An iconoclastic response to a classical biblical question.
In one of R. David Silverberg’s 2016 Divrei Tora for Parashat Toledot, he cites Midrash HaGadol’s explanation for why Yitzchak was so enamored of Eisav, even after Eisav, according to the Rabbis, was so dismissive of the tradition begun by Avraham:
Midrash HaGadol on Beraishit 25:28 “Now Yitzchak loved Eisav…”
Didn’t our father Yitzchak know about Eisav’s actions that they were disgusting, and behold the bible states: (Tehillim 139:21-2) “21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate Thee? And do not I strive with those that rise up against Thee? 22 I hate them with utmost hatred; I count them mine enemies.” So why did Yitzchak love Eisav?
He only loved him outwardly in order to bring him near and draw him in, for it is a Kal VeChomer (a logical deduction from the minor to the major): If when he (Yitzchak) loved him, his (Eisav’s) actions were perverse, if he had hated him and made him distant, all the more so (wouldn’t his actions have been even more despicable)? And the Rabbis have said: (Sota 47a) “Always let the left hand thrust away and the right hand draw near” …
Supporting the strategy suggested by the Midrash with a biblical textual proof.
Based upon an essay by R. Amnon Bazak, R. Silverberg notes a biblical proof to the effectiveness of Yitzchak’s approach to dealing with the rebellious Eisav:
… A source for this contention can be found in the Tora, in reference to Eisav’s marriage. Before the story of Yaakov’s seizing the blessings intended for Eisav, the Tora informs us that Eisav married two Hittite women, which caused great distress to Yitzchak and Rivka (Ibid. 26:34-35). Later, towards the end of Parashat Toledot, (Ibid. 28:8), we read, “Eisav saw that the women of Canaan were evil in the eyes of his father, Yitzchak,” and decided to marry Yishmael’s daughter. Significantly, Eisav was affected specifically by his father’s displeasure with his wives, but not by Rivka’s objections. Both Yitzchak and Rivka opposed Eisav’s marriage to Hittite women, but Eisav’s change of heart resulted only from Yitzchak’s distress. It did not bother him that his mother, who had always rejected him, was displeased, but he was troubled by his loving father’s displeasure.
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