Vertitable Vision
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
One of the most perplexing scenes in Tanach is the blessing Yitzchak Avinu bestows on Yaakov, thinking that it is Esau who stands before him. How could Yitzchak have made such an egregious mistake? Couldn't he recognize who was who? After all, although they were twins, they were not identical. The Torah itself gives us the simplest, straightforward explanation: "Yitzchak had become old, and his eyes dimmed from seeing..." However, ambiguity exists even in this explanation. Had the Torah stopped at saying Yitzchak was old and his eyes dimmed, we would naturally attribute his failing eyesight to old age. However, the Torah adds "from seeing," implying either a different cause, a particular kind of blindness, or both.
Rashi provides three reasons for Yitzchak's impaired vision. First, that the smoke from Esau's idol worshiping wives damaged his eyes, or that when Yitzchak was bound on the altar, the angels cried and their tears fell into Yitzchak's eyes, and finally, that Hashem orchestrated this so that Yaakov would receive the blessing. Interestingly, although each cause comes from a different perspective, they are not mutually exclusive. And if the purpose of creation is to bring sanctity into the world, the utmost level having been achieved through the binding of Yitzchak, why were the angels crying, asks Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla in Shaarei Orah?
Further questions arise. Why was it necessary to deceive Yitzchak into bestowing the blessing on Yaakov rather than Yitzchak blessing Yaakov with full knowledge of who was standing before him, asks Rabbi Dessler? Within this scene, we are told that Yitzchak smelled the clothes, begodov, that Yaakov wore when he entered Yitzchak's chamber, and it was the smell of Gan Eden. But the three letters forming the root of the word clothing are also the root of the word for traitor, boged. Rabbi Dessler suggests that Yitzchak saw prophetically that two major traitors would join the enemy and defile God's Name would descend from the Jewish people. Yet, in their final challenges they would do teshuvah and sanctify God's Name in their death. What is the connection to the blessings?
Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Salant zt”l gives us some insight into the intricate workings of the world. The Gemarra tells us that it is forbidden to look at a rasha, so Hashem blinded Yitzchak as a consequence of looking at Esav. Why is this so? Because there are forces and energies in the world that, although unseen, have an impact on their surroundings. [As Rebbetzin Smiles suggests, think of the destruction and havoc an unseen virus can cause.] Just as we are inspired by seeing the glowing face of a tzadik, so can we be negatively affected by seeing the evil visage of a rasha. Certainly we should never dismiss the power of a blessing or a curse from an ordinary individual.
When Avraham and Sarah went to Grar to escape the famine in Canaan, they conspired to dupe the people and King Avimelech by identifying Sarah as Avraham's sister instead of as his wife. After Sarah was taken, then released unharmed from Avimelech's palace, Avimelech gave Avraham money to serve as a "covering of the eyes," so people would know that Sarah was still pure. But the terminology has the hint of a curse that was later realized through Yitzchak whose eyes were covered, and, measure for measure, Yitzchak himself was tricked with the identity of his son, even thinking Esau was a tzadik.
In Judaism, the concealed world goes beyond the microscopic. It is the spiritual world of the neshamah. Within this con text, wicked people create an aura of wickedness that acts as a magnet, drawing others into its sphere, writes Rabbi Lopian zt”l. As we say, the eyes are the window to the soul. Even scientifically, the eye itself does not actually see, but is the medium through which images enter and are "seen" and imprinted on the brain, much as a mirror does not "see" an image but merely reflects it back to the recipient. When you look at a rasha, the sight is already impacting your mind. There are no guarantees of remaining sin free. Our proof is in Yochanan the High Priest, the greatest tzadik of his generation, who served as High Priest entering and leaving the kodesh kodoshim safely for eighty years. Yet, toward the end of his life, as the Saducees became influential in the Land, Yochanan himself became infected, joining them and rejecting the Oral Law.
Conversely, writes Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz in Tiv Hitchazkut, seeing and being in the presence of a tzadik has a healing effect. One afflicted with tzora'as, spiritual leprosy, was cured through contact, seeing and being seen by the kohein whose image when he looks at you infuses you with his sanctity.
The Torah states that "bribery blinds the eyes of the righteous." Rabbi Zweig suggests that Esau blinded Yitzchak's eyes through bribery, but not with money. In its simplest form, Yitzchak may have been blinded by the good food Esau hunted and brought him. But on a deeper level, Esau bribed Yitzchak with questions that presented himself as a very righteous person. Rabbi Zweig offers the example of a litigant approaching a judge and urging him to render a just verdict, even if it against his interest. With this plea, the judge subconsciously wonders if such a person can be wrong. This mental blindness led to Yitzchak's physical blindness.
We can all we duped. One of the greatest impediments to spiritual growth is to "cover our eyes," to not see others or ourselves for who we truly are. One must continuously examine oneself to identify any negative quality before it takes root within us. Let us not turn a blind eye to our shortcomings, let us not rationalize our small missteps. As Rabbi Kofman zt”l writes, when we say our morning blessings and we thank Hashem for not making me a goy, we should examine ourselves for foreign influences we have adopted and perhaps integrated within ourselves. It begins with one small, rationalized peccadillo.
As we traverse the path of life, we must walk carefully, with our eyes open, as if carrying a precious vase, aware of our every step lest it fall and shatter., warns us Rabbi Yaakov Hillel based on the Mesillat Yesharim.
When you live a life of awareness, not only are you less likely to slip into sins that are so prevalent and often overlooked, perhaps like loshon horo, but you also become aware of opportunities to do good. As long as there exists a tiny flicker of awareness and pinpoint of light, one can be influenced by one's surroundings. The Medrash cites the case of Yosef of Mesithah, the man earlier cited that Yitzchak Avinu saw who would sin and do teshuvah. When the marauders were looting our Holy Temple, they told Yosef to enter, to take whatever he wanted, and it would be his. He entered and brought out the golden menorah. The Romans told him to go back in and take something he could actually use. Yosef refused to go in a second time, refused to desecrate the Temple again even if he had already done so. For this refusal, he died a tortured death al kiddush Hashem. How did Yosef change so suddenly and swiftly?
The Ponovitcher Rav zt”l suggests that when Yosef entered the Holy Temple, he had the briefest of encounters with sanctity, and it aroused his soul to such a great degree that he refused to desecrate God's name again even on pain of death. The eye of his soul still had a tiny opening to let in the holy light. Unfortunately, Esau's eyes were shut tight, not allowing even a glimmer of kedushah to enter. He would remain a rasha forever.
Citing Rabbi Shimon Schwab zt”l, Rabbi Kofman notes that there seems to be a redundancy in the morning blessings. We bless Hashem "Who opens the eyes of the blind," and later, "Who removes sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids." Rabbi Schwab, however, explains these as two distinct blessings. While we are grateful to wake up and open our eyes in the morning, we must keep our eyes awake and aware at all times. That moment of awareness in the Beit Hamikdosh saved Yosef of Mesitah from dying as an apostate.
We are constantly being bombarded with bribes, with overt and covert messages that distort and blind our vision, writes Rabbi Frand. [Remember the subliminal ads, too short for the audience to note, that flashed across movie theater screens in the 1950's? Suddenly everyone wanted a Coke. CKS] As humans, we have our own hidden agendas and biases. Our challenge is to recognize them and not let them blind our vision.
Yet our Medrash tells us that angels, who see truth perfectly, cried, and their tears blinded Yitzchak. Citing Yeshayahu 33:7, Rabbi Schwab suggests that these angels were the angels of peace who were totally compassionate and incapable of looking critically and negatively at any event. When these tears fell into Yitzchak's eyes, he too became incapable of seeing the critical shortcomings of another. He could not recognize the evil and deception of Esau.
In an alternate interpretation, the Sha'arei Ora, witnessing the unbelievable sanctity of Yitzchak's total commitment and self sacrifice to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, the angels cried because angels do not have that choice. Since they do not struggle to achieve sanctity, they cannot rise to that level of sanctity. These tears entered Yitzchak, and he understood that life is meant to be a struggle, to rise requires constant battle. Yitzchak felt that Yaakov was naturally less challenged than Esau, that Esau would fall, would need to struggle to rise, and was therefore more in need of the blessing.
Yitzchak's defining character was gevurah, strict judgment. As such, he understood that Yaakov, was a tzadik whose strength and influences cane from within. Esau, on the other hand, was constantly involved in the world, subject to its constant influence. Yaakov did not need the blessing as much as Esau did, suggests Rabbi Dessler zt”l. Unfortunately, Yaakov was unaware that Esau had of his own free will shut his eyes and extinguished the spark of good within himself.
We all face many struggles, and we often fail. This is the meaning of the verse, "Seven times the righteous man falls and gets up." What the Proverb means, explains Rav Hutner zt”l, is that falling is part of the growth process. It is through the repeated falls and struggles to rise that growth is achieved. In fact, writes Rabbi Frand, we do our children a disservice by introducing the tzadikim as almost perfect and Talmudic geniuses from birth. Only by showing how our revered leaders led lives as full of challenge as the rest of us, how they struggled and rose above, can we model the path of growth for the next generation.
The Prophet Yeshayahu writes that in Messianic times "...Those who are lost in the land of Ashur will come, and those who are misplaced in the land of Egypt will come...," will return. Why will those lost in Ashur return before those from Egypt, asks Rabbi Frand? Because Ashur is rocky and hilly, requiring tremendous effort to live, while Egypt is a fertile land requiring minimal struggle. Rav Tzadok Hacohen zt”l interprets this to mean that those who struggle with their spirituality, who have fallen in their battles with the yetzer horo and even lost, are easier to bring back than those who have not struggled but only been somewhat displaced.
In Golden Apples, Rabbi Lopiansky presents a profound interpretation of Yitzchak's blindness. While animals are rooted in the present, in their ability to see only the immediate, man differs from animals in his ability to see beyond the present and immediate future, to think, to understand, and plan. These are godlike qualities. Yet man's intellect is limited. When he reaches that limit, he must submit himself blindly to God's wisdom. This was the elevation Yitzchak had reached at the akeidah. His blindness was the application of the abdication of his own wisdom to Divine wisdom. This total submission of personal understanding to God's wisdom was so incomprehensible to the angels that they cried as a reaction [just as we uncontrollably laugh or cry at something unexpected and wondrous, CKS].
This explains why Yitzchak wanted Esau to hunt for the animal rather than take it from the domestic herds. Yitzchak wanted Esau to get the animal directly from Hashem rather than through human wisdom, continues Rabbi Lopiansky. It also explains Yitzchak's declaration, after realizing the deception, that Yaakov will indeed retain the blessing. Yitzchak realized that this was Hashem's plan, above what he himself had thought and planned.
We are told that Birkat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessings are in the merit of the akeidah. When Avraham leaves the two "lads" behind as he and Yitzchak continue to the mountain. Avraham tells them, "We will go ad koh [as far as we humanly can] and then return to you." Just as Avraham and Yitzchak sublimated their own wishes to Hashem's wisdom, so do blessings come from Hashem beyond our limited wisdom and ability. [כה תברכו... Hashem's command to the kohanim begins with the same word, koh, the blessing comes from Hashem, not from humans. CKS]
But relying on Hashem. having full faith in His providence, is not reserved for crisis situations. It should be our thought in every action we do, no matter how trivial it seems. Are we relying on the bus company to get us to our job on time, or are we relying on Hashem?
Rabbi Scheinerman quotes R. Birnbaum zt”l who points to a detail in our medrash, the skies opened and the angels' tears fell into Yitzchak's eyes. Since everything is perfectly clear in heaven, angels would not cry in heaven. On earth, however, where things are beyond our understanding, the tears of the angels could fall and create the dimness in Yitzchak's eyes, a dimness that was necessary to continue to actualize Hashem's vision for the world in general and for the Nation of Israel in particular.
May Hashem give us the clarity to rely on Him, to have full faith to follow His direction throughout our lives.