“And may God give you the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, much grain and wine. Nations will serve you; governments will bow down to you.” (Genesis 27:28–29)
We need to understand, at least to the extent our limited minds are able, what this story is hinting at. Why was it fated that the blessings that Isaac our patriarch bestowed upon Jacob were really intended for Esau?
We learn in the Talmud (Hagigah 15b) in the name of R. Meir: “When a person suffers, to what expression does the Shechinah give utterance? ‘O woe! My head, O woe! My arms.’ ”
Why did R. Meir ask, “When a person suffers, etc.,” and not, as we find elsewhere, “When the Jewish people suffer . . .”? Secondly, how valid is the inquiry? How can we ask, “To what expression does the Shechinah give utterance?” when there is no indication that the Shechinah says anything at all? Why should it speak? It has already been said, quoting God (Psalms 91:15), “I am with him in his distress.” This does not imply that God gives utterance to any particular expression, and so the question “To what expression does He give utterance?” is irrelevant.
R. Meir’s original quote in the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 6:7), asking what the Shechinah says, is in respect of a person who has been sentenced to death by hanging. R. Meir’s point is that even when it is just one individual who is in pain the Shechinah still says, “O woe!” He makes this point because it was possible to interpret the verse “I am with him in his distress” to mean that God is with us only when all the Jewish people together are in distress. In the Midrash (Exodus Rabbah 2:5) on God’s appearance to Moses at the burning bush, where the connection between God’s suffering and that of the Jewish people is made, the verse “I am with him in his distress” is quoted, and our sages explain that God appeared to Moses from inside the burning bush to show him that He was with all the Jewish people in their distress. Here, however, R. Meir is adding that the Shechinah also suffers when even a single Jew is in distress. He does this by singling out a single individual who was sentenced to death for his own crime.
This is why in R. Meir’s question it is the Shechinah who speaks, because in talking of the Holy Blessed One, we usually refer to YHVH (God), Who animates the sephirah of Tifferet (Glory). Another name for the sephirah of Tifferet is K’neseth Israel (The Congregation of Israel). The Congregation of Israel is by definition a group. The sephirah of Tifferet (Glory) is also known as “Mercy,” because it synthesizes the two antithetical sephirot of Chesed (Loving-Kindness) and Gevurah (Judgment). Thus the sephirah of Tifferet is also by definition a grouping. This is why it represents the Congregation of Israel, a group. The Shechinah, on the other hand is the sephirah of Malkhut (Sovereignty), which, even though it is also equated with K’neseth Israel nonetheless also includes singularity and individuality. This is because individuation, separation, counting, and numbering are possible only in the sephirah of Malkhut, as is well known.
Therefore, regarding even the individual who worships God, the Shechinah (i.e., Malkhut) says to the Holy Blessed One (i.e., Tifferet), “Look at this child whom I bring to You,” as is well known. That is, not just the entire Jewish people are good, but also this individual person is righteous and saintly.
With his question, R. Meir is hinting that the Shechinah suffers not only when the entire Jewish people are in trouble, but that the pain of an individual person also ascends upon high. This one is murdered and that one dies from his suffering, may the Merciful One protect us. This one’s mind gives out and his heart and whole body becomes weak from the suffering—for as the Talmud states (Hullin 35b), “What difference does it make if I kill all of him, or only part of him?” Even though the Jewish people as a whole are eternal, when one individual dies, both he and his life are lost, and until the resurrection of the dead his life is cut off, may the Merciful One protect us. This, then, is the meaning of the particular choice of wording, ‘“When a ‘person’ suffers,” as we learn in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 38a), “A ‘person’ was created solitary.” This is why even over the pain of a single individual the Shechinah says, “O woe! My head, O woe! My arms.” It is specifically the Shechinah who speaks up when an individual suffers because she embodies the concepts of singularity and individuality, as we said above.
Let us return to our original question about the circumstances surrounding Isaac’s blessing of Jacob. Rashi, quoting the Midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 4:6) comments on the verse (Genesis 46:26), “All the soul that came with Jacob to Egypt”: “Esau’s family consisted of only six (himself and his five sons) and Scripture refers to them in the plural as ‘the souls of his house.’ This is because they worshipped many gods. Now, the family of Jacob coming to Egypt consisted of seventy people and Scripture calls them ‘soul,’ in the singular, because they all served One God.”
The truth is that the Jewish people are always united because they share one holy soul. Therefore if Isaac had blessed Jacob directly, he would have blessed the Congregation of Israel only as a whole. The will of God, blessed be He, was that Isaac should also bless every single Jew individually, and so God brought it about that Isaac thought he was blessing Esau, who epitomizes separation and “souls,” while actually blessing Jacob. Thus, he also blessed each individual Jew.
On the verse “And may God give you . . .” with we which we opened the chapter, Rashi’s explanation (Genesis 27:28) is: “And may God give you, and then return and give you again.” From what we have said above, it may be explained thus: If Isaac had blessed all Jews together as one group, it would have sufficed to say, “May God give you.” However, since each individual is also blessed separately, it is necessary to give and then to return and give again—now to this one, and later to that one, and so for each and everyone; now this need, and then later a different need.