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When we first meet Jacob, he is introduced as a man who prefers to study. We think of him as weak and naive. It turns out that he is neither. This is what saves him from the individuals he will have to confront.

Isaac’s love of Esau was a act of willful blindness. He knew that Esau was far from perfect, but he could not bring himself to admit that he was not the leader that we needed.

The Torah describes Jacob of a man of the tents and complete. He was studying the wisdom of the Torah to learn how to build a righteous life. Esau was a total secularist and therefore unfit to be a leader of the Jewish people.

When Esau finds out that Jacob got the blessing of the first born he complains to his father. He neglects to tell his father that he had sold the birthright to Jacob. He was lying by omission.

Esau complains that he was tricked into selling his birthright. This is a false complaint. He knew what he was doing but was greedy for the lentils. He could not go for a short time without eating. He sold his birthright with full knowledge.

Isaac dug wells for water. The Philistines would try to destroy the wells. The question is why? Didn’t they also benefit from the wells? The answer is that their hatred blinded them to the benefits of the wells.

Isaac’s legacy was his sons. Especially Jacob. The fact is that while Isaac and Ishmael could come together to bury Abraham, Esau’s enmity against Jacob was overpowering.

We are commanded to help each other through loving kindness. Not just to mouth the words. We see this in the action of the Jews of Israel rushing to the aid of their less fortunate brethren.

It is interesting that Abraham did not rely on prayer to acquire a wife for Isaac. He sent his servant to acquire her through negotiations with her family. That is because that God wants us to act, not just to pray.

When Eliezer is negotiating with Rebecca’s family, he doesn’t mention that Abraham and Isaac are spiritual leaders. He mentions their wealth. That is because Rebecca’s family were materialist. They had no spiritual side.