Esav was a man of the field and Yaakov was a scholar, a dweller of tents. Yitzchak favored Esav, while Rivka favored Yaakov. One day, Esav came back from the field very hungry. Yaakov was cooking lentils and Esav asked him for some. Yaakov said to him, “Sell me your rights as first born”. “Of what use are first born rights to me if I starve”, Esav replies. “Swear it to me”, insists Yaakov.
Yaakov now has all of the rights of inheritance which were so important in that part of the world at that time. Yitzchak moves to Gerar to escape a famine. Hashem appears to Yitzchak and tells him that He will fulfill the promise He made to his father Avraham. Yitzchak’s children will be very numerous and inhabit the land of Canaan. Yitzchak deals with Avimelech, the King of Gerar just as his father did. He digs wells and becomes very wealthy as he settles in the area. Yitzchak then moves to Be’er Sheva and signs a peace treaty with Avimelech.
Esav married Hittite women which disappointed his parents. Yitzchak becomes old and blind and is near the end of his life. He asks Esav to go to the field and hunt venison for him to eat. Rivka overhears this and knows that if Esav gets Yitzchak’s blessing, then all of Hashem’s plans will not be fulfilled. She tells Yaakov to pretend to be his brother and go to his father with the food. Rivka covers Yaakov with fur but could not disguise his voice. Nevertheless, Yitzchak gives his blessing to Yaakov despite the deception. When Esav returns, he is furious to learn what Yaakov has done. He plots to kill his brother and Rivka urges Yaakov to flee to her brother Lavan, in Charan.
Yitzchak blesses Yaakov with the blessing of Avraham despite his deception. He wishes that Yitzchak find a wife also from his kin and states that Yaakov’s descendants will inherit that labnd of Canaan and be served by the descendants of Esav. Yitzchak warns that if the descendants of Yaakov do not follow Hashem’s ways, then they will serve the descendants of Esav.
And these are the generations of Yitzchak, son of Avraham;
Avraham begot Yitzchak
“Since it was written, ‘Yitzchak, son of Avraham’, it was necessary for Scripture to say, ‘Avraham begot Yitzchak’, since the scoffers of the generation were saying, ‘It was from Avimelech that sarah became pregnant’. Therefore, The holy One, blessed be He, formed Yitzchak’s facial features similar to those of Avraham so that all should say, ‘Avraham begot Yitzchak’”
And Yitzchak was forty years old when he took Rivka…and Yitzchak
was sixty years old when she bore them. Why should the Torah make
a point of stating how old Yitzchak was when he got married and became
a father? The Mishnah, in Pirke Avot (5:25):
“A five year old begins Scripture; a ten year old begins Mishnah;
a thirteen year old becomes obligated to observe the commandments;
a fifteen year old begins the study of Gemara; an eighteen year old
goes to the marriage canopy; a twenty year old begins pursuit of a
livelihood; a thirty year old attains full strength; a forty year
old attains understanding; a fifty year old can offer counsel; a sixty
year old attains seniority…”
According to this mishnah, when Yitzchak was married, he attained
understanding. Having lived with and learned from his father Avraham,
didn’t he understand anything before that? There is a story
about a young prodigy of Talmud who was known far and wide. One day,
a Rabbi traveled to see him. When he arrived at the yeshiva, he said
to his teacher, “Tell me Rebbe, is it true what they say about
this young man; he really knows so much?” The Rebbe answered,
“To tell you the truth, the boy studies so much, I don’t
kno where he can find the time to know anything!”
Acquiring knowledge (daat) is not the same as acquiring wisdom or
understanding. The word used here is binah which in kabbalistic terms
is one step below the level of chochmah (wisdom). The three terms
chochmah, binah, and daat represent the evolutionary stages of intellect
and action. Here, they are presented in the opposite order. Children
first need foundational knowledge. Then, over time, one gains an understanding
of the concepts. In fact, if we look at the mishnah for the age of
sixty, the word used for seniority is zakein ( 
) which the sage say is an acronym for zeh sh’ka-neh chochmah
(one who has acquired wisdom).
It is customary, in some communities, to read a Psalm on one’s
birthday (associated with the year). If we look at Psalm 40 we see:
“Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come!’ with the Scroll
of the Book that is written for me.”
The commentator Ibn Ezra writes that this can mean:
“Thus, when I come now to show gratitude for Your salvation,
I come not with a sacrifice; but I present myself before You holding
the Torah, resolved to obey everything which You have written for
me in it.”
In Mishlei, we read (3:3): “Write them (the words of Torah)
on the tablet of your heart.”
This refers to understanding. Only with binah, can one begin to act
on them to fulfill mitzvos. This, according to the Mishnah, occurs
at age forty when enough knowledge has been acquired for true understanding
to take place. The sages also say that forty is the age when one understands
his teacher’s knowledge and is associated with a knowing heart,
eyes that see, and ears that hear.
Pslam 60 states; “Is it not You, O G-d, Who has forsaken us,
and do not go forth, O G-d, with our legions? Give us help against
the oppressor; the aid of man is futile. Through G-d we shall do valiantly,
and He will trample our oppressors.”
King
David is expressing his secure belief that G-d would protect his
kingdom. Only with wisdom and understanding can one come to this conclusion.
According to the mishnah, this occurs at age sixty. Yitzchak would
need this wisdom to deal with the two sons that represent two nations.
We commonly associate Esav with Edom (Rome) and exile. Yaakov, of
course, later becomes renamed Yisroel, the father of the twelve tribes
and the emerging Jewish Nation.
May we all attain the levels of chochmah, binah, and, daat needed
to fulfill our lives.
