all his other senses. Jacob, on the other hand, made every effort to neutralize the powers of perception of these senses of Isaac. Despite Isaac's failing eyesight, he was not altogether blind to Esau's behavior and his unworthiness of the blessing that he as the elder brother should be the recipient of. Therefore, Isaac instructed Esau to perform a mitzvah as a result of which he would qualify for the blessings Isaac had in mind. The reason Isaac lists several activities related to hunting, is to make the performance of each activity the fulfilment of a separate mitzvah of "honor your father." Even the hunted animal itself will be considered like a sacrifice, seeing it had been killed as an act of obedience to a father's command. The reason Isaac added, "so that my soul can bless you," was to explain that only this would give him the right to bestow his blessing on Esau. (2) The addition of the words "before I die," was to let Esau know that unlike Isaac himself who had received the blessing of Abraham by G-d after the death of his father, Esau would not receive it unless it was given to him by his father. For that reason, Isaac did not add the words "before G-d" when he offered the blessing. After all, Esau would receive the blessing only by reason of the power to bless which had been bestowed on his father Isaac, not because he had inherent merit entitling him to the blessing. That, too, is the reason he introduced the blessing with the words, "May the Lord grant you." Isaac knew full well that, so far, he did not have heaven's approval for what he was about to do. When Jacob appeared on the scene, and Isaac smelled him, he could not understand that the odor seemed to be the one associated with people blessed by G-d. (4) The exclamation "Behold the odor of my son" must be understood as an expression of wonderment. This then prompted the "May the Lord grant you" as a prayer which Isaac hoped would lead to a confirmation of his assessment of the situation. Because he had felt uncomfortable about what he was going to do, he had not confided in either Rebecca or Jacob; he was not aware that he had been overheard. The mention of delicacies "which I have loved" is in fact a reference to his son Esau "whom I have loved." The fact that Rebecca "overheard" as distinct from "heard" must be mentioned. Had Isaac thought that she had "heard" him, he would never have given Jacob the benefit of the doubt, since he would have concluded that Rebecca had conspired with Jacob in the duplicity. The Torah stating that "Esau went into the field to hunt," is to alert the reader to Esau's total insensitivity to all the considerations which had motivated Isaac. Else, the Torah would have merely written "he did so," to indicate that Esau had tuned in to his father's wavelength. When Rebecca told Jacob what she had overheard, she was at pains not to let Jacob know that the blessing would be contingent on the one who would bring the food, otherwise Jacob would have considered the whole charade as completely futile. When she added that Isaac had said "I will bless before the Lord," she implied that the blessing was connected to the recipient's merit. Thus she encouraged Jacob to feel that his lifestyle up to that point gave him an advantage in his efforts to obtain the blessing. (3) Though aware that his voice was different from that of his brother, Jacob thought that he could imitate it sufficiently well to pass his father's inspection. However, he was far from certain that he could escape detection if the touch test would be applied. Isaac's sense of taste was neutralized by the food being prepared in the manner he was known to like. The goatskins neutralized his sense of touch.