“And it came to pass after the death of Abraham and G-d blessed Isaac his son and Isaac dwelled in Be-er La-chai Ro-ee.” (Gen 25:11). Rashi explains: a\G-d blessed Isaac with the blessing offered to mourners. Birkat Aveilim (Sotah 14a) or b\ Abraham hesitated to bless Isaac with the full blessings he had received because Abraham foresaw the birth of Esau. He was worried that Isaac would misuse the blessing and pass it on to Esau. Abraham instead said “let He who holds all the blessings give it to the one He sees fit.” This second explanation is very puzzling. Could it be that Abraham didn’t trust his own son to make proper choices as to who among his children is deserving of blessing? It’s true that this might explain why he needed to send out Eliezer to choose a spouse for Isaac but many other explanations have been offered for that action.
It is also puzzling because G-d himself had no difficulty blessing Yishmael. “And as for Yishmael I have heard you, behold I have blessed him and I will multiply him I will make him very very great. He will father twelve princes and I will make from him a great nation.” (Gen 17:20) This blessing was fulfilled at the very end of last week’s Parsha where we read of the twelve sons of Yishmael and of the emergence of a budding nation with twelve princes.
It is possible that once G-d told Abraham that He himself blessed Yishmael it made sense to Abraham to allow G-d himself to bless Isaac as well. Abraham didn’t want Isaac to receive a mortal blessing when clearly there was an available immortal blessing. As reasonable as this may sound it isn’t a solution offered up by Rashi or any of the commentaries. It is probably because in general we don’t abrogate our responsibilities by handing them over to G-d.
Rebecca may have wondered why Isaac had not received the blessing of his father. Rebecca expected a blessing to come to Isaac in the same way that she herself received the blessing of her own family; “And they blessed Rebecca saying to her, may you come to be thousands of myriads and may your offspring inherit the gates of your enemies.” (Gen. 24:60) Rebecca may have worried that Yishmael received the blessing instead of her husband Isaac. After all, the last section of last week’s Parsha lists the great success of the family Yishmael, which can be compared starkly with Rebecca who was barren, an Akarah, with no children. When she finally does become with child, the pregnancy is difficult, there is a virtual war going on inside her womb. She asks G-d for guidance. G-d responds, “There are two great nations within you.” Unlike Yishmael who G-d said would father only one great nation, you will bear two. This answers her question as to whether Isaac or Yishmael received the better blessing. And as to the other question, G-d immediately blessed Isaac. “Stay in this land and I will be with you and will bless you because I will give to you and to your children all these lands. And I will fulfill the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. And I will increase your offspring like the stars of the heaven. And I will give your offspring all these lands.” (Ibid. 26:3-4) Isaac most certainly shared the good news with Rebecca and in that way comforted her.
Parsha Corner is dedicated to the memory of Joel Shulman A’H.
