The Reward for Honoring One’s Father
The years passed, and the fourteenth of Nissan arrived — Erev Pesach — in the year 2171 from Creation.
Yitzchak Avinu called his son Eisav and said to him: “My son, know that the coming night is an especially auspicious time. It is the night of Pesach, a night when the entire world sings praise, and the storehouses of dew are opened; blessing is present then in abundance.
“I therefore wish to bless you specifically on this night. Please bring me delicacies such as I love, so that my soul will be bound with yours as I take pleasure in the work of your hands, and my blessing will be given with full desire and complete willingness.”
At that time, Rivkah, Yitzchak’s wife, was in her tent. Through ruach hakodesh, she heard what Yitzchak had said to Eisav. Rivkah was alarmed, knowing the danger involved in giving the blessings to Eisav, who was wicked.
She called Yaakov and said to him: “I ask you to go and bring me two young goats. I will prepare delicacies for your father, and you will bring them to him and receive the blessings he wished to give Eisav.”
Yaakov heard his mother’s request and was frightened. He said to her: “Mother, tzaddikim are a sacred burning fire. I am afraid that Father may discover the deception and become upset with me. Then not only will I fail to receive the blessings, but I may receive curses, Heaven forbid.”
Rivkah persuaded Yaakov, and Yaakov went with great fear and brought her the young goats. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 65:15) describes the verse, “He went, took, and brought them to his mother” (Bereishit 27:14), as meaning that he went unwillingly, bent over, and weeping.
Rivkah finished preparing the food and said to Yaakov, “Come, my dear son; I will accompany you.” Together they walked until the entrance of Yitzchak’s tent. When they arrived, Rivkah said to Yaakov, “This is as far as I can come with you. From here, you must go alone.”
Yaakov moved aside the curtain, entered the tent, and said to his father in his gentle voice, filled with love: “My father, I have brought you food. Please rise and eat.”
Yitzchak heard his voice, and something did not seem right to him. He said, “Come close, please, and I will feel you, my son, whether you are indeed my son Eisav or not” (ibid., v. 21).
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 65:19) describes what happened at that moment. When Yitzchak said to Yaakov, “Come close, please, and I will feel you, my son,” he felt an intense fear, and his heart melted like wax. But the Holy One, blessed be He, desired that the blessings be given to Yaakov, so He sent two angels from Heaven. One held him on his right and one on his left, helping him stand on his feet and approach his father.
When Yitzchak finished eating, he blessed Yaakov with great and powerful blessings.
The holy Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Ger, of blessed memory, revealed the hidden meaning of what was taking place above at this time, in the higher worlds (Sefer HaZechut, Toldot):
Because Eisav was careful throughout his life to honor his father, Heaven repaid him measure for measure and did not reveal to Yitzchak that Eisav was completely wicked, since such knowledge would have caused Yitzchak pain.
More than that, the merit of honoring his father stood in Eisav’s defense and blocked Yaakov Avinu from receiving the blessings. For that reason, Yaakov had to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring his mother with self-sacrifice.
Rabbi Asher Kovalsky writes in Peninei Parashat HaShavua (vol. 2, p. 44):
The dramatic and decisive moment in which we effectively became a blessed people takes place in this week’s parashah — the moment when the power of blessing and influence passes from Yitzchak to Yaakov, whose descendants we are and whose blessing we continue to receive.
But this decisive moment, when Yaakov Avinu takes the blessings from his brother Eisav through a daring strategy, was preceded by a real struggle.
Yitzchak Avinu intended to give the power of blessing to Eisav and to his descendants after him. When Rivkah heard this, she was shaken. She understood the destructive consequences for the Jewish people if Eisav were to receive the blessings. She therefore planned a bold course of action, involving real self-sacrifice on her part and on Yaakov’s, so that he could precede Eisav and receive Yitzchak’s blessings.
A day of tension and urgency passed in the small tent of Yitzchak and Rivkah. Eisav was in the field, trying to hunt game, while Rivkah and Yaakov were occupied with their secret plan: bringing the young goats, slaughtering them, and preparing them as food. Yaakov disguised himself as a hairy man, while also expressing his fear that Yitzchak might discover what had happened and curse him instead of blessing him. In the end, Yaakov succeeded in bringing the delicacies before Eisav returned. After hours of worry and tension, Yitzchak gave Yaakov the blessings — blessings that passed to him, to his descendants, and to all of us.
This entire episode raises the powerful question:
It was clear to everyone that Eisav was wicked and that Yaakov was righteous. It was also clear that Hashem’s will was for Yaakov to receive the blessings, as indeed happened. Why, then, was such a complex and dangerous plan necessary? Why was such a risky and complicated process needed in order for the one worthy of the blessings to actually receive them?
Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Ger continues and explains:
Eisav possessed a tremendous power — one of the strongest spiritual forces that exist. His power was that he honored his father. Honoring one’s father is so powerful that it can be almost impossible to stand against. Through the strength of this mitzvah, Eisav could have received blessings that did not truly belong to him. Even though he was unworthy, he could have received them simply because he honored his father.
Against this powerful weapon of Eisav, Rivkah used the same weapon. She asked Yaakov to endanger himself, to place his life in his hands by bringing his father the food she had prepared. Only when Yaakov displayed self-sacrifice in honoring his mother could he provide the proper response to Eisav’s powerful merit and receive the blessings as he was meant to.
This is a powerful lesson. Eisav did not deserve the blessings, yet the merit of honoring his father gave him a real claim to them. To overcome that merit, Yaakov had to answer with the same force — honoring his mother with self-sacrifice. Only then could the blessings pass to the one to whom they truly belonged.
Wellsprings of Wisdom: Targum Yonatan (Bereishit 27:5) states that Rivkah heard through ruach hakodesh what Yitzchak said to Eisav before Eisav went out to hunt.
