Eisav was very upset when he discovered that Yaakov received the brachos, as it states (27:34) גם ברכני לאביו ויאמר מאד עד ומרה גדלה צעקה ויצעק אבי אני, "And he [Eisav] shouted out an exceedingly great and bitter shout and said to his father, 'Bless me too, Father! ... הלא ברכה לי אצלת, Have you not reserved a brachah for me?'"
Yitzchak responded that he didn't have a brachah for him. Eisav continued to plead and cry, and so Yitzchak gave him a brachah. The Alshich HaKadosh asks what caused Yitzchak to change his mind and give a brachah.
It states (38) ויבך קולו עשו וישא, "And Eisav raised his voice and wept." He cried because he feared that he wouldn’t receive the brachos. Tana d'Bei Eliyahu (Rabba 24) states that Eisav's success in this world came from this cry. The Alshich HaKadosh zt'l asks why the Tana d'Bei Eliyahu doesn't state that Eisav received his good fortune in this world from the brachah he ultimately received from Yitzchak! Why does it state that it was due to his tears?
Yitzchak blessed Eisav (39) הארץ משמני הנה מושבך יהיה, "Behold, from the fatness of the earth shall be your dwelling..." The Alshich notes that הנה, "behold," seems extra in this pasuk.
The Alshich answers these questions with the following concept: Brachos cannot accomplish anything if Hashem doesn't bless. Even Yitzchak Avinu's brachos would be powerless if Hashem didn’t bless. Yitzchak didn't initially bless Eisav because he knew that even if he were to bless him, the brachos wouldn't accomplish anything. Without Hashem's consent, they were futile. At first, Eisav didn't realize this. He thought that Yitzchak could bless at will. So he pleaded and requested that Yitzchak bless him. Yitzchak repeated that he couldn’t bless him. This was when Eisav understood that the brachos weren't in Yitzchak's hands. He understood that it was Hashem Who didn't want to bless him. So ויכבך קולו וישא, Eisav raised his voice and cried. He didn't cry to Yitzchak; he cried to Hashem that He should have mercy on him and grant him brachos. The gates of tears are never sealed, and Hashem agreed to give him brachos.
Yitzchak began Eisav’s brachah with הנה, an expression of preparation. Yitzchak told him, "Your tears prepared you, and now you can receive my brachos."
This is a lesson regarding all matters. No one can be helped unless it was decreed above. Therefore, (Yeshayah 2:22) האדם מן לכם חדלו הוא נחשב במה כי באפו נשמה אשר, "Stop [turning to man] who has breath in his nostrils, for what power does he have?"
Also, a person shouldn't be afraid of anyone because no one can harm him if it wasn't decreed Above. Rather (Tehillim 146:5) אלקיו 'ה על שברו בעזרו יעקב שקל אשרי, trust in Hashem, your G-d, and He will help you.
Rebbe Berish of Biyala zt'l explained the pasuk (Yeshayah 44:6) אחרון ואני ראשון אני, "I am first and I am last..." Some people go to Hashem first. When they have a problem, they first go to Hashem with their tefillos and Tehillim, and after they finish their tefillos, they go and make the necessary hishtadlus. But their first and foremost attempt is with tefillah to Hashem because they know that only Hashem can help them.
There are others, however, that for them, אחרון אני, Hashem comes last. They first try to take care of their problems with their hishtadlus, and when they fail, they go to Hashem as a last resort and request His help.
Hashem says (ibid.) אלקים אין ומבלעדי, that without Hashem's help, we can't accomplish anything, so wouldn't it be better if we turned to him in the first place?
Story: Rebbe Gedalyah Moshe of Zvhil zt'l said he was once in a small city with only one doctor and pharmacist. The doctor and pharmacist took advantage of their monopoly and charged a fortune for their services. The prices were so exaggerated that the townspeople decided not to go to the doctor anymore. Instead, they would daven to Hashem. A year later, they checked the results of the year and found that no one died that year, other than the doctor and the pharmacist. Because when one davens from the depths of his heart, with emunah peshutah in Hashem, he is protected from all bad.
In parashas Lech Lecha, Sarah is taken by Pharaoh and brought to his palace. This happened again in parashas Vayeira, when Sarah was taken to Avimelech's palace. It didn't happen in this week's parashah, to Rivkah. Avimelech, the king of Gror, told Yitzchak that he almost took Rivkah (see 26:10) but didn’t. Rivkah remained at home. Reb Shimshon Pinkus zt'l explained that Avraham did hishtadlus and planned how he could be saved from trouble, but we don't find that Yitzchak made any plans. Yitzchak trusted Hashem alone, so this didn’t happen to him.
(We surely have no understanding of the greatness of the holy Avos. Their ways are beyond us, and we don't have permission to question them. Nevertheless, we can learn from how it appears on a superficial level that we should stop making plans and strategies and instead trust in Hashem. We will have greater success when we place our trust in Hashem.)
Regarding the mitzvah of succah, there is a machlokes in the Gemara about what the succah represents and commemorates (see Succah 11:). Reb Eliezer says the mitzvah of succah is to remember the clouds of glory (ענני הכבוד) that surrounded Bnei Yisrael in the desert. Reb Akiva says that we are commemorating ממש סוכות, literal tents/succahs. Because in the desert, the nation dwelled in tents similar to the succahs we make today. The succahs we sit in are to remember those huts in the desert.
The pasuk seems to support Reb Eliezer's view because it states (Vayikra 23:43) תשבו בסכת בני את הושבתי בסוכות כי דורותיכם ידעו למען ...ימים שבעת מצרים מארץ אותם בהוציאי ישראל, "You must sit in succahs for seven days... so your ensuing generations know that I placed Bnei Yisrael in succahs when I took them out of Mitzrayim." The pasuk states that Hashem placed us in succahs. This fits well with Reb Eliezer's view because Hashem enwrapped us and placed us within the protection of the clouds of glory. But if the pasuk refers to the huts in the desert, how can we understand that Hashem placed us in the huts? The nation placed themselves in the huts! They built the huts with their own two hands and dwelled in them. Why does the pasuk say כי הושבתי בסוכות, that Hashem placed us into the succahs/huts?!
Reb Shlomo Asulin zt'l (Ma'in Ganim) answers that the mitzvah of succah teaches us that even when a person builds a succah to dwell in its shade, it isn't the work of his hands. Hashem gave him the knowledge, desire, and ability to make it. It appears that the person built it himself, but we sit in succah and acquire the intelligence, ידעו למען דורותיכם, that Hashem does everything.
A similar lesson can be learned from the story of Yonah in the belly of the fish. It states (Yonah 2:11) היבשה אל יונה את ויקא לדג 'ה ויאמר, "Hashem said to the fish, and it spewed Jonah onto the dry land." לדג 'ה ויאמר is a surprising expression. Should we understand that the fish had a prophecy?
The Radak explains, "Hashem aroused a desire in the fish to spew up Yonah onto dry land." When it states לדג 'ה ויאמר, it means that Hashem gave the fish this desire. The fish didn't know that it was a decree from Hashem. It was an urge that it suddenly had, but it was from Hashem.
Similarly, Ibn Ezra writes, משל דרך ויאמר 'ה חפץ לעשות שהכריחוהו, "when it states ויאמר, it is a mashal [because Hashem didn't actually speak to the fish. Rather] the fish was forced to do Hashem's will."
The same is true with everything that occurs in the world. It seems that things happen because of man’s desires and doing. We must remember that Hashem is behind everything that occurs.
