ויהי כי זקן, the word זקן is a verb in the past tense. The Torah relates that Yitzchok kept on aging until his eyesight was badly impaired. Yaakov experienced a similar problem; (48,10) In fact most people experience the problem of failing eyesight in their old age. In some instances this is a sudden phenomenon, in others it is a phenomenon experienced gradually. In the case of Yitzchok he was struck with this affliction more than 20 years before he died. He misinterpreted the onset of this phenomenon considering it as foreshadowing that his death would occur soon. In the event he was proven wrong. However, this is what prompted him to call in Esau at this time to bestow his blessing upon him before his death. Perhaps this failure of his eyesight at a premature time was one of the afflictions with which the righteous are sometimes afflicted. It may be that the reason why the Torah bothers with telling us this detail is to inform us that G’d subjects some of the righteous to some afflictions in this life in accordance with His wisdom. Some commentators attribute Yitzchok’s premature blindness to the smoke of the incense burned by his daughters-in-law to their respective deities. (quoted by Rashi).

ויאמר...לא ידעתי יום מותי. Perhaps I will die suddenly so that I will not have a chance to bless you close before my death.

ועתה...כליך, the tools you use to hunt with.

תליך וקשתך, now he spelled out the tools in detail. Possibly, there were other hunting instruments in addition to these. תליך, is the quiver in which one keeps the arrows. Onkelos translates it as סיפך, “your sword,” (the ending ך in the word as a personal pronoun.). A sword would also be a tool which is hung in a scabbard, or suspended from one’s belt, so. that the root תלה implied in the word תליך is part of his translation.

וצא השדה, Yitzchok issued this instruction as Esau did not go out hunting on a daily basis.

צידה, spelled with the letter ה, but read as ציד. According to a well known aggadic interpretation the letter ה is an allusion to 5 major halachic requirements in killing an animal to make it fit for consumption by Jews. (compare Torah Shleymah 23)

ועשה, he did not ask for venison because there was shortage of food in his home, for he was exceedingly wealthy. We observe that aged people progressively get tired of the food they are used to, and they crave something new to give them an incentive to eat and enjoy their food. Venison is a different kind of meat, not comparable in taste to the meat of sheep or goats or beef. Therefore Yitzchok asked Esau to bring him something which would put him in a pleasant frame of mind, the kind of good feeling which is a necessary prelude to bestowing a blessing with one’s entire heart. He was well aware that he needed something to put him into the right frame of mind as Esau’s general conduct was not one that commended itself to his father so that he would gladly volunteer such a blessing as he felt he was obligated to dispense. There would be no need to send Yaakov on such an errand prior to blessing him, as his righteousness made blessing him something natural.

ורבקה היתה שומעת בדבר יצחק, she saw that Esau had gone to carry out his father’s instructions and she told Yaakov about it as she was jealous that Esau should obtain this blessing. She did not realise that Yaakov would be blessed even if he did not receive a blessing from his father, and that was also what his father had assumed. Yitzchok was a righteous man, and he would never have become guilty of depriving Yaakov of a blessing which he deserved by giving it to Esau instead. Rivkah was so consumed with her love for Yaakov that she advised him to engage in cheating in order to secure the blessing for himself. She did not feel that there was something sinful in doing that.

ורבקה..לאמר, she had a conversation with her son Yaakov, at the end of which she told him that his father had sent out Esau to bring him venison as a prelude to receiving the blessing.

הביאה, she gratuitously added the words 'לפני ה, as if they had been Yitzchok’s words (which they were not). She intended thereby to convince her son Yaakov that the blessing about to be given to Esau was of an unusual, critical importance, one that would reflect a prophetic utterance by Yitzchok.

ועתה...לך נא אל הצאן, to their flocks.

טובים, fat ones. We find that Avraham (18,7) also offered the angels calves which were רך וטוב, “tender and fat.” When we read about the seven good cows Pharaoh saw in his dream (41,26), the word for “fat” is also טובות.

ויאמר...שעיר. seeing that his skin was covered with hair all over, even his hands and throat.

אולי...כמתעתע, seeing that he can hardly see I would deceive him saying that I am Esau, and if he will feel me and find that my skin is smooth, he will become angry and demand to know how I dared to deceive him and instead of blessing me he will curse me.

ימושני, the root of the word is משש, the letter shin has a dagesh.

כמתעתע, the root of the word is תעה, even though both the first and second root letters appear twice in the word. We have a parallel expression מעשה תעתועים in Jeremiah 10,15, as well as in Chronicles II 36,16 ומתעתועים בנביאיו, a reference to false prophets and religious dignitaries who deceive their followers.

והבאתי, I will be the cause of bringing a curse upon myself.

וילך..ותקח...החמודות, costly garments which he would wear on special occasions, especially when taking his places among the leading personalities of his time. He would keep these clothes wrapped in fragrant flowers from the field so that they would exude such a fragrance when worn. This is why Yitzchok reacted to Yaakov’s appearing before him dressed in these garments by saying: “the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of the field.”

Rivkah also covered Yaakov’s throat and arms with the skins from the goats so that Yitzchok would think that Esau was indeed standing before him.

ותתן את המטעמים, no mention is made of the meat as it was included in what is described here as מטעמים, The latter are considered as the major ingredient of the meal as this is what Yitzchok had asked his son Esau for (verse 4). He wanted the meal to be well spiced so that he would find it tasty, to his liking.

ואת הלחם, for she prepared fresh bread for him.

ויבא אל אביו, into the room where he was lying down. He called to him: אבי, seeing he (Yitzchok) could not see him.

הנני, with a dagesh in both letters נ.

?מי אתה, seeing that he had addressed him simply with the word אבי, he had doubts about whose voice he had heard he had to ask: “who are you?”

ויאמר...אנכי עשו בכרך, some people wonder how Yaakov, a righteous person, could say something like this, an outright lie in their opinion. Actually, the matter is not so strange seeing that Yaakov knew that he was entitled to the blessing more than his brother, and that the spirit of prophecy would come to rest on Yitzchok so that he would bless him instead. If, in a situation such as this, the tzaddik changes words so that they sound like a lie, this is in order and does not reflect on him negatively. Our example is Samuel I 16,2 where G’d tells the prophet Samuel to go and crown one of Yishai’s sons as the future king of Israel. In order to escape suspicion in case Sha-ul would challenge his trip to Chevron where Yishai lived, G’d told him to take with him a calf and to claim that he was taking it to Chevron to offer as a sacrifice. Besides, Yaakov was well aware that both his father and his grandfather had on occasion told lies about the marital status of their wives. No one ever accused either as having told lies, seeing there was an adequate reason for telling such a lie. Yaakov therefore was entitled to tell such a lie under the circumstances, and by representing himself as the one who was to get this blessing this did not turn him into a liar. Furthermore, in doing what he did he carried out his mother’s instructions. The Torah specifically orders איש אמו ואביו תיראו “you shall be in awe of your mother and father.” (Leviticus 19,3) Also, his mother was known to be a prophetess, so that her instructions could be trusted without reservations. Onkelos translates verse 13 עלי קללתך בני, to mean that what Rivkah said was “I have received a prophetic vision telling me that you will not be cursed.”

קום נא שבה, he told his father to get up and sit up as he had found him lying down.

ואכלה, an imperative mode with an added letter ה, the letter א having a chataf kametz, an abbreviated vowel kametz.

ויאמר יצחק, because of the sound of Yaakov’s voice his mind had been alerted so that he began to examine the person standing before him more closely. The fact that so little time had elapsed since he instructed Esau to go hunting made him suspicious that it might not be Esau standing there.

כי הקרה ה' אלוקיך, “your merit has assisted me to accomplish my mission so quickly, seeing that what I did was for your sake.”

ויאמר...ואמשך בני, the letter ש in the word ואמשך lacks the dagesh we would expect if it were in the transitive mode. It should have had this dagesh just as it is written with the dagesh in the word ימושני in verse 12 and in verse 22.

ויגש...והידים, he did not examine the skin on the (supposed) smooth part of his throat. He relied solely on checking his arms.

ולא...ויאמר אתה זה, this is a form of a question, even though it is not accompanied by the letter ה in front of the word אתה which we would have expected to introduce such a question. We find a similar construction in Kings I 1,24 אתה ומרת אדניה ימלוך אחרי? “did you (King David) say that “Adoniah will rule after me?” There are numerous similar constructions in Scripture. The reason why Yaakov phrased this as a question was that he was still not convinced that it was Esau because the voice [as well as the mode of speech. Ed.] was so similar to that of Yaakov. He was afraid of appearing as swindling Esau to whom he had promised the blessing, if he we were to bless Yaakov instead, although he loved Yaakov dearly. This is why he still continued with the examination.

ויאמר...ואכלה מציד בני, as if he had said: “from your venison.” However, he used a formulation which was customary at the time.

ויבא לו יין, in order to gladden his heart. In those days people generally did not drink wine with their meals unless the expression משתה, is employed by Scripture to indicate that wine was served.

"And kiss me". And he did not say "And I will kiss you". Kissing always depends on the greater party who kisses someone of lesser status. When they are equal each one kisses his fellow as in "And each man kissed his friend". Rather he said so (kiss me) because Yitzchak could not see Yaakov and was not able to kiss only to feel. Therefore he told his son to kiss him.

ויגש...וירח את ריח בגדיו, while he was still engaged in kissing him the fragrance of Yaakov’s clothes inspired Yitzchok. We had described the fact that one kept good clothing in scented bags or wooden boxes until they would be worn again.

ויברכהו, after having inhaled the pleasant fragrance of his clothes and having said: 'ראה ריח בני כריח שדה אשר ברכו ה, that he enjoyed the odour of his clothes. Why, if he blessed him after inhaling the fragrance, does the Torah write the word ויברכהו before describing the odour of the clothing in detail? This was to tell us that Yitzchok’s heart was already gladdened by both the food and the wine so that the Holy Spirit came to rest upon him and to inspire the blessing.

ראה, an imperative mode; who was this addressed to? This was not addressed to a specific person, but it is a mode of speech addressed to anyone who considers what follows as pertinent to himself. We have a similar usage of the imperative not being addressed to someone specific in Jeremiah 13,18 אמר למלך ולגבירה, as well as in Isaiah 60,6 קול אומר קרא!, “a voice says: call out!” No specific person is addressed by this proclamation. Similarly, in Isaiah 35,3 חזקו ידים רפות. Also in verse 4 of that chapter we encounter a similar construction.

'אשר ברכו ה, He blessed the field, i.e. the grass growing there was of good quality. “The fragrance of my son is comparable to the growth of the vegetation on the field which G’d has blessed.” The meaning of the letter ו at the beginning of the next verse which commences with the actual blessing, is not that it adds to what preceded it, but that it introduces something new. It is similar to the letter ו in וישא אברהם את עיניו in 22,13 where it also is not a continuation of what preceded it but the beginning of a new paragraph, a new detail of the story being discussed. There are many examples of the letter ו performing such a function. It is, however, also possible to explain the letter ו at the end of the word ברכו, as referring to Yitzchok’s son, so that Yitzchok would be saying: “behold the fragrance of my son which is like a field which G’d has blessed, so that his blessing would be that Yaakov should continue to enjoy such fragrance also in the future. The blessing would then continue in the next verse with the words ויתן לך spelling out specific elements of that blessing. The letter ו in ויתן would then be the standard connective letter ו.

ויתן לך...מטל השמים, something that you will require. Yitzchok did not mention rain, seeing that dew is always beneficial whereas rain can prove very destructive on occasion, as we know from the deluge or when it falls at the wrong time. These blessings were said not only to Yaakov (Esau) personally, but were meant to remain effective also for his offspring. Similarly, the blessing Yitzchok gave to Esau afterwards was also meant not only for himself but for his descendants afterwards.

ומשמני, the letter מ in the word מטל is to be understood as if it were written twice as if the Torah had written וממטל (the מ in front of the letter ש not having been a formative letter in the word ומשמני) Alternatively, the meaning of the word assuming the letter מ was a formative letter, it would be the same as the word משמני in the blessing Esau received in verse 39.

יעבדוך....הוה גביר לאחיך, a reference to Esau’s sons (descendants); the same is meant when Yitzchok speaks about בני אמך, “your mother’s sons,” i.e. her descendants. These blessings came true in the time when David defeated the Edomites, and they will come true again in the days of the Messiah.

אררך ארור, in the singular mode, meaning each person cursing you will be cursed individually.

ויהי...מצידו, as if the Torah had written מצודו, “from his hunting expedition.” The Torah chose a noun instead of a verb in its infinitive form. We find a similar construction in Numbers 10,2 ולמסע את המחנות, which means the same as ולהסיע את המחנות, “and to set the camps (army groups) in motion.” We also find such a construction in Ezekiel 17,9 למשאות אותה משרשיה, “and to remove it from its roots.” A third example which comes to mind is Numbers 23,10 ומספר את רבע ישראל, “or number the animals born to the livestock of Israel?” The word מספר is used there as if the Torah (Bileam) had said לספר, “to count.” [I assume that when the Torah quotes a human being, such as here, G’d dictated Bileam’s words to Moses, seeing that neither Moses nor any other Jew had heard a single one of Bileam’s blessings. Ed.]

ויעש...ויאמר, this is quite clear.

ויחרד; he displayed his emotional upset in front of Esau in order that Esau should not think he had deliberately fooled Esau by blessing Yaakov. He said:

מי איפוא, the words mean: “who is he, and where is he now?”

ואכל מכול, of all the tasty dishes which he served me.

בטרם תבא, “before you could come. If I had not eaten of all the type of food he had prepared for me, and you would have arrived while I was in the middle of eating, I would have stopped eating from his food and have helped myself to yours and have blessed you. However, since I have eaten my fill before you came I cannot do this now since I have blessed him already.”

גם ברוך יהיה, since I have already blessed him I confirm my blessing for I knew that he was my son (not an outsider).

כשמוע...גם אני, “I am also your son, no less than he is.” The letter א in the word אני has the vowel kametz, although it does not signify a comma or something similar, as it is intended to stress the word “I.” We find a similar construction in 31,52 אם אני לא אעבור אליך, where we also would not have expected the kametz instead of the vowel patach. There too, the kametz is used to provide emphasis on the word “I.” Another example of the use of the kametz in the word אני as a means of emphasizing the speaker is Psalms 89,28 אף-אני בכור אתנהו, “I will appoint him firstborn.”

ויאמר...במרמה, by making his hands appear hairy.

ויאמר, when Esau heard that his brother had used subterfuge to obtain the blessing by making his hands appear as if they were hairy, he said: הכי קרא שמו יעקב, “he was called the crooked one for good reason!” The letter ה at the beginning of the word הכי serves as confirmation of something, as if to say: “truly!” We find it used in a similar sense in Kings I 21,19 הרצחת וגם ירשת!, “ You not only murdered but meant to inherit!” Or, Numbers 20,10: המן הסלע הזה! “from this very rock!” Esau said that Yaakov had truly deserved the name they had given him at birth. Actually, the word יעקב has two connotations; one is connected to deviousness, deceit, as in Jeremiah 17,10 עקוב הלב , “the heart is full of deceit;” or, also from Jeremiah 9,3 כי כל אח עקוב יעקב, “every brother takes advantage.” On the other hand, the word also is derived from עקב, heel, not a negative connotation at all, but possibly a positive one, suggesting humility, modesty, the opposite of pushiness. Yaakov combined both qualities.

ויעקבני, he tricked me twice.

את בכורתי לקח, there is no greater type of craftiness than to exploit one’s brother’s hunger and fatigue and to buy his birthright for a dish of lentils. Now he has also taken my blessing by deceit.

הלא אצלת לי ברכה, “you have not even reserved a minor blessing for me!” You have given everything to him. How could that be?

ויען, concerning the exclamation that Yitzchok had not even reserved a small blessing for Esau, he answered: הן גביר שמתיו לך, ואת כל אחיו נתתי לו, seeing that I have appointed him as senior to you and to all his brothers, (compare verse 29) i.e. to Esau’s brothers (kin)

סמכתיו, I have appointed him as central, i.e. have decreed that all his family be close to him for all times (compare the word תסמכני in Psalms 51,14 ורוח נדיבה תסמכני, “let a vigorous spirit sustain me.” This can only be effective if all the relatives are close by. It is also possible that the meaning of the word סמכתיו is סעד, משען support of a financial and psychological type. If so, the prefix ב in the word סמכתיו would be missing, as if Yitzchok had said: ובדגן ותירוש, “and with corn and wine,” instead of ודגן ותירוש.

ולכה איפוא, as for you, now מה אעשה, what can I do? What kind of a blessing remains for you after all this? The formulation is similar to Isaiah 22,16 מה לך איפוא, “what have you here?”

ויאמר...אחת, can you not even grant me a blessing concerning any aspect of life which you have not given him?

ויען...הנה משמני הארץ, the earth which you will inherit and on which you will dwell will belong to the most productive areas of the earth, i.e. the Mountain of Seir.

ומטל השמים, your land will be rich and from above it will enjoy the dew from heaven so that this will be a blessing adequate to sustain you and will be also a blessing for him, seeing that his land will also be fruitful, productive.

ועל חרבך תחיה. This is the one blessing which will be exclusively yours, your ability to survive by means of your sword and the fear you will inspire in your enemies. They will fear your prowess in war.

ואת אחיך תעבוד, this too is a blessing as it is of benefit to you to serve your brother rather than to have to serve others.

והיה כאשר תריד, when the time comes when it is your turn to rule over him,

ופרקת עלו, and then you will not serve him as this (your shaking off his yoke) is his punishment for his sin

וישטום...יקרבו ימי אבל אבי, he wished fervently for the day of his father’s death which was expected soon as else why did he already bless his sons? He planned to kill Yaakov after the mourning period after his father would have passed. He did not ant to kill Yaakov while their father was still alive, so as not to be responsible for Yitzchok dying as a result of grief over having lost his son.

ויגד לרבקה, how did she get to know about Esau’s intentions which he had not articulated? It is possible that she experienced a prophetic revelation, seeing that she was a prophetess. (compare Rashi) It is also possible that what Esau had thought about doing, he inadvertently mentioned to someone so that the one who had heard him reported it to Rivkah.

מתנחם לך להרגך, he acts as if he is already consoling himself over the death of Yaakov. Or, the meaning of this phrase could be that Esau has made peace with his own death because he knows that at least he had first killed you. Once he has accomplished

ועתה..חרנה, she had heard that her brother had migrated from Ur Casdim to Charan.

וישבת...אחדים, a few; since the number אחד is the lowest of the numbers it is no more than natural to describe a small number in terms of a multiple of “one.”

עד שוב...גם שניכם, one to include the other. We find a similar construction of lumping two people together when they share a single common denominator [such as death in this verse. Ed.] in Genesis 43,8 גם אנחנו גם אתה, “both we and you,” where the wordגם introduces two entities instead of merely adding one to another, and Yehudah tells his father that sending Binyamin with him will result in both his father and the brothers and their families being spared death from famine. The rationale of אשכול שניכם יום אחד, is simply that the death of one of the brothers will inevitably be followed immediately by the death of the other.

ותאמר...מפני בנות חת, the ones referred to were only those whom Esau had married. Rivkah says that if Yaakov were to marry someone similar, it would be better that she would die now. She considered Yaakov as already single for too many years so that she asked Yitzchok to order him to go to her brother Lavan, thereby saving him both from the avenging sword of his brother and from the daughters of the Canaanites one of whom might want to marry him Once in the house of Lavan, Yaakov would either marry one of Lavan’s daughters or some other woman related to Rivkah.