Boulder Aish Kodesh

The question in Parshat Toldot that demands to be answered is why Yitzhak loved Eisav, who was not the obvious son for Yitzhak to love.  Ya’akov was the budding young scholar, following in his father’s footsteps, to a degree, in his pursuit of holiness and knowledge of G-d.  Eisav, on the other hand, was a hunter.  Being a hunter is neither here nor there, but it seems a strange reason for Yitzhak to love him.

To answer the question, we’ll need to know more about Yitzhak.  Yitzhak is said to exemplify the character trait called גבורה – which is usually defined as might, but is probably more accurately defined as restraint, discipline, and focus.  The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot asks the question in the name of Ben Zoma, “Who is the גבור? The one who conquers his יצר.  This word, יצר, is usually defined as inclination, or tendency.  One who conquers his desire to act in a negative way is considered mighty – he demonstrates restraint.

But Rebbe Nachman has a different understanding.  Rebbe Nachman makes the connection between the word יצר and the word יוצר, which means one who forms one thing from another.  Says Rebbe Nachman, we have the power to build the world with our thoughts.  While the raw material is handed us by G-d, the form that that raw material takes is up to us, and it depends which יצר we use – the “good inclination” or the “bad inclination”.  The good inclination, says Rebbe Nachman, is the good thoughts we have about a situation, and the bad inclination is the bad thoughts we might have about a situation.   When I have good thoughts about a situation, I can take the raw material presented in a situation and make it good, merely by thinking positive thoughts about it.  And the opposite is also true as well.

So, when Ben Zoma answers his own question, he tells us that the truly mighty person is one who can restrain himself from forming the raw material of the world in a negative way.  This is Yitzhak’s job – to keep open the possibility that there is still good in a situation, even though it seems bad.

We find Yitzhak playing this role throughout the parsha, but it is most apparent in his act of clearing the wells that his father had dug and that the Plishtim had clogged.  His role is not to dig these wells, or to create new pathways through which to relate to G-d, but to keep them open.  His father, Avraham, was a digger and an original thinker.  But even original thoughts get old when they are not maintained.  Yitzhak’s job is to maintain the original ideas Avraham brought into the world.  Avraham’s job is to open it, and Yitzhak’s job is to keep it open.

The concept of גבורה is deeply connected to the concept of יראה, which is usually translated as fear or awe.  Fear and awe, in the service of G-d, usually come to describe the understanding that one does not know everything.  Love is an expression of knowing somebody – I know you and I like what I see.  Fear, or awe, is the understanding that there might be more to you than meets the eye, so I have to make space in order to see more of you.  I have to let go of my understanding of you in order to have a deeper understanding of you.  Fear implies that I do not know what will happen, and I am afraid of the possibilities.  A person who inspires awe is a person who can inspire me at any time.  It is not that I already know everything about you – it is that I am constantly impressed by new expressions that might come out of you.

So when Yitzhak is faced with the challenge of Eisav, his tendency as Yitzhak is to leave open the possibility that Eisav is truly righteous.  His capacity to leave a situation open and undefined is his gift to the world.  Though the world tells him Eisav is wicked, he knows negative thoughts about Eisav will in fact form the raw material of Eisav as wicked.  So his capacity not to judge leads him to love Eisav where no one else can love him.