Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
וַיֶּאֱהַ֥ב יִצְחָ֛ק אֶת־עֵשָׂ֖ו כִּי־צַ֣יִד בְּפִ֑יו וְרִבְקָ֖ה אֹהֶ֥בֶת אֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב׃
Yitzhak loved Esav because there was [hunted] game in his mouth; and Rivkah loved Yaakov.
The simple reading of this verse is that Yitzhak loved Esav because of the food that Esav hunted for him. We see a hint of this later in the parashah, when Yitzhak asks Esav to go hunting to prepare him the food he likes (Bereishit 27:3-4).
However, the way the Torah explains why Yitzhak loved Esav is confusing. Whose mouth is being referred to here: is it Yitzhak’s or Esav’s? What does it mean that there is something hunted in that mouth? Is it referring to food, or could it be referring to something else?
A midrash, cited by Rashi, offers another way of understanding this verse, which can influence our understanding of the entire parashah.
הָיָה צָד אוֹתוֹ וּמְרַמֵּהוּ בִדְבָרָיו:
He trapped him [Yitzhak] and tricked him with his words.
According to this midrash, Esav used his own mouth in order to hunt or trap Yitzhak, purposely misleading Yitzhak about who he was, so that Yitzhak would love him.
- What is wrong with tricking people, and why might that be similar to hunting?
- Why does the midrash suggest that Esav would trick Yitzhak? Are there other hints in the parashah that Esav might do something like that? How would you describe Esav based on your reading of the parashah?
- Who else in the parashah tricks Yitzhak? How does this midrash change the way we understand that part of the parashah?
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