Parashat Toledot Genesis 27:1-13 November 21, 2020

(1)And it was when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim for seeing: and he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” (2)And he said, “Here, I've become old. I do not know the day of my death. (3)And now, take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt me some game (4)and make me the kind of delicacies that I love and bring them to me and let me eat, so my soul will bless you before I die.” (5)And Rebekah was listening as Isaac was speaking to Esau, his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game to bring (6)And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, saying, “Here, I've heard your father speaking to Esau, your brother, saying, (7)‘Bring me game and make me delicacies so I may eat, and I will bless you in the presence of YHWH before my death.’ (8)And now, my son, listen to my voice, to what I'm commanding you. (9)Go to the flock and take two good goat kids for me from there, and I will make them the kind of delicacies that your father loves. (10) And bring them to your father, and he'll eat, so he will bless you before his death.” (11)And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, “Here, Esau, my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. (12)Maybe my father will feel me, and I will be like a trickster in his eyes, and I will bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.” (13)And his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; just listen to my voice and go take them for me.”

I do not know the day of my death. Rabbi Joshua the son of Korcha said: When a person approaches the age at which his parents died he may well be anxious five years before and five years after. Isaac was then one hundred and twenty three years old and he said, “Perhaps I shall only reach the age of my mother who died at the age of 127 and I am now within five years of her age; therefore, I do not know the day of my death, perhaps [I will reach] the age of my mother, perhaps [I will reach] the age of my father.” (Genesis Rabbah 25:12)

I will bless you in the presence of Adonai before my death. Rebekah added these words "in the presence of Adonai" to say that if Isaac's blessing will be Divinely inspired and "he will bless Esau your brother with a blessing that will apply to him and his offspring forever, and you [Jacob] will not be able to withstand him."

Let your curse be on me. On me and on my neck, as if to say, because she was relying on what the Holy One Blessed be He said to her: "the older son would serve the younger one." [Genesis 25:23]