(34) When Esau was forty years old, he took to wife Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite; (35) and they were a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah. (1) When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Here I am.” (2) And he said, “I am old now, and I do not know how soon I may die. (3) Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game. (4) Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that my soul can bless you before I die.” (5) Rebekah had been listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out into the open to hunt game to bring home, (6) Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I overheard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, (7) ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, in front of G-d, before I die.’ (8) Now, my son, listen carefully as I instruct you. (9) Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes. (10) Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies.” (11) Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned. (12) If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing.” (13) But his mother said to him, “Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me.” (14) He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked. (15) Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on; (16) and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids. (17) Then she put in the hands of her son Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared. (18) He went to his father and said, “Father.” And he said, “Yes, which of my sons are you?” (19) Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing.” (20) Isaac said to his son, “How did you succeed so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God granted me good fortune.” (21) Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer that I may feel you, my son—whether you are really my son Esau or not.” (22) So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and wondered. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.” (23) He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; and so he blessed him. (24) He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And when he said, “I am,” (25) he said, “Serve me and let me eat of my son’s game that I may give you my innermost blessing.” So he served him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank. (26) Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come close and kiss me, my son”; (27) and he went up and kissed him. And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that the LORD has blessed. (28) “May God give you Of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, Abundance of new grain and wine.
Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch
We walk in the footsteps of the sages, and we do not see it as our obligation to be defendents of our forefathers, like the word of G-d itself doesn't prevent itself from revealing thier mistakes and their weaknesses.
When Rebecca directs Jacob to cheat his father, the verses reveal this in its simplicity and states Your brother has come in deceit and taken your blessings} (V35).
It also states in Bereishis Rabbah (67,4) whoever says that the G-d is incorrect; rather he is holding back his temper . One cry Jacob caused his brother Esau to utter, and he was paid back in Shushan the capital city when Mordechai states: "And he cried a loud and bitter cry (Esther 4:1)
In the Tanchuma, it states that Esau cried three tears, one out of his right eye, one out of left eye, and one tear that didn't fall. This last tear salted the bread of our exile, and has washed our eyes with the tears (of the exile).
Despite this, with much examination in a detached manner we will arrive at a conclusion that will change much from the pain which is spoken about in this parasha. We will not keep this conclusion in our hearts out of a desire to appear subjective and find merit in their (Jacob and Rebecca's) actions, especially when it is evaluated according to the yardstick of the nation who is called "straight/upright, and the commandments to achieve all their purposes in a honest manner, and to remove any twisted motives or actions whatever they may be.
When we desire to understand the actions of the three main protaganists in this Parasha, we find the behaviour of Jacob clear and transparent. From the begining, his mother asks him to listen to her voice, without any hesitation. She doesn't expect him to act for his own personal gain. It is clear to her that as a "perfect man (Ish Tam)" Jacob would rebel against any action like the one she prescribes (on his own). She therefore quiets every single opposition through her control as a mother, through the aid of the obligation Jacob has to listen to her. She places upon herself the full responsibility of any sin or negative result. All he has to do is listen to her voice. All that Jacob does, he only does because his desires to listen to her voice. The only responsibility that is possible to put on him is that he should know that moral laws place limits on the obligation that he has towards his mother. It is forbidden to act in deception, even if it is a commandment from his mother to act thus.
What does require explanation is: what was Rebecca's intent? Even the worst of the worst would find it difficult to find sense, or even wisdom in her actions. While we may ascribe to her a level of trickery, we aren't able to attribute to her a lack of intellect or childish foolishness. If her intent was purely to place the blessings of Isaac on the head of her beloved son Jacob, what sort of success could she have expected to from such a trick? Whatever will be, the results of her trick will be unpreventable and the opposite of what she expected.
If the blessings of the father brings down the blessings of G-d onto the head of the blessed, how could Rebecca have believed - even if she was successful in tricking the blind and elderly, in tricking the Almighty through this pathetic "fancy-dress game"? How could she believe that the blessing of Abraham, which G-d gave with the proviso of him acting in justice and righteousness, be achievable from the Almighty through this weak fraud?
If we assume that she paid attention to the substantive advantatage which would come out of the blessing, for example inheritance; would the law of such an inheritance that she gained through trickery not be a fraudulant mistake, which would be completely annulled? At the end of the day, such a deceit would be revealed.
Rebecca should have known well that if she did succeed in her "game of fancydress", all would be revealed with Eisav's return!
More than this, how coarse is this game! Only a complete fool would attempt to trick with just the help of some goatskins which are folded over the throat and hands? What could she have hoped for with this game? The answer is: the game itself! Her purpose was only to play a game. Only if we assume that that her unpreventable revelation of the truth was included in Rebecca's plan, but it should be done in this logical and intellectual manner, with this we can understand the perspective of Rebecca. Even if we cannot justify her actions, they can be forgiven on a certain level.
With such an introduction, we have read how Esau, with a double hit destroyed Abraham's purpose, when he married two women from the daughters of Ches. This should have opened Isaac's eyes, to see that his first born was not fitting for the job. Despite this, we see that Isaac calls his first born in order to bless him - to appoint him as the future leader of the Jewish people.
How great and successful Esau's constant deception of his father, to dupe and to cheat his father and to seduce him, despite his life being the opposite of Abraham's!
Isaac states "I am now old (v2)" points to Isaac's long term intent to grant the blessings to Esau. However, he had been prevented from doing so. It would appear that Rebecca cause this; by saying to her husband that it is still possible to wait a bit more. She hoped that in the meantime she would succeed to bring Isaac out of his imagined view of Isaac. However, she was not successful in this.
What could Rebecca have done now? What could her intent have been? Only one thing! To prove to Isaac that he is capable of being tricked!
If even Jacob, that is the one with "integrity" one could impersonate himself as "the hunter" how easy would it be for Esau to appear pure and transparent! Rebecca wanted to remove from Isaac his imaginings through an act of deception, and in this she was successful. In the moment that Isaac was aware that he had been tricked, he was held by a great trembling, in the words of the Tanchuma "Gehinnom opened up underneath him". He saw how his whole life he had been hoodwinked. Immediately his eyes were opened; and in a trice he returns to himself: and adds with intent and personal will "he too will be blessed!".
It would appear that this is the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi who explains in the Medrash:" It wasn't that Rebecca loved Jacob more that she did this deed, rather she said "he should not go and cheat his father again!"
Isaac’s Motivation
Isaac’s motivation becomes clearer, when we check the form of blessing that he wished to give to Esau. Esau never expected that Isaac would give him the complete blessing. He immediately asks his father “Have you not left over a blessing for me? V.36)...When Isaac reveals to him the content of the blessing that was given to Jacob, he reveals to Esau that this is exactly the blessing he would have given him. The blessing that Jacob would have received in a perfect world would never have touched Esau in the first place. The two sons of Isaac achieve two very different foundations in his house. Esau establishes a physical force, and Jacob, a spiritual one. Isaac knows that well that these two directions are necessary, if the future nation (of Israel) is to be established, if it will grow and be successful. He also knows from the prophecy “that the younger will serve the elder” However, Isaac believed that both his sons would fulfil Abraham’s mission in partnership and brotherly love, the one completing the second. It was for this that he wanted to give Esau a physical blessing, and a spiritual blessing fo Jacob. However, this blessing had no value to Esau, because in his nature he had no understanding in the spiritual element of the house of Abraham.
Rebecca on the other hand remembers from the house of Laban the troubles which are bound in such a division. She knows what happened to her, and that only in a house of true connection to G-d will physical blessing and truth wealth occur.
She is correct! She understood that physicality without spirituality is a curse. , and the blessings of Isaac could never be divided. It could only be given to one of the sons.
In this way, we can explain the behaviour of the two parents.