The Blessing Yitzchak Really Intended

Parashat Toledot is a Tale of Two Blessings. But this tale is puzzling on several levels and demands to be understood. Rabbi Paul Bloom looks at a way to navigate a path through this maze of issues.

In the second half of Parashat Toledot, Sefer Bereishit Chapter 27 revolves around a dramatic pair of questions: Who will receive Yitzchak’s great blessing?  Who will be chosen to carry the covenant forward into the next generation—Yaakov or Eisav?

We would assume that the blessing Yitzchak plans to give is the blessing of Am Yisrael: the charge to be “a blessing to the nations,” the spiritual legacy of Avraham Avinu, the bond with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and the eternal connection to Eretz Yisrael. But when the blessing arrives, it is… surprising.  Almost disappointing. Instead of a grand spiritual vision, the blessing Yitzchak gives sounds like a financial and political one: dew of the heavens, fat of the land, power, wealth, dominance. Not the covenant of Avraham, not the spiritual destiny of Klal Yisrael—just prosperity and influence.

What happened?
 Where is Eretz Yisrael? Where is the mission to bring blessing to the world?  Why is the blessing so materialistic—so un-Avraham-like? These questions, however, lead us to the deeper understanding of the entire parasha.

Was Yitzchak Really “Fooled”?

Chazal and the classical mefarshim reject the simplistic reading that Yitzchak was gullible. Yitzchak Avinu—the spiritual giant, the patriarch—was not naïvely tricked by a bowl of food and a costume.

Following the approach of the Malbim and the Sforno, we see a completely different picture: Yitzchak knew exactly who his sons were.

●      He knew Yaakov was the “ish tam yoshev ohalim,” the spiritual heir, the one destined to carry the covenant.

●      He knew Eisav was a man of action, strength, charisma, and worldly capability.

And Yitzchak believed that each son had a role to play.  His dream—his vision—was a partnership, a partnership like the later model of Yissachar and Zevulun, where:

●      Yissachar dedicates himself to Torah

●      Zevulun engages the marketplace

●      The two support, respect, and need one another.

Yitzchak envisioned Yaakov as the spiritual leader but Eisav as the powerful national leader: the financier, the military protector, the political force. Yaakov would teach Torah, spread emunah, and carry the covenant. Eisav would provide the material infrastructure for that mission.

This was a brilliant plan—if it could work

Thus the blessing Yitzchak gives—thinking Eisav is before him—is not the blessing of Avraham. It is the blessing of worldly power, the blessing of a national partner who would support Yaakov’s spiritual mission. Yaakov would receive his blessing later—the true birchat Avraham—in Chapter 28, Yitzchak explicitly gives him:

●      the covenant of Avraham,

●      the relationship with Hashem,

●      and the promise of Eretz Yisrael.

That was always meant for Yaakov. But Yitzchak hoped for a partnership.

Why the Plan Failed

But one person saw what Yitzchak did not: Rivka. She knew Eisav more deeply, more honestly. She knew that Eisav was not simply a strong, worldly personality—he was fundamentally self-centered. His talents and drive were aimed inward, not upward. He lacked the anavah, the discipline, the spiritual sensitivity to use power for a higher purpose.

Yitzchak dreamed of Yissachar and Zevulun. Rivka saw Korach. Had Eisav received material power, he would not have shared it with Yaakov.  He would have used it for himself—not to build a nation, but to feed an ego. Therefore the partnership could not stand. That’s why Rivka ensures that Yaakov receives the first blessing as well—not because Yaakov needed the power for its own sake, but because Eisav could not be trusted with it.

Yaakov would now have to carry both responsibilities:

●      the spiritual leadership

●      and the material-national leadership.

And for that, he is sent to the “Harvard Business School” of Lavan, to learn the worldly skills necessary to guide a nation.

A New Understanding of “I Already Gave the Blessing”

This interpretation also explains one of the most puzzling moments in the parasha. Eisav begs:
 “Haven’t you a blessing for me, too, Father?” And Yitzchak essentially answers:  “I’m sorry—I already gave it away.” But why should this be so?  Are blessings like coupons that can be used only once? Can a gadol ever say, “Sorry, I’ve run out of berachot”?

The answer is profound: A true berachah is not “I wish you wealth, success, power, beauty.”
 That is just good fortune. That is not a Torah concept of blessing. A Torah berachah is:
 “May you have success and use it for a spiritual purpose— for building Torah, for elevating others, for bringing Hashem’s presence into the world.” If a person cannot or will not use success for spiritual ends, no true berachah is possible.  Yitzchak is not refusing—he is recognizing reality.

The Dream for Klal Yisrael

What emerges from this parasha is a blueprint for Jewish society: The Jewish people need both forms of leadership—spiritual and material.  Both are holy.  Both are necessary. But the key is mutual respect.

Imagine a society—imagine Eretz Yisrael today—where:

●      The military and economic leaders view Torah scholars not as a burden but as the moral and spiritual backbone of the nation.

●      And the benei Torah view the soldiers, workers, innovators, and officials not as distractions but as essential partners in building a Jewish state.

That was Yitzchak’s dream.  It remains the dream of Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David— a perfected partnership of strength and spirit. Rivka understood that it was premature in her day.  But the dream remains.

Our Role Today

We live in a time when these tensions are real—perhaps more visible than ever.  And yet the parasha calls us to strive for Yitzchak’s vision:

●      To honor those who protect and build the physical nation

●      To honor those who preserve and teach the spiritual nation

●      And to foster deep respect between them, as partners, not adversaries.

This is not only possible—it is our destiny.

Yehi Ratzon

May we merit to see a generation in which the strengths of Yosef and Yehudah, of Yaakov and Eisav’s potential, of Yissachar and Zevulun, unite to build an Am Yisrael that is both strong and holy, prosperous and humble, powerful and profoundly connected to Hashem.

May that partnership lead us swiftly toward ge’ulah.

The Blessings -- Poetry or Reality? VeZot Haberachah 5786

This piece by Rabbi Berel Wein ztz'l was kindly supplied by the Destiny Foundation.

Rashi points out that the blessings of Moshe to the Jewish people are based upon and mirror those of Yaakov at the end of the book of Bereshit. Some blessings are eternal and always valid, while others pertain only to the times in which they are given but have little relevance to other times. The blessings of both Yaakov and Moshe are of two distinct types; they focus on their locations in the Land of Israel and the traits and characteristics of their individual members as warriors, merchants, or scholars, and as part of the national fabric of the Jewish society. 

Over the long years of the exile of the Jews and their disappearance from the Land of Israel, these blessings have seemed to be pure poetry, detached from reality. However, the words of the Torah are eternal and therefore in our time these blessings have again acquired relevance and actuality. We are once again a society of warriors, sailors, scholars, merchants and farmers. All these traits, that we were preventing from demonstrating  during our long sojourn in exile, have once again come to the fore in our daily lives. So, the blessings of Moshe have immediate and deep meaning to our generation and to the society in which we live. Perhaps this is part of the connection to the past, to which Moshe refers in the introduction to his blessings, a connection not only to the blessings of Yaakov but also to the original Jewish inhabitants of the Land of Israel millennia ago. 

Part of the blessing that Moshe has bequeathed to us is the fact that, even though no person is completely replaceable, it is also the case that no person is indispensable. If there is any one person about whom the Jewish people would feel that they could not do without, it was Moshe. Nevertheless, his influence and teachings remain with us thousands of years after his death, and Jewish people have continued throughout human history. 

The reality of human mortality is coupled with the miracle of Jewish eternity. All of us live on through the future success and development of the Jewish people. Those who are unconditionally attached to the Jewish people, heart and soul, are attached to an eternity that is not subject to the nature of human mortality. This is because of our attachment to the God of Israel who has proclaimed that “you who adhere to the Lord your God are all still alive even today.” 

That is the point that Moshe wishes to impress upon us in this final chapter of the Torah. Moshe lives on through the Torah that he taught us and through the people of Israel whom he helped form and lead during his lifetime. This idea of comfort and eternity is truly the great blessing that he bestowed upon us. All of the other detailed blessings, important and vital as they are, are nevertheless only corollaries to this great blessing of eternity and continuity. 

"Being True to Ourselves", Rabbi Wein's article on this parashah for Hanassi Highlights last year, is available here.

What berachah do you say on seeing a hostage being released?

This evening, between minchah and maariv, Rabbi Kenigsberg asked a highly topical question: what berachah should one recite on seeing a hostage being released? While the words "shehechiyanu vekiyemanu vehigianu" may spring into one's mind, the range of possible available options is much greater. As Rav Rimon explains, there are really five possible options:

• Shehechianu
• HaTov vehaMetiv
• Matir Assurim
• Mechayeh haMetim
• Say no berachah at all

At first blush, Matir Assurim ("Who releases those who are bound") looks like the most promising verbal formula--but we know that this blessing, which we say every morning when we get up, is recited in an entirely different context and is therefore inappropriate. As for the other berachot, well, the best way to weigh up their strengths and weaknesses is to click onto the YouTube recording of Rabbi Kenigsberg's shiur (it's just 15 minutes long) here. By the way, there's more to come. Rabbi Kenigsberg will be continuing his discussion of this issue tomorrow. You can follow it by coming to shul between minchah and maariv or wait a little and it will be posted on the Hanassi YouTube channel too.

The blessing of success--and how to handle it: Vayetzei 5785

Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov all suffered from jealous reactions to their success from the local populations in which they lived. Avraham is recognized as the “prince of God in our midst” and yet is begrudged a grave in which to bury Sarah. Yitzchak is sent away from the kingdom of Avimelech because, the latter says, “you have grown too great from us.” And, in this week’s parsha, Lavan tells Yaakov that everything that Yaakov owns really belongs to Lavan. 

The blessings of God and His promise to protect the patriarchs and matriarchs of Israel do save them from their neighbors, relatives and enemies. However, the success and achievements of this small family, as per God’s promise and against all odds and opposition, raise the hatred and jealousy of their neighbors—even though the neighbors themselves, such as Avimelech and Lavan, benefit mightily from the achievements of Yitzchak and Yaakov. 

The rabbis of the Talmud taught us that “hatred destroys rational thought and behavior.” So, instead of gratitude and friendship, the accomplishments of the patriarchs and matriarchs only bring forth greed, jealousy and persecution, with the ever-present threat of violence hovering in the background. All efforts to maintain a low profile and to mollify Lavan result only in increased bigotry and hatred. 

It is not for nothing that the Pesach Haggadah makes Lavan a greater enemy to the survival of the Jewish people than even the Pharaoh of Egypt. But almost all the enemies of the Jews over the centuries suffer from the same basic moral faults regarding the Jews: ingratitude, jealousy and greed. These are all revealed to us in this week’s parsha. 

Someone mentioned to me that perhaps, if we maintained a lower profile in the world, didn’t receive so many Nobel prize awards, and were less influential in the fields of finance, and the media, that anti-Semitism would decrease. “What if?” is a difficult thought process to pursue intelligently. There is no question that the world and all humankind would be so much poorer if the Jews purposely withheld their energy, creativity and intelligence and ceased to contribute to human civilization. And there certainly is no guarantee that the world would like us any more than it does now if we were less successful and prominent. 

The mere fact that God blessed the patriarchs with success and influence indicates that this is His desire for us. The Torah specifically states that every nation and family on earth will benefit and be blessed through us. So, in our case, less would not necessarily be more. Yet we were enjoined from flaunting our success in the faces of those less fortunate than us.

Modesty in behavior and deportment is an important partner in times of success. This is also a lesson that our father Yaakov intended to teach us. We are not allowed to rein in our talents and achievements. We are however bidden to control our egos and bluster. That is also an important Jewish trait that should be a foundation in our lives. 

Shabat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein 

Family, foes and painful choices: Toledot 5785

The troubling question on this week’s parsha that has persisted throughout the ages of biblical commentary is: Whatever is Yitzchak thinking when he plans to give the blessings and heritage of Avraham to Eisav? Basically, explanations fall into two categories. One view is that Yitzchak, fooled by Eisav, is quite unaware of his true nature and wanton behavior. Rashi, quoting Midrash, interprets that Eisav “hunted“ his father with his pious speech and cunning conversation. Yitzchak is taken in and believes that Eisav, a man of the world and a physically powerful figure, is better suited to carry on Avraham’s vision than is Yaakov, the more studious and apparently less sophisticated of the pair. 

The other opinion, more popular among the later commentators to the Torah, is that Yitzchak is aware of the shortcomings of behavior and attitude of his elder son. His desire to give the blessings to Eisav is due to his wish to redeem and save him, to enable Eisav to turn his life around and become a worthy heir to the traditions of his father and grandfather. Yitzchak thinks that even if he gives the blessings to Eisav, Yaakov will not really suffer any disadvantage in his life’s work, while Eisav will find his way back to holiness through the blessings that he will have received. 

These two divergent attitudes towards the wayward child in Jewish families are enacted daily in Jewish family life. Later Yitzchaks either wilfully allow themselves to be deluded regarding the behavior and lifestyle of children or, aware of the problem, they attempt to solve it through a combination of generosity and a plethora of blessings. 

Rivkah, the mother of both Eisav and Yaakov, is not fooled by Eisav’s apparently soothing words; nor does she believe that granting him blessings will somehow accomplish any major shift in his chosen lifestyle. To a great measure she adopts a policy of triage, saving Yaakov and blessing him while thus abandoning Eisav to his own preferred wanton ways. 

The Torah does not record for us the “what if” scenario of Eisav receiving the blessings. Would he have been different in behavior and attitude, belief and mission? However, from the words of the later prophets of Israel, especially those of Ovadyah, it appears to be clear that God concurred with Rivkah’s policy, holding Eisav to be redeemable only in the very long run of history and human events. 

The moral of this episode is that one must be clear-eyed and realistic about the painful waywardness and misbehavior of Yaakov’s enemies, be they from within or without our immediate family and milieu. There are many painful choices that need to be made within one’s lifetime and especially in family relations, and few pat answers to varying and difficult situations. Perhaps that is why the Torah does not delve too deeply into the motives of Yitzchak and Rivkah, being content merely to reflect the different emotional relationships each had with their two very different sons. The Torah emphasizes the role that human emotions play in our lives and does not consign all matters to rational thought and decision-making.   

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein       

Tailor-made blessings: Vezot Habrachah 5785

 Though we don't leyn Vezot Habrachah in its entirety until Simchat Torah, which falls on 22 Tishrei/24 October, we have already started leyning it midweek, so here's a devar Torah for it fom Rabbi Berel Wein:

The holy Torah concludes with the blessings of Moshe to the people of Israel before his passing from the world. Though the point has been made before, it bears repetition: the blessing to each of the tribes is different in detail and purpose. Contrary to much current belief and practice in religious Jewish society, there is no one-size-fits-all blessing or mission statement that applies to all Jews.

Rather Moshe, to whom the task of nation building was assigned by Heaven, looks to construct a whole nation, multi-faceted and productive, holy and interactive. If everyone is to be Zevulun, then what will be of Torah study and knowledge amongst the people of Israel? But if everyone is Yissachar, then again Torah will fail to survive within Jewish society.

King Solomon advised us wisely that every child is to be educated according to the individual talents, predispositions and abilities of that particular child. When home schooling was the vogue for Jewish education in biblical times, such an individualized educational program was both more possible and feasible. With the introduction of universal and institutionalized schooling, the task of individualized education to meet every student’s specific situation became a goal that was well-nigh unattainable.

The system was built to create Yissachar, but those that dropped out and became Zevulun were, to a certain extent, treated with less respect in the Jewish scholarly community. Though certainly Yissachar was to be respected, honored and supported, many generations lost sight that it was only through Zevulun that Yissachar could exist in the Jewish world. The two tribes were meant to complement each other, not to compete and denigrate one another.

It is striking to note how careful Moshe is to identify each tribe’s nature and strengths. Moshe is the one person who forges the different tribes into one whole nation. He did so by granting each tribe its different due, by recognizing that all are necessary in this process of nation building. The rabbis carried this idea further when they identified the four species of plant life that form the commandment on Succot, as being representative of the basic groupings that have always formed Jewish life. Just as all four species are necessary for the fulfilment of the commandment, so too are all four groupings of Jews are also necessary to form a vital and healthy Jewish society.

The remarkable variety of people and ideas that have always characterized Jewish society throughout the ages was recognized and extolled by Moshe through his individualized blessings to Israel before his passing from this world. At times Jewish society appears to be riven and chaotic and we long for the elusive “Jewish unity” to which we all pay lip service. But what we really should mean to yearn for is not Jewish conformity but Jewish loyalty, which is a far different matter. There is an Jewish ballad that states this matter clearly and succinctly: “Whatever we are, we are—but we are all Jews!” The blessings of Moshe as they appear in our concluding parsha of the Torah should help guide us to this important conclusion.

Blessings and Beyond: Bechukotai 5784

This week’s parsha, which concludes the book of Vayikra, portrays some vital aspects of Jewish national and personal life. On one hand it describes in rapturous terms the blessings of happiness, security and serenity that can benefit the Jewish people and the individual Jew. On the other hand, it vividly and graphically describes the prospect of exile, tragedy, and death. 

Jewish history bears out the reality of each of these visions. We have lived through both and seem to have experienced much longer periods of darkness than of light, of more tragedy than joy or serenity. The Torah attributes observance of the commandments as the prime cause of security in Jewish life, their non-observance as the cause of tragedy. However, history and the great commentators to Torah qualify this simplistic impression. 

God’s wisdom and judgments are inscrutable, beyond even elementary comprehension by us mortals. This is why we are left to speculate about the tragedies that descended upon the Jewish people and that continue to plague us today. Though there are those amongst us who are prepared to give and accept glib answers to questions about the causes of tragedy, the wise men of Israel warned us against taking such an approach. 

Observance of commandments is enormously difficult to fulfill completely and accurately. This is why it is so hard to measure the "why" part of this week's parsha. We should still however take note of the "how it happened" part. This shows us that its depiction of contrasting periods of serenity and tragedy has been painstakingly accurate and contains not one word of hyperbole. The destruction of the Temples, the Crusades and pogroms, the Inquisition and the Holocaust are all graphically described in this week's parsha. Such is the Torah;s prophetic power. 

In personal life, the longer we live, the more likely it is that misfortune will somehow visit us. The Torah makes provision for this eventuality in its laws of mourning. We all hope for good quality of life and for secure serenity. Yet, almost inexorably, problems, disappointments and even tragedy intrude on our condition. 

In Vayikra, the death of the sons of Aharon remains the prime example of tragedy suddenly destroying a sense of pride, satisfaction and apparent accomplishment. In this week's parsha too, the description of the punishment of Israel for its backsliding is placed in the context of a background of blessings and security. The past century presented the Jewish people with horrors of unimaginable intensity and of millennial accomplishments. The situation of extreme flux in our national life has continued throughout the years of the existence of the State of Israel. 

The unexpected, sudden, but apparently regular changes of circumstance in Jewish national life mirror the same situation that which we recognize in our personal lives. We are constantly blindsided by untoward and tragic events.  So, the jarring contrast that the two main subjects of the parsha present to us are really a candid description of life, its omnipresent contradictions, and its difficulties. Though we pray regularly for health and serenity, we must always be cognizant of how precarious our situation truly is. Thus, as we rise to hear the conclusion of the book of Vayikra, we recite the mantra of "chazak, chazak, v'nitzchazek"—let us be doubly strong and strengthen others! So may it be. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein