Since, according to order of Hishtalshelus, Eisav isn’t deserving of these revelations, so for him to receive them Yitzchok would have to transcend the order of Hishtalshelus.
That is why Yitzchok said “and I will bless you before Havaya,” meaning, that specifically from a level ‘before’ and higher than the Name of Havaya (of Hishtalshelus) can he bring down these revelations to Eisav.
Why did Yitzchok want to draw down this revelation to Esaiv directly, not through giving this blessing to Yaakov to transform Esaiv? Because the way he saw Esaiv was ‘from above to below,’ he saw him on the encompassing level of Levona, which on that encompassing level he is still holy, therefore, he wanted bring down addition intense revelation into that Makif level so that it should have an overpowering effect on the internal/conscious level of Esaiv and turn him around to holiness.
However, he made a mistake in this regard, since Esaiv cannot actually be elevated/transformed from this Makif-encompassing level, rather it is only possible through Yaakov.
Since, what would have actually happened if Yitzchok revealed the intense Light into Esaiv’s Makif would be one of two possibilities: One possibility is that the Life from the supercharged Makif would become absorbed into the unholiness of Esaiv, just as in the past that the Life from the Makif became trapped in Esaiv, or the other possibility is that it overload Esaiv to the point that he would stop existing (i.e. he would die.)
However, that the “darkness itself should be transformed into Light, and the bitterness itself should be transformed into Sweetness” is only possible through Yaakov.
Since his level is Z’eir Anpin of holiness (Atzilus), through his aspect of Divine service Eisav can be refined and included into holiness.
That is Yitzchok retroactively approved of his blessing Yaakov instead of Esaiv when he realized who it really was.
Afterwards, when he actually blessed Esaiv, he said to Eisav: “See now, from the fatness of the earth shall be your dwelling,” (whereas to Yaakov he said “and from the fatness of the earth shall be your dwelling,” meaning he gets more than that), meaning that he only receives from the residue of the fatness of the earth, that will be Esaiv’s “dwelling” on a conscious and revealed level.
The verse of Esaiv’s blessing continues: “And from the dew of the heavens above” of Yaakov, referred to as ‘the heavens’ the some of his “dew” will also reach you (Eisav), but even this will remain “above” and encompassing Eisav, (whereas regarding Yaakov he said “Hashem will give you – directly – from the dew of the heavens)”.
Even this Life that Eisav receives from Yaakov is on condition that “you will serve your brother,” meaning, that he will be subservient to Yaakov, since specifically through him can Eisav be elevated to holiness.
Chapter 2
Now we can explain the verse before the blessings: “See that the smell of my son is like the smell of the field that Hashem has blessed (Gan Eden).” (Bereishis 26:27)
Yitzchok wanted to draw down an intense Makif-encompassing Light of the Levona to Eisav, and the process is that for any downward flow of Light and revelation, there first needs to be a corresponding elevation from below, as is known.
Now, to draw down a flow of Light from Above that can be internalized, it is sufficient for there to be an elevation from below on an internal, conscious level.
However, in order to draw down a flow of Light from Above in an unlimited, encompassing manner, the elevation from below also needs to be from an unlimited, encompassing aspect of the recipient.
For example: Imagine someone’s student is his son. He has two type of relationships with him: On an internal, intellectual level, and on an encompassing, parental level. If he wants to give him intellectually by teaching him, he needs his son to be engaged intellectually, and if he wants to give him on a parental-bond level, he needs to engage him on a more encompassing, father-son level.
Now, “smell” represents a type of elevation from below, a “reflected Light,” which comes from the severity and intensity of the object, as we see that a sweet apple doesn’t give off as much smell as a sour apple, and sharp/spicy foods give off a stronger smell than sweet foods.
This is because the “smell” represents the elevation from below from the refinement of the Sparks of Holiness that fell with the “Sheviras HaKeilim-Shattering of the Vessels” of Tohu.
That is why regarding most mitzvos it does not say “a pleasing ‘smell’ for Hashem” which is stated only in regards to Korbanos-offerings. (See Bamidbar 28:2)
Since through the Korbanos the actual soul of the animal becomes elevated and transformed into spiritual ‘fire’ i.e. revelation, from Above.
Now, we find that strong smells can revive a person. Meaning, that when a person’s conscious awareness retreats back into the subconscious, through the smelling spices it draws back and reveals that consciousness. As we see in the case of person who is sleeping, and through the strong smell he wakes up. Since, when a person is sleeping his mental faculties are hidden, and afterward when he wakes up from his sleep, his mental faculties are fully revealed. This is accomplished through the smell, which is “reflected light” that goes from below to above.
This is the idea regarding Korbanos that “there is a pleasing ‘smell’ from them- the smell of My Will being fulfilled.” Meaning, the elevation of Korbanos is such a complete transformation from below to above, from physical to spiritual, which is Hashem’s Will and desire, this brings about the greatest revelation back into this world, just like the strong smell – which works from below to above – which brings a person’s consciousness to be revealed back into the world.
Now, in Eisav there was no revelation of holiness on an internalized, conscious level, since his consciousness was fully absorbed with unholiness. Only the encompassing aspect of his soul, the Makif of Levona, was still holy.
This is the idea of saying about Yitzchok “and he smelled the scent of his garments”: This means that he perceived the encompassing aspect of Eisav (like garments that encompass a person), and by focusing on the holiness of the encompassing aspect of Esaiv, he wanted to find a corresponding aspect that this should serve as an elevation “from below to above” be able to bring down “from the dew of the heavens of Above,” also a sublime encompassing level into Eisav.
In other words, Yitzchok saw that Eisav’s only connection to holiness was in the deep, subconscious, encompassing level of his soul, corresponding to the Levona. The only way he could bring holiness into him was to connect to him on an encompassing level, by giving him “the dew of the heavens Above,” a lofty encompassing Light from Above that would bring into Esaiv’s Makif. The “smell of his garments” represents how Yitzchok perceived the encompassing aspect of Eisav’s soul, the only part of his still connected to holiness.
The verse continues “[the scent of his garments] it is like the scent of the field that Hashem has blessed!” Now, this “field” is a metaphor for Malchus of Atzilus, (the source of Gan Eden). This level is constantly elevating itself from below to above to connect to a higher level of Elokus-Divinity. It does this in two ways:
Two Types of Elevation
One is its “natural” elevation that happens by itself, as it is written “[Malchus of Atzilus says:] Therefore my soul sing to You [Hashem] and not be silent” (Tehillim 30:13), meaning that “the Lower Light constantly calls to the Higher Light and never ceases” (Tikunei Zohar chap. 5).
This is an internal process of elevation, through which it awakens a revelation of the Light of “the Kav” (an intense ray of the Infinite Light as it shines down into the Order of Worlds).
There is another type of “elevation from below” which depends on assistance from Above, since the levels below do not have enough power by themselves to awaken this type of revelation. This is the revelation of the Makif-encompassing Light, which is the actual Infinite Light of Hashem which shines into the worlds through “the Kav.”
This encompassing, Infinite Light, comes into the “space” of the world seemingly by itself, but also in connection to the “elevation from below.” This means: Before the world was created there was no actual created beings to create an “awakening from below.” However, the fact that Hashem decided to shine His Infinite Light and create a world was because He perceived the great enjoyment, He would have from our service of Him in this created world. So, our service of Hashem indirectly (and retroactively) “caused” Hashem to want to create us in the first place by revealing His encompassing Infinite Light. This is the meaning of saying that the Makif-encompassing Light cannot be “awakened” and drawn down directly through our service, but it also requires Hashem’s assistance that what we do now should work retroactively before we even existed.
Internal and Encompassing Elevation
However, the “elevation from below” on an internal level is represented by “the Well of Miram,” which was a wellspring that flowed by itself. A wellspring flows up from underground by itself without any assistance of people digging it. Similarly, the revelation from Above of Hashem’s “Memalei-Permeating Light” resulting from our “elevation from below” happens by itself, meaning it is a “direct” result of our actions.
Now, this is not the case regarding the “elevation from below” needed to reveal the Makif-encompassing Light, as it is written: “there is a well that was dug out by princes” (Bamidbar 21:18), and in our verse “and the servants of Yitzchok dug out a well there.” (Bereishis 26:25)
The “servants of Yitzchok” represent revelation from the aspect of Yitzchok, who (in one sense) brought out the essence of the Forefathers, since he represented the idea of “the Lamp of Darkness,” meaning the source of “Severity.” This is expressed in the phrase “for you [Yitzchok] are out father...” (See Yeshaya 63:16).
One of the main features of our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov, is the fact that they empower each and every Jew to serve Hashem in their daily lives. In this context, the aspect of Yitzchok, the ability to elevate ourselves from below to above, is the essential factor.
The aspects of Avraham and Yaakov represent our ability to reveal Hashem from Above to below through Mitzvah performance and Torah study. However, Yitzchok represents our ability to elevate ourselves in prayer, and to discover how Hashem is truly find hidden in ourselves, in our Divine essence, and how Hashem is hidden everywhere in everything. This ability to reveal how Hashem is hidden in us, and in a different sense how He is hidden in the world, is the main service of Hashem, in a certain sense. The purpose of the creation of the world is to make a dwelling place for Hashem in the world, and from the world itself, not merely as something superimposed on the world. Rather, that the world itself should reflect that its true purpose and nature is to be a dwelling place for Hashem. This process of making ourselves and the world a “dwelling” for Hashem in the truest sense depends on the aspect of Yitzchok, of elevation from below to above.
Therefore, it says: “And the shepherds of Gerar fought with the shepherds of Yitzchok, saying, ‘the water belongs to us!’” (Bereishis 26:20) The reason for this misunderstanding was the fact that they were also able to receive from the Makif-encompassing Light. This is because the encompassing Light isn’t absorbed in them in a way that affects them, as we explained above regarding Eisav. We said before that the encompassing aspect of Eisav -the Levona- was holy and could receive life from the encompassing aspect of holiness. It was only the internal aspect of Eisav that was totally removed from holiness. Since on the encompassing level, even unholiness can receive life from holiness, that is why the shepherds of Gerar claimed to own the “water,” representing the flow of life from holiness.
This is the meaning of saying that the “garments” of Eisav have the smell of the “Field that Hashem blessed,” meaning the life from Hashem’s aspect of Malchus of Atzilus, since the “garments” are the encompassing aspect (the Levona) and can receive life from Malchus in an encompassing manner. Since this revelation of the Makif-encompassing Light comes mainly from the assistance of a revelation from Above, therefore it is accessible to all, even to unholiness.
Now, the way this verse was explained until now was from the perspective of Yitzchok. He thought that Eisav was standing before him when he smelled his garments and said: “See the smell of my son, it is like the field that Hashem has blessed.” However, in truth it was actually Yaakov that was standing before him at that point. How can we explain this concept, of “the smell of his garments, in regards to Yaakov?
It says in the Midrash (Midrash Bereishis Rabah, section 65): “And he smelled the scent of his בְגָדָיו-garments,” the word “בְגָדָיו-garments” is the same letters as the word “בּוֹגְדָיו-rebels,” referring to those rebelled against Hashem through sin and then repented and did Teshuva, i.e. Baalei Teshuva. The connection between Teshuva and “garments” is that garments represent an Makif-encompassing level, which can only be reached through Teshuva, since a Baal Teshuva (a person who did true Teshuva) “draw close to Hashem with greater intensity” than even a Tzadik, one who never sinned. Since a Baal Teshuva reaches such a lofty encompassing level of Hashem’s Light, that is why they are referred to as “garments” that surround the person.
As is mentioned in the Zohar on the verse “And Avraham was old, coming on in days.” (Bereishis 24:1) The Zohar comments: “Even a perfect Tzadik (righteous person) needs many years of Divine service to truly perceive how he is coming close to Hashem, like Avraham who served Hashem every day of his life before attaining a complete connection to Hashem. However, Baalei Teshuva are fortunate, since they draw close to Hashem with the innermost desire of their heart and tremendous intensity; therefore, they can reach a closeness to Hashem in one time, one day, and one minute that even a perfect Tzadik cannot achieve from many years of Divine service.” (Zohar I 129b)
Meaning: A Baal Teshuva attains a love for Hashem that is more than his soul can contain, since he has no ability to limit and process it. An example of this is the story of Reb Eliezer ben Durdaya.
In the Gemara (Avoda Zarah 17a), it describes the story of Eliezer Ben Durdaya. He was on an extremely low spiritual level, and was completely given over to only fulfilling his coarsest material desires. At one point he came to the realization that he had completely...
This is not the case regarding Avraham, where is says “he was coming with ‘days’ [i.e. garments of Mitzvos, referred to as ‘days’],” meaning that his Mitzvos created garments that were limited and able to be processed by the soul, enabling the soul to perceive Hashem’s revelation in Gan Eden.
