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Orchard of Delights Toldot

One of life’s greatest challenges is how to contend with the constant previous section, completely ignore this possibility. Therefore we
run and return dynamic, and especially how to balance, what appear must look deeper into Isaac’s reasons for wanting to bless Esau.
to be, the highs and the lows of our mood swings. The Ba’al Shem Tov According to Kabbalah and Chassidut Isaac sought to confer his
explained that in the verse “I shall place God before me at all times” blessing on Esau for a number of related reasons. One approach
the word meaning “I shall place” (sheviti) also means “I shall make suggests that Isaac, after receiving Abraham’s blessing that all the
equal.” (Psalms 16:8). Therefore, he explained the verse to mean: I nations of the world would be blessed through him, assumed that
will carve into my consciousness the message that I should accept Esau and Jacob would ultimately join forces to achieve that goal.
everything that happens to me with equanimity, for all that happens Esau would handle the physical side of things (dominion over the
to me at all times comes from God. Having adopted this approach world), while Jacob would handle the spiritual side. Isaac knew that
to life, the very notions of “up” and “down” become less absolute, Jacob would willingly and successfully take on such a task, but he
the highs are not as high and the lows are not as low. We need not felt that Esau needed some prodding, so he wished to strengthen his
experience our mood swings as manic gyrations of the pendulum, positive side by blessing him. Ultimately, the physical and spiritual
nor do we need to experience our lows as abysmally depressing. This sides would unite and everyone would benefit.
newfound equanimity, though, should not eliminate our “going with
the flow” and actually experiencing highs and lows as such; however, Rebecca thwarted Isaac’s wishes because she, like Sarah before
we should attach far less importance to them and constantly remind her, was blessed with an even deeper level of prophecy than her
ourselves of their impermanence. husband. She foresaw that Esau was not up to the task, and even
divined that the physical and spiritual realms had to be united in one
Of course, finding inner peace of mind, while simultaneously person. Dividing the spiritual and physical between two individuals
striving for constant improvement and spiritual advancement, seems would lead to a fractured and discordant world, so she tried to ensure
to be a contradiction in terms. Actually, it is the best we can hope that Jacob received the blessing.
for. On the ladder of life, ups and downs are inevitable; the choice we
need to make is how to react to life’s roller coaster ride. The choice Another approach suggests that Isaac’s powerful prophetic
is not over whether or not to struggle, but over which struggles to abilities explain his choice. Isaac foresaw Esau’s deep sparks of
engage in and how to conduct each one. holiness manifested in his descendants, Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Meir.
Isaac wanted to provide these sparks with the incentive to manifest
Parenthetically, the Sages question whether the righteous will themselves in Esau, and he hoped that by blessing him this might
rest in the World to Come. They respond that the righteous will occur.
not experience rest in the sense of inaction or as an ongoing status;
rather, they will ascend from “strength to strength” (Psalms 84:8). On a similar note, we may propose that since Isaac had integrated
Even in the future, in a utopian setting, change will be constant; the a certain degree of chesed from his father Abraham (although his
soul and the spirit will constantly strive to ascend. primary trait was still gevurah), he too acted out of chesed. Just as
Abraham had pleaded with God to save the wicked city of Sodom
We might ask at this point how Jacob actually fared after the due to the sparks of holiness he saw embedded there, similarly Isaac
dream and how much of the dream’s symbolism he was able to attempted to redeem Esau’s sparks.
integrate and translate into his reality. According to the Sages, Jacob
was deemed “the choicest of the patriarchs” because he was able to Yet according to the Kabbalah, Rebecca thwarted Isaac’s plans
accomplish so much while facing an unending barrage of challenges because her prophetic abilities were even more powerful than her
in the mundane world (Bereishit Rabbah 76:6). He gave birth to and husbands: she foresaw that even though Rabbi Akiba descended

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