Why did Yitzchak love Esav over Yaakov ?  Did he not know about Rivkah’s oracle? Did he not know that Esau was wild and impetuous? Can we really take literally the proposition that Yitzchak loved Esav because “he had a taste for wild game,” as if his affections were determined by his stomach, by the fact that his elder son brought him food he loved? Surely not, when the very future of the covenant was at stake.

The classic answer is that Yitzchak loved Esav because he simply did not know who or what Esav was. But there is another possible answer: that Yitzchak loved Esav precisely because he did know what Esav was.

 

This lecture is part of the Covenant & Conversation series.

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