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Yitzchak's Blindness - Parashat Toldot - November 17, 2017

In this week’s parasha, Toldot, the Torah shines its spotlight on Yitzchak and Rivka. We are introduced to their children, Yaakov and Esav, and presented with some of the struggles that Yitzchak encountered in settling Eretz Yisrael.

The parasha culminates in Yitzchak’s blessing his two sons and the description of the ruse which Yaakov employs to receive the appropriate blessing from his father. The Torah begins this section with the introduction, vayehi ki zaken Yitzchak; vatechena einav me'reot - and Yitzchak was old and his eyes were dimmed from seeing (being able to see).

Our commentators discuss many issues about this verse, including, why, among the patriarchs, Yitzchak alone suffered from the dimming of his eyes. As they are wont to do, our commentators offer many explanations. According to the commentator, Imre Yosher, these explanations fall into two categories – those who maintain that Yitzchak’s blindness was a punishment for a transgression and those who maintain that Yitzchak’s blindness was an affliction that Hashem, in His infinite Wisdom, gave to Yitzchak to promote perfection – but not out of consequence of sin.

The commentators in the first camp – those who maintain that Yitzchak’s blindness was a consequence of sin – discuss the nature of Yitzchak’s sin that led to his blindness. Seforno, and others, explain that Esav was a rasha – an evil man. This evil tendency culminated in Esav marrying two Canaanite (Hittite) women, Yehudit bat Be’eri and Basmat bat Elon. Throughout Esav’s life, Yitzchak had the opportunity to rebuke him and to attempt to set him on the proper course. According to these commentators, Yitzchak neglected his duty to chastise his son out of a lack of recognition of his true nature. According to these scholars, Yitzchak suffered blindness as a consequence of this sin.

What prevented Yitzchak from executing this fundamental paternal responsibility?

The Midrash, and others, seizing upon the Torah’s juxtaposition of the marriage of Esav to the two Canaanite women and the blindness of Yitzchak, discuss this issue – albeit in the language of metaphor. The Midrash interprets these verses and declares that the smoke from the incense and smoke from the sacrificial offerings of these women to their idolatry caused Yitzchak’s blindness.

The Midrash seems troubled by the Torah’s juxtaposition of the statement that these women were troublesome to Yitzchak and Rivka but that (only) Yitzchak became blind. On this basis, the Midrash explains that Rivka – who had grown up in a house of idolatry – was immune from the effects of this smoke. Yitzchak was not immune. Apparently, Rivka was equipped to confront or deal with Esav’s evil – in this case, the idolatry of Esav’s wives. Yitzchak was not. This lack of sophistication or awareness in dealing with Esav and his evil was a shortcoming in Yitzchak and was the cause of his blindness.

Each new generation has new ideas and sees the world in a different way – sometimes radically so. Yitzchak, as compared to Esav, certainly fits this mold. Sometimes the differences between generations are superficial and sometimes deep. Sometimes the differences relate to etiquette and sometimes to values. In our time, the internet revolution and other powerful cultural currents have exposed a gulf between the new generation and the old. Our children see the world through a totally different lens than the previous generation. In our day, it is critical for parents and teachers to impact the generation of children through deep connection and through teaching them our values within their framework – in ways that make sense to them. Let us learn from Yitzchak’s experience about the importance of influencing the next generation and the consequence of ignoring this important responsibility.

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