In Parshas Toldos, it describes the story of Yaakov and Eisav, the twin sons of Yitzchok and Rivka. When Yitzchok felt he was getting old he told Eisav, the older son, that he wanted to give him a special blessing, and that Eisav should prepare a meal for him. Rivka heard this and told her son Yaakov to pretend that he is Eisav so that he should receive the blessing instead. Since Yitzchok was blind at the time, Yaakov could dress like Eisav and “trick” his father into blessing him instead.
When Yaakov comes, dressed as Eisav, Yitzchok smells his garments and says that it smells like Gan Eden, and proceeds to bless him. Only after Yaakov left did the real Eisav come in for the blessing, only to find out that Yaakov already received it.
The Alter Rebbe will analyze this story on a mystical level, explaining: 1- Why did Yitzchok want to bless Eisav in the first place, 2- Why did the blessing have to actually go to Yaakov, 3- Why did Yaakov have to “trick” his father in order to receive the blessing:
Chapter 1
“See the smell of my son, it is like the smell of the field that Hashem has blessed (i.e. Gan Eden)!” (Bereishis 26:27)
We have to understand: If Yitzchok thought that the person he was blessing was Eisav (and not Yaakov), then why would he be so important in his eyes to give him such a praiseworthy description (of having the smell of Gan Eden)?
Also, it isn’t understood: How did Yitzchok perceive Eisav?
We find that in one place the verse says “Yitzchok loved Eisav because he deceived him with his words” (ibid. 25:28), meaning that he deceived Yitzchok of his true nature by asking him questions in the service of Hashem, like “how do we tithe straw and salt to give to charity?” pretending that he was careful in serving Hashem.
It says that Yitzchok loved him for these questions, implying that Yitzchok was convinced that Eisav served Hashem.
But in another place the verse says: “The voice is the voice of Yaakov” (ibid. 27:22), referring to when he said “for Hashem your G-d has hastened my path” (ibid. 27:20), and Yitzchok knew that “Hashem’s name isn’t common in the mouth of Eisav” (Rashi on 27:21).
This showed that Yitzchok knew that Eisav wasn’t really serving Hashem, so did Yitzchok know Eisav’s real nature or not?
The Dross from the Gold
However, the idea will be understood as follows: Eisav is referred to as “the dross from the gold” (Zohar I 137b), meaning the “dross” of the aspect of Gevura-Severity of Hashem manifest in Yitzchok, which is the level of “the advantage of gold over silver.”
Just as raw gold has dross or impurities that need to be refined out of it, so too Gevura-Severity of Holiness gives potential for unholy severity to exist, and that possibility needs to be removed.
The advantage of gold over silver is that it is a rarer commodity and shines more brightly than silver. So too, the advantage of severity in the service of Hashem, being strict and demanding on oneself in every aspect to keep everything in the Torah on the highest standard, is a tremendous level of holiness and not so easy to attain.
However, from this good type of severity it is possible to come to unholy severity, for example to feel “holier than thou” and better than others because of keeping a higher standard, when in fact if one is truly keeping a higher standard for the sake of Hashem it should make a person only humbler.
From the “dross” of this level came forth Eisav, as it says (Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel on Bereisis 50:13) that “the head of Esaiv is buried near the chest of Yitzchok.”
The fact that Eisav’s “head” is placed next to Yitzchok represents how severity of unholiness – Esaiv – derives his life from severity of Holiness – Yitzchok.
The Eleven Spices and the Ten Crowns of Impurity
To understand what is represented by the “head” of Esaiv being in proximity to Yitzchok:
There are eleven spices that make up the Ketores (incense) offering in the Beis Hamikdash, which are: balm, onycha, galbanum, Levona-frankincense, myrrh, cassia, spikenard, saffron, costus, aromatic bark, and cinnamon.
These eleven spices correspond to the ‘Ten Crowns of Impurity,’ which is the Life-force from Holiness that enlivens “the unholiness that parallels holiness.”
Just like in Holiness there are Ten Sefiros, so too in Kelipa-unholiness there is actually present a Light that comes from the Ten Sefiros of Holiness.
However, in Holiness the Sefiros are “ten and not nine, ten and not eleven,” whereas in Kelipa-unholiness there are eleven corresponding spices of the Ketores.
The idea behind this: Regarding the Life-force from Hashem that comes into Holiness it says “the hosts of heaven bow to You [Hashem],” since through their awareness of the Life-force from Hashem enlivening them, they surrender themselves to Hashem and dedicate themselves to Him.
This is not the case with unholiness, that it lifts itself haughtily like an eagle soaring high, and brazenly refuses to humble itself to Hashem its Creator.
This is because the Life-force that comes into them is in a manner of Exile. Therefore, even when the Life-force from Holiness comes into them, they do not surrender their ego, and just the opposite, they lift their ego up like a soaring eagle, and the Life-force that comes into them becomes absorbed into their being.
Now, how is it possible that they can receive life and existence from holiness, if that Life-force becomes absorbed into them and loses its connection to the Source of Life, how can it continue to animate them if it is trapped in unholiness?
This is the idea of the Levona (frankincense) which is the eleventh of the spices of the Ketores, which represents the “Makif-encompassing Light” which encompasses them ‘from above’ and does not become absorbed inside of them.
That is how it is still connected to the Source of Life and can continue to enliven them.
Since this “Makif-encompassing Light” encompasses them from above their perception, and they are not aware of it, and the Life-force that comes into them becomes absorbed and trapped into their being, therefore they become arrogant and pick up their egos brazenly.
This aspect of the Levona is what connects the Ten Sefiros of Holiness to be able to shine into the Ten “Sefiros of Unholiness.”
This is the idea of the “head of Eisav”: It refers to the “Makif-encompassing Light” that shines on them from “above,” which is still connected to “the chest of Yitzchok,” meaning it is actually still connected to Holiness.
Therefore, at that encompassing level of Esaiv it is possible for him to ask: “How do we tithe straw?”, even though on an internal level “the name of Heaven in not found frequently in his mouth.”
Now, it is known that the reason the Life-force from Hashem becomes trapped in the “Ten Crowns of Impurity” is because “[unholiness has already] swallowed up a wealth [of sparks of Light from Tohu] and [through our Divine service] it will spit them back up” (Iyov 20:15), and as it says, “there is a time when someone [unholy] rules over someone [holy], but it is for his own detriment” (Koheles 8:9), since through the holiness trapped in it we will ultimately transform the evil itself into holiness.
This “wealth” is from the “Sparks” of Holiness that fell into them at the beginning of creation of the world, when the “Keilim of Tohu shattered,” as it is says “and each ‘King’ ruled and died” (Bereishis 36:32 and onwards), referring to how the Keilim of Tohu ‘shattered.’
Additionally, a wealth of Sparks of Holiness fell into unholiness from the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge, as it is written in Sefer HaGilgulim (chapter 2).
This is why Hashem continues to bring Life into them, which is in a manner of ‘Exile,’ so that we can redeem not only the current Life in them, but also the past ‘wealth’ of Sparks that are trapped in them.
As our Sages say: “The Jewish People were only exiled in order to add ‘converts’ to them.” (Pesachim 87b)
Similarly, in Esaiv there were trapped Sparks of Holiness, like the souls of Rabbi Meir, Unkelos, Shmaya, Avtalyon, and Ovadya, who descendants of Esaiv who converted to Judaism and became great Tzadikim.
Yitzchok’s Intention in Blessing Eisav
It is because of those captured Sparks in Esaiv that Yitzchok was convinced to bless him, since he wanted to redeem those Sparks by himself through his blessing, without involving Yaakov.
Even though Yitzchok knew that Esaiv was wicked, he nonetheless was “convinced” to bless Esaiv, not because he thought Esaiv was righteous, but because he thought that through his spiritual blessing, he could redeem the Sparks trapped in Esaiv.
Since, even nowadays “there is a wealth of Sparks of Holiness trapped in unholiness, and through our Divine Service they will be extracted,” so Yitzchok thought that he could personally extract the wealth of Sparks contained in the soul of Eisav through his blessing.
However, now this is accomplished through Yaakov, who represents Z’eir Anpin, where all the Lights of Atzilus are gathered, and this level becomes invested in the World of Yetzirah, so that it can interact with the mundane, weekday, world.
This level of how Z’eir Anpin comes into Yetzirah and into our physical world is expressed in the level of the angel Matatron, who is called “His servant, the elder of his house” (Bereishis 24:2), since this angel is the “servant” of Z’eir Anpin in carrying out the mission of elevating and refining the Sparks of Holiness from the material world.
However, Yitzchok wanted to redeem these Sparks from Esaiv without going through the level of Z’eir Anpin and Matatron, rather, he himself would reveal exceedingly high levels of Divine Light into Esaiv.
This would be a greatly additional Light shining in Esaiv compared to what is normally shining in him.
Since, in order to separate the good from the bad, a great Light needs to shine there so that it will draw into itself and gather in all the Sparks of Holiness that were given over to that unholiness.
This is why Yitzchok’s blessing starts: “May Hashem give you from the dew of the heavens” (ibid. 27:28):
The “dew” is a reference to the “dew (flow) from Atik that ‘drips’ to Z’eir Anpin,” which is referred to as the “heavens.”
In other words: “Heavens” is a reference to Z’eir Anpin, and the “dew of the Heavens” is a reference to flow of Light from the level of Atik that comes into Z’eir Anpin.
Atik is a very high level, it is the essential enjoyment that Hashem has in the purpose of why He created the worlds of Atzilus, B’riah, Y’tzira and Asiya. This enjoyment is the source of their existence, like an author’s enjoyment in a story is the source of why he thought it through and wrote it down.
Yitzchok’s blessing continues: “and [may Hashem give you] from the oils of the earth.” The “oil” here is a reference to Chochma-Wisdom which is compared to oil, and Chochma-Wisdom is expressed in the level of Malchus referred to as “the earth,” this is the meaning of “the oils of the earth,” the Chochma-Wisdom that comes down into Malchus (earth).
Yitzchok wanted to draw down the levels of “dew” (Atik) and “oil” (Chochma) from Above, so that through these he could elevate the Sparks of Tohu trapped in Eisav.
As we see, by way of analogy, that when the sun shines on the earth, the heat of the day (sunlight) draws out the moisture from the earth, creating a mist of evaporated water that ascends from the ground.
So too, the flames of small candles placed next to a great torch- the greater fire of the torch pulls into itself the smaller flames of the candles.
Similarly, through the revelation of a high level of Divine Light that comes with great intensity from Above, it draws out and gathers into itself all the Sparks of Holiness that fell down below into the unholiness of this world.
However, this only happens when the Light shines with very great intensity, which is through a blessing/drawing down from higher levels.
