Sunday, April 1, 2012
My Opinion: Did Yitchak Know What He Was Doing?
We all talk about Yitzchak's intentions as far as the giving of the 3 brachos to Yaakov and Esav. We have come up with 3 options so far: Yitzcka planned on splitting the Bracha all along, Yitzchak was going to give it all to Esav, and Yitzchak was going to give it all to Yaakov. We have come up with different facts and aspects in class pointing to one or another of the three options above. We said that Yitzchak probably wasn't planning on giving it all to Esav because when Yitzchak blessed Yaakov thinking he was Esav, he didn't include anything about the spiritual aspect of the world or even mention HaShem. Yitzchak was a very spiritual person, so why would he ass on the full bracha to one son and not mention HaShem or religion? We also seem to think that Yitzchak was not planning on giving the whole bracha to Yaakov either because the torah says that he trembled a great trembling when he realized that it was Yaakov that he had given the bracha to instead of Esav. I think that Yitzchak really did plan on splitting the bracha between his two sons, but when Yaakov took Esav's place for the first part, Yitzchak realized that Yaakov really was capable of presiding over both parts: the spiritual and the political/social. Yitzchak then gave Esav his own bracha because after all, he was the elder son and Yitzchak's favorite (for better or for worse).
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ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Mirel about the analysis and her opinion. I honestly believe that Yitzchak was fully capable of seeing that Esav was totally incapable of being a spiritual leader. One Midrash tells us that Esav would go to learn with his brother, but instead "ditch" and go hunting. Right before Yitzchak came to bring them home, Esav would ask Yaakov what they had learned and then proceed to totally enchant Yitzchak with his learning. This Midrash makes no sense to me. When Yitzchak blessed "Esav", he had no intention of giving him the spiritual bracha. it was his original intention that the bracha and the leadership be split between his two sons. That way, neither one of them would be cast aside. When Yitzchak realized that Yaakov could be both the social/political leader and the spiritual leader, all of that changed.
I guess from what Mirel said that according to her opinion Rivka was meddling in things that were none of her business. Yaakov had a plan and Rivka did not bother even to discuss her thoughts on the matter with him, and vice versa. I guess that everything turned out all right in the end of the story, but everyone might have been spared a lot of stress if people would have just communicated.
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