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PARASHAS TOLDOS: Pure Eyes

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וַיְהִי כִּי־זָקֵן יִצְחָק וַתִּכְהֶיןָ עֵינָיו מֵרְאֹת וַיִּקְרָא אֶת־עֵשָׂו בְּנוֹ הַגָּדֹל וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו בְּנִי וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו הִנֵּנִי׃

When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Here I am.” (BEREISHIS 27:1)




Yitzchok Avinu Loses His Eyesight

In Parashas Toldos, the Torah tells us that Yitzchak Avinu lost his eyesight in his old age. The posuk says, ‘Vayehi Ki Zokein Yitzchak Vatich'heno Einov Meire’os’. Why did this happen to Yitzchak, why was he going blind? This did not happen to Avraham or Yaakov!


Rashi brings three different midrashim explaining why he went blind. The first midrash explains that it was because of the smoke from the avodo zoro conducted by Eisav's wives. The second midrash is that when Yitzchak was on the mizbayach and was ready to be slaughtered as a korbon, the malochei hashoreis watched and cried. Their tears fell into the eyes of Yitzchak, and the holiness of these tears caused his blindness. The third explanation is that this was a plan from Hashem: Yitzchak's blindness would facilitate mixing up Yaakov and Eisav's brachos.

There are several questions one can ask about these midrashim.

Why would Hashem 'punish' Yitzchak with blindness as a result of his willing to be a korban? Secondly, the tears could have fallen in other places—e.g., near him, or on his back. Why were they directed specifically to his eyes?


The Ba'aleiHatosfos ask another question: Rivka did not go blind, even though she was also around the smoke from the avodo zoro. So why is there this difference for yitzchok? The midrash explains that Rivka was already immune to the smoke of avodo zoro because it was always around her when she was a child. The Ba'alei Hatosfos further asks about the midrash that says that Yitzchak was in Gan Eden away from everything for two years. Why did the kedusha of Gan Eden not cure him of his blindness? Tosfos answers, ‘I don’t know.’ However, this could testify to the fact that his blindness was not a sickness to be cured. It was not a bad thing; rather, it had a good and positive side. Furthermore, it is possible that this blindness was what enabled Yitzchak to be in Gan Eden.


There is another Tosfos that says that when Hashem revealed himself in Yaakov's dream, He says, ‘Ani Hashem Elokei Avraham Avicho Ve'elokei Yitzchak.’ Hashem never declares His Name on a person unless they have already passed away, since they could change. Here, Yitzchak was still alive, so why does Hashem put His Name adjoining that of Yitzchak? Rashi answers that even though this does not usually happen, Hashem could do this since Yitzchak was blind and homebound, ensuring the certainty of his tzidkus; the yetzerhara was taken away from him. This might be the reason why Hashem made him blind in the first place.


The Kedusha Of Yitzchok – A Spiritual Blindness

Yitzchak was an oloh temimo, a korban. He was not allowed to leave Eretz Yisroel and had to live a life of kedushah. Part of this kedushah was that he would become blind, and he became blind from the tears of the malochim, the kedushah of the akeida. It did not damage his eyesight but rather made it holy, obscuring anything unholy around him. It was not a bad thing; therefore, GanEden did not have to cure him. As a korban, he had to be insulated from tumoh around him, and this is the reason that neither of the other avos had to experience blindness: they were not korbanos.


Vayehi Ki Zokein Yitzchak Vatich'heno Einov Meire’os.’ Why does the posuk add the words Meire'os, from seeing, in this posuk? It seems redundant. The Rishonim answer that the weakness of his eyes was not a weakness in and of itself, but rather a weakness from bad, so that he would not see bad things. The Chofetz Chaim lost some of his hearing when he got older. When people suggested hearing aids, he said, ‘My entire life, I've been trying not to hear. Now Hashem gave me a present. The less you hear, the better it is for you!’


Blindness is a mum; it is generally a bad thing. However, if Yitzchak was a korban, he had to have been complete. When Moshe Rabenu was niftar, it says he had all his five senses. He was old, but they were still complete. The halacha is that a navi must be complete, otherwise they will never receive a nevuoh. They must be strong and sholeim in all their bodily parts. So how then is it that Yitzchak with his blindness was still a korbon?

This blindness was not blindness in the usual sense of the word; it was not physical blindness. R’ Chaim Shmulevitz was hard of hearing, but for some reason, he managed to perfectly hear Torah learning. This case could be similar. Yitzchak got a maileh: selective eyesight that would enable him to see only certain things. This was his reward from the akeida. Vatich'heno Meire'os—it became difficult for him to see certain things, evil things that would be a hindrance to his kedushah.


From here, we can understand why the smoke of the avodo zoro caused problems for Yitzchak and not for Rivka. Rivka literally became desensitized to it, while Yitzchak’s eyes were kodesh because of the akeida and the tears of the malochim, and therefore, Yitzchok could not tolerate the smoke.


Becoming Immune to the Tumah

There is a posuk that says that Yitzchak was ‘Yefeh Einayim.’ Dovid was also ‘Yefeh Einayim.’ What does this mean? Avraham had an ayin tovoh. Perhaps being blind to part of the world constitutes having a 'good eye'. In some matters, the less you see, the healthier your eyesight is. Nowadays, everything that is going on around the world is available to be seen 24 hours a day. This constant exposure desensitizes us! Rivka illustrates this; although she was a tremendous tzadekes, her constant exposure to avodo zoro growing up desensitized her even much later in life.


When Yaakov comes in to get the brachos, Yitzchak exclaims, ‘Re’ei Rayach B’ni Ke’rayach Hasodeh Asher Beracho Hashem,’ the smell of my son is like the smell of the field. Rashi says that this field refers to Gan Eden. Reb Yerucham explains that Yitzchak was able to pick up this feeling of Gan Eden. It’s amazing!

The ChovosHalevovos brings a story that Eliyahu Hanavi was traveling with another person and he passed a rotting animal carcass. The man accompanying Eliyahu Hanavi closed his nose with his fingers, commenting on the smell. Eliyahu Hanavi, on the other hand, mentioned the animal’s nice teeth. A few blocks later, they passed by a person, a sinner. Here, Eliyahu put his fingers on his nose, and the other person did not feel anything. Says R’ Yerucham, there are certain people who are only sensitive to the physical and not the ruchniyus—for both the good and the bad. When someone is pure, they will become attuned to spiritual senses.


The Scent of Gan Eden, the Mitzvos

Yitzchak Avinu was saying that his sense of smell was very strong, he was able to detect the smell of Gan Eden. What are the fruits of Gan Eden? Beautiful spices; herbs of tzedakah, emunah, and emmes, all different types of spiritual spices. Lots of people put flowers in front of their house to make a good scent. But to make a good-smelling home, fill it with chessed and tzedakah. Many people told me over the years that when they walked into my grandparents' home, there was a feeling there that could not be explained. This was obviously the ruchniyus atmosphere of chessed and shmiras haloshon. Yitzchak was on the one hand sensitive to the smoke of avodo zoro but also sensitive to the smell of Gan Eden.


There is a powerful story I heard from my grandfather about the Alter from Slabodka. Every morning, a bochur would bring hi