In this week’s parsha
Yitzchak Avinu blesses both his children.
At least part of those blessings is very similar. To Ya’akov he says, “ויתן לך הא-להים מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ .../And
may God give you the dew of the heavens and the fatness of the land.” (Breishis
27:28) To Eisav he says, “... משמני הארץ יהיה מושבך
ומטל השמים מעל/… you will live off the fatness of the land and from the dew of
the heavens above.” (Breishis 27:39)
It seems that Yitzchak gave material blessing to both Ya’akov and
Eisav. Is there any difference between
these blessings?
The answer lies in a
deeper understanding of Yitchak’s blessing to Ya’akov. Yitchak’s blessing to Ya’akov begins with the
word, ויתן/and
may He give. The word is enigmatic in
that it starts with a vav/and, implying that this is a continuation and
not the beginning of the blessing. Why
does the blessing begin with, “and”?
Furthermore, the structure of the beginning of the blessing is
uncommon. It translates literally as,
“And He will give you God …”
Chazal[1] note
these difficulties. They explain that the
extra vav implies that God will give and then give again. He will continue to give. The uncommon wording at the beginning of the
blessing teaches us that God would give Ya’akov of His Godliness.
Putting the two
together, the Sfas Emes teaches us that Yitzchak’s main blessing to Ya’akov was
not material plenty. Rather, the main
blessing was that God would give him the plenty. God imbues us with Godliness through the
material blessing that he bestows upon us.
We connect with God by receiving His bounty. Yitzchak says that God will give and give
again implying that there will always be the opportunity to connect to God by
acknowledging that He is the root of the plenty that we have.
For Eisav, on the
other hand, Yitzchak says that he will have what he needs, however he gets it[2]. Of course everything always comes from
God. However, for Eisav, the main thing
is the material plenty whereas for Ya’akov the main thing is that it is a gift
from God, a way to connect with God.
Since the physical
plenty that Ya’akov receives is an indication of a connection to God, Yitzchak
continues, “...
הוה גביר לאחיך .../… you will be a master over your brothers
…” Since Ya’akov is connected to the
root of the blessing, the plenty that reaches the entire world comes through
him. In fact, the word, הוה/you will be, connotes
a command. Yitzchak is telling Ya’akov
that he must accept upon himself to draw the plenty into the world for the
benefit of the nations when the nations are subservient to him.
Yitzchak’s blessing
is meant of course for the nation of Israel, Ya’akov’s progeny. We need to realize that the blessing of material
plenty that we have is not primarily the plenty itself but rather that God gave
it to us so that we can connect with Him and attain Godliness. May we merit it. Amen!
