Toldos, Part 1: Yitzchak’s Eyes and the Kedushah of Not Seeing Evil

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. This week's parsha, Parshas Toldos, the Torah teaches us and tells us that Yitzchak Avinu, in his older age, became hard of seeing. He couldn't see. This is in perek chaf-zayin, pasuk aleph: Vayehi ki zaken Yitzchak, vatichhena einav me'ro'os. It was when Yitzchak became old, and his eyes became weak from seeing. Why is Yitzchak becoming blind, so to speak? And I use the word blind, even though we'll soon see if it was literally blind, that he couldn't see anything. Why was he becoming weak of sight? We don't find that Avraham became weak of sight, nor do we find that Yaakov became weak of sight. But Yitzchak. Yitzchak became blind. Why? So Rashi brings three pshatim, a condensation. He condenses three midrashim, three different midrashim, and explain why Yitzchak became blind. So the first pshat, the first reason that Rashi brings from a Midrash, he became blind because of the eshen, the smoke of the wives of Esav. He became blind because of the ashan of the wives of Esav. Matichena ba'ashnan shel eilu. They were doing avodah zarah in the home of Yitzchak. In the backyard they were doing barbecues, but not kosher barbecues. They were barbecuing for avodah zarah, and therefore there was a lot of smoke around the home, and Yitzchak got secondhand smoke in his eyes, for lack of a better term. He got secondhand smoke from avodah zarah. Good? You like it, secondhand smoke. Okay. Ba'ashnan shel eilu. A second pshat, davar acher, a second Midrash, that when he was put on the mizbeach and he was ready to be geshachten as a korban, the malachei hashares watched and they cried. V'hayu bochim. They were crying. The yaldu dimei seihem v'naflu al einav. The tears fell onto the eyes of Yitzchak, and he became blind. He became blind. A third pshat, davar acher, it's the third medrash, that this was a plan from the Rabbeinu Shleilam. It was planned in order he shouldn't be able to see and give the brachos to Yaakov instead of to give it to Esav. Why do the tears of malachei hashares make a person blind? It doesn't say clearly in the medrash. It just says that they cried, and the tears fell into his eyes, and those tears blinded him. So we could come and say that because the tears of the malachim are so heilig, they're so spiritual, and the human eye isn't capable, capable of handling it. You could say that, I mean, because a person also cries; he doesn't get blind. He doesn't get blind from tears. You could have to say that possibly because the tears of the malachim...

are so heilig, they're so pure, they're so kadosh, they can't be in the human eye, and they cause blindness. I've been bothered by this question for a very long time, for many years. Why would the Eibishter make that someone who was on the mizbeach as a korban, should get blind from it? The result of him being a kadosh, a korban, should walk away from it blind. Why? You know, they could have cried and didn't have to go on. They could have geared their tears to a different direction. It had to be mamish falling, and not only it fell on him, it fell on him into his eyes. And what would be so bad if it fell on him on his back? I mean, pashut pshat in the Medrash, all my life I've been bothered. Why? It's a good question. You hear the shayla? You hear the question? Why is it that the malachim are crying and those tears are falling and they're making him blind? Why are they making him blind? Why are malach's tears making someone blind? What's so much kedushah in it? Whatever it is, it's, I don't know. The Medrash is saying that it made him blind. And the second shayla that you have to ask is, so why was it directed to the eyes? They should have moved it a little to the side, a little more to the right, a little more to the left, and it would have went on his back. He had to become blind. For being a korban, for being on the akeidah on the mizbeach. Rabosai, I'll tell you what I think the pshat here is, yeah? It's a beautiful pshat. I was thinking about it for quite a while, and I came up with the understanding as follows. It's interesting that Rivka did not become blind. According to Rashi, that it has to do with the secondhand smoke from Avodah Zarah in the backyard, so why is Rivka not becoming blind? I'm saying, if it's so bad to have secondhand smoke, why does one guy get it and the guy sitting next to him doesn't get the consequence? It's a good question, huh? So you could come and say everybody's immune system is different. One person did become blind, one person didn't. You like the teretz? No, it's not a good teretz. The Baal HaTosafos asks this question. The Baal HaTosafos on the pasuk asks the question, why is it that Yitzchak becomes blind while Rivka didn't become blind? Why not? So he gives an interesting teretz, an interesting answer. Says the Medrash, v'yesh metartzim, that the reason why he became blind and she didn't become blind, l'fi shehaysah merugeles b'oshan avodah zarah b'veis aviha. She was already used to it. She was immune to it. The Tosafos, Baal HaTosafos, she was immune to it. It didn't affect her. Very interesting, huh? Didn't affect her whatsoever. You know what I'm thinking, rabosai? I'm thinking something very interesting. I found that the Baalei Tosfos ask a different question. Baalei Tosfos say, if you take a look in Medrash, it seems that Yitzchak was two years in Gan Eden. It's a Baalei Tosfos, here. Uktzas teima, according to the manda'amar that Yitzchak spent two years away from everything and everybody in Gan Eden, why didn't Gan Eden cure him? You hear the kasha? Why didn't the Gan Eden cure him? Answers Tosfos, v'tzarich iyun. I don't know. Gan Eden, it should have had the effect to cure him, and it didn't cure him. Now what does it mean, Gan Eden would cure him? We think that Gan Eden, maybe it means he went to the Swiss Alps for fresh air and to rejuvenate and recuperate. So how come he didn't recuperate in Gan Eden? I don't think it means that.

It means that there's something in Gan Eden, a kedusha, that should have been able to recoup. What's taka pshat that it didn't recuperate? Why taka didn't it recuperate? I would say, Rabbeisai, even though for some reason Taisvis doesn't answer this, so that leaves us with a question why Taisvis doesn't answer, but maybe we could say a teretz, because it wasn't a bad thing that he became blind. It was a good thing that he became blind. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't a machla. It wasn't something that he was sick, blind, and therefore the question is, why didn't Gan Eden cure him? The opposite. Maybe because he had this, he was able to even be in Gan Eden. And what do I mean? There's another Taisvis. Rashi quotes it in Parshas Vayeitzei, when the Rabbeinu Shleilam reveals himself to Yaakov by the dream, malachim olim v'yordim bo. The Rabbeinu Shleilam says to him that I am, Ani Hashem. What am I Hashem? Elokei Avraham Avicha v'Elokei Yitzchak. Ask the Rishonim a question. The Rabbeinu Shleilam never puts his name on a person if he's alive, because how could you ever guarantee he'll remain a tzaddik? So the Rabbeinu Shleilam doesn't put his stamp, his name, on a person unless the person passes away. And here... He says, Like Yitzchak, and Yitzchak was still alive. Answers Rashi, Tosafos, and the Rishonim that even though normally Hashem would not put His name on someone that's still alive, kan yichad shmo al Yitzchak, lefi shekahu einav u'kluya b'bayis. He was blind, and he was homebound. Kemeis. So therefore he was like a dead person. Vayeitzei hara pasak mimenu. The yetzer hara was taken away from him. The yetzer hara was taken away, and therefore the fact that he was blind and homebound, he's already a tzaddik for sure, to the point that we could, what, put the Ribono Shel Olam's name on the person. Maybe we could say that that's why HaKadosh Baruch Hu made him blind. Yitzchak was an עולה תמימה, he was a korban. He wasn't allowed to go out of Eretz Yisrael. He had to live a life of kedusha. Part of his kedusha was that he should become blind. And where did he become blind? From the Akedah. And what made him blind from the Akedah? The tears of the malachim. Not that it damaged his eyesight. The opposite. It made his eyesight holy. It made his eyesight that it was kadosh, that he shouldn't be able to see what was around him, and he should be homebound. And that's the teretz to the kasha: why didn't Gan Eden cure him? Because it wasn't bad, and it wasn't a machlah, chas v'shalom. It was a blindness. A blindness, blind to the bad of the world and to the svivah that was around him. And as a kadosh, as a korban, he needed to be able to be closed up, closed off, secured from what was going on around him. Yidden, is everyone with me with the teretz? You hear the teretz to the kasha? We ask a simple question. Yitzchak Avinu becomes blind. None of the other avos became blind. And the teretz is because Yitzchak was a korban. Yitzchak was a korban. And as a korban, he needed to be completely kadosh. His eyes were chosen not to see. And how did he not see? He didn't not see because they were sick. He didn't see because they were kadosh. And they were kadosh because of the tears, the malachim, the akeidah. And that's why Gan Eden doesn't...

Cure him, because the opposite. He wasn't sick. He wasn't sick. And the reason why he was given this eyes that don't see, so he should taka be bebayis, and that the Eibishter should be able to miyached Shmoi alav. And I think it's meduyak in the words of the pasuk. Come, rabosai, let's read the words of the pasuk. Vayehi ki zaken Yitzchak. Yitzchak gets old. Vatichena einav. His eyes get weak. So that's it. That's all the pasuk should have said. His eyes got weak. Vatichena. He got weak. No, it doesn't say got. He got weak from seeing. Mera'ot, from seeing. Just say he got weak. Couldn't see. He got blind. He got old. A person doesn't come blind from seeing. He becomes blind. And the Rishonim answer this question a little bit. If you look at the Rishonim, the Baalei HaTosafos, and I think the way we're learning pshat, everything is very meduyak. It's very exact. His weakness of his eyes wasn't because of weakness, but it was a weakness meira'os, to protect him from seeing. That's the pshat. He shouldn't see. He was so pure, the Eibishter wanted him not to see. You know, there's a story of the Chofetz Chaim, and because of this story I was nis'orer to say this pshat. My zeidy told me that the Chofetz Chaim, when he got older, he couldn't hear well. So the people around him suggested... Then you should get a hearing aid. Chofetz Chaim refused. He says, I don't want a hearing aid. Why? He says, My whole life I've been working not to hear. Hashem gave it to me. Hashem gave it to me. Baruch Hashem, I don't hear. Who wants to hear everything? Who needs to hear everything? The less you hear, the better off you are. The more pure your soul could be. So you want me to get a hearing aid to look, to find, to make it that I should hear more? Vatichenu eino meirois. He didn't get blind. You know, blind is a mum. It's a chisaron. Blind is not a—it's a bad thing to be blind. If it's so that Yitzchak was a korban, he should have been tamim, complete. Yitzchak's blindness, is that a sign of weakness? We find by Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu, when he died, it says he didn't become blind. He was fully intact with all his eivarim, with all his senses. Because, hayitachin if Moshe Rabbeinu was a complete person, he can't be blind, even though he got old, even though he was ready to die, he had to be complete. The pasuk stresses this about Moshe Rabbeinu at the end of Devarim. The Torah says that Moshe Rabbeinu was complete. Didn't lose his eyesight, because losing the eyesight is a bad sign. It's a sign that the person is not complete. You know the halacha is that a navi— Needs to be complete. The Rabbeinu Sholeilam will not put His Shechina to speak to a person b'nevuah if the person is not a complete person, he's not a shalem. The Rambam speaks about it. The opposite. The navi had to be strong and healthy and perfect in all his bodily functions and bodily parts, because HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not bestow His Shechina on a davar which is not shalem, which is not complete. So how is it that Yitzchak is blind? Does that a sign that he was not complete? And the answer is, what was his blindness? It wasn't a blindness that he couldn't read the Gemara. I know a lot of talmidei chachamim, they don't see anything, but they are able to learn. For some reason, they find a way how to see the Gemara. They say over from Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, zechut tzaddik livracha, that Rav Chaim Shmulevitz was hard of hearing at the end of his life, but for some reason, when it came to learning, to speaking and learning in Torah with others...

He had no problem. He was able to hear everything well. When it was something he wasn't interested in hearing, they even say it even funnier. They say that when a bachur would come to him and tell him that he wants to leave the yeshiva, Reb Chaim would say, What? I can't hear, I can't hear what he's saying. He would turn to his son and say, מה? What's he saying? I can't hear. But when you spoke to him in learning, for some reason he heard very well. That he heard good. It doesn't say he became blind. Does it say that Yitzchak became blind? He became hard, became difficult, weak, meira'os from seeing. Maybe we could call it selective seeing, okay? It wasn't a chisaron here; it was a מעלה. It wasn't that he was lacking something, because it's very difficult to say that the korban tamim—he was a korban, he was a sacrifice—he became damaged by the akeidah. He became damaged by the akeidah. And this is the question I asked you: does it make sense he should become blind because of an akeidah? He should have been rewarded by the akeidah. And the answer is, he was rewarded. You know, Chassidim have a very nice saying: There is nothing more complete than a broken heart. Yeah, but it's broken. It's not broken. It's humble. Blind? No. It doesn't say that he was blind. Latichena einav meiraos. The opposite, he saw well. He saw healthy. He didn't see the evil of the world around him. He didn't see all the bad things that could be a hindrance to his kedusha. Now we understand why the oshon, the oshon, the oshon, the smoke, why is it a problem for Yitzchak and it's not a problem for Rivka? Remember we asked the question, why is the smoke, it's causing problems to Yitzchak? Why doesn't it cause problems to Rivka? So we said from Taisvis that Rivka was used to it from her childhood. She grew up with it. She got used to it. She got used to it. She got used to it means she became desensitized, while Yitzchak's eyes were so pure. Yitzchak's eyes were kadosh because he had Akedah and because he had these tears of the malachim that made his eyes sensitive to kedusha. That's what made it sensitive also to the oshon, the oshon. Here, lo yafeh meod, rabosai. בוא, נבין מה שכתוב פה. יצחק, was a yafeh einayim. Talk about David. David was yafeh einayim. What does yafeh einayim mean? What, he had nice eyelashes? That's yafeh einayim. Yafeh einayim. What does it mean to have a beautiful eye? Avraham Avinu had an ayin tovah. What is a good eye? You know what a good eye is? Maybe being blind to the bad of the world is called a good eye. Maybe that's called an ayin tovah. Maybe that's called yafeh einayim. Healthy eyes! There's eyes that don't see everything so well. The less you see, the healthier and better off your eyesight is. Habeisai, today, unfortunately, they give us to see everything that's going on in the world and everything that's going on around us 24 hours a day. You'd be better off if you didn't see all of this. If it's arayot, for sure, Hashem yishmor. But even if it's not arayot, even if it's just machlokes and bad middot, who needs...

See all that. It desensitizes us. We become callous to bad things, machlokes. Rivka was a tremendous tzaddekes, yet what she saw in her house, the ashan of the avodah zarah, it affected her, to the point that it didn't affect her later to make her sensitive. Nu? Chazal, baalei hateishes, are telling us that it didn't affect her. Why not? Why didn't it affect her? The Torah says what? She got used to it. She got used to it. Yitzchak needed that his eyes should be closed from the world around him. And they were sensitive. And this sensitivity made it that the ashan, that the smoke of the avodah zarah of the wives of Esav, were difficult on his eyes. They were difficult on him. Desensitization. A person becomes desensitized, not sensitive to things that are in front of him, to things that are in front of him. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.