“Hakol, kol Ya’akov, v’hayadayim, yadei Eisav” (The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are Esau’s hands) – Genesis 27:22.
These are the infamous words uttered by Isaac, as he prepares to bestow the blessing of the birthright on his eldest son, Esau. However, we also know that it is Jacob who is before Isaac, not Esau. Esau sold his brother the birthright in exchange for lentil stew earlier in the parasha as he sought to address his immediate needs, and Jacob (with his mother, Rebecca, assisting him) has come to claim that birthright.
Rashi explains that Isaac was referring to Jacob’s manner of speaking, when he said that the voice is Jacob’s voice. Rashi also says that Jacob’s mention of God’s name, as he first approached Isaac, made Isaac suspicious, since it was not characteristic of Esau to speak that way.
If Isaac was in any doubt as to which son had come before him to receive the blessing, surely he would have to make 100% sure to prevent making a mistake. If he wasn’t sure, he could easily have asked Jacob questions that only Esau would know the answers to, or he could have asked for both sons to be present when blessing Esau. So, why did this not happen?
It could be said that Isaac knew that Jacob had come before him, not Esau. He also knew that giving the blessing to Jacob would serve the Divine purpose a lot better than if Esau had received the blessing.
Moreover, Esau hadn’t exactly behaved in a manner that would please his parents. He married the two Hittite women, and it would appear as though Isaac knew that Esau could hear him saying to Jacob; “You shall not take a wife from among the daughters of Canaan” (Genesis 28:1), as if to say; “Don’t be like your brother, making your parents angry.”
There is very little doubt that Esau’s actions showed that he did not value respecting his parents as his highest value. That does not necessarily mean that he had no regard or honour for them at all.
We also learn from the Torah, that you shall not put a stumbling block before the blind. The Halacha is very clear on this, it would be unfair on a child to have to honour their parents, if all they received in return were reasons not to honour them. Similarly, you cannot act in a manner, which shows that you no longer have any regard for your child, just because they have been disrespectful to you.
Did Isaac act in a manner which placed a stumbling block before the blind, just because Esau had, intentionally, or unintentionally, not honoured his parents ?
Perhaps the parasha is trying to show us that sometimes, the final destination is of far more importance than the journey itself. It is fair to say that the key characters of this parasha (Isaac, Rebecca, Esau & Jacob), all behaved, at some or other stage, in a manner which one could term “not in the spirit of the Torah”.
Yet, when we refer back to them, we acknowledge that their existence is vital to our existence, and that what they did has bearing on our lives today. We don’t always act in the best possible way, when faced with a challenge or dilemma. Perhaps that is because we aren’t necessarily thinking along the same lines as everyone else.
When we make certain choices, are we acting for the present or for the future? Is it the journey or the final destination that is more important?
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Sam Zwarenstein
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Sorry, but this appears to have nothing whatsoever to do with the Parasha reading.
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