YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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READING MIDRASH
By Rav Ezra Bick

Shiur#: 19: Yitzchak's Blindness

Today we begin an examination of midrashim that deal with the life of Yitzchak.  We begin, not from the beginning of Yitzchak's life, but with a midrash taken from the end, which deals, however, with a significant facet of his life.  Yitzchak, as we know, is blind.  This fact is important in explaining how Yaacov is able to fool him.  The midrash, however, wants to know why Yitzchak is blind.

"And his eyes were weak from seeing."
R. Elazar b. Azaria said: from seeing evil.  From seeing the evil of the evil one.  God said: Yitzchak will go out to the market and strangers will say: There goes the father of that evil man?  Better that I weaken his eyes and he will sit in his house. This is what is written, "when evil ones arise, a man should hide" (Prov. 28).  This is the source of what is said, "one who bears an evil son or raises evil students, his eyes shall become weak."

Another explanation.  "From seeing" - by virtue of that sight.  At the time that Avraham our father bound his son on the altar, the angels cried.  This is what is written, "Lo the mighty cried" (Is. 33). And tears from their eyes dripped into his eyes and left impressions in his eyes, and when he grew old his eyes weakened, as is written, "and when Yitzchak became old his eyes were weak."

Another explanation. "From seeing" - by virtue of that sight. At the time that Avraham our father bound his son on the altar, he looked up at the heavens and peered at the Presence....  And when he grew old his eyes were weakened. (65,10)

There are three different explanations here for the blindness of Yitzchak.  Let's begin from the last two, both of which connect his blindness to the akeida.  The first explains Yitzchak's blindness as a result of angelic tears searing his eyes.  The second explains Yitzchak's blindness as a consequence of his having beheld the holy Presence.  What do these midrashim mean?  What is the connection between angelic tears or the perception of the holy Presence and blindness?

A. Akeida-blind

In the last shiur, I suggested that the angels crying signifies the objective sadness of the akeida.  When angels cry, the whole world cries.  The angels are straightforward, rational beings. The idea that a father could be commanded to sacrifice his son horrifies them, as indeed it horrifies and shocks objective morality. The meaning of angels' tears searing Yitzchak's eyes is that Yitzchak was psychologically burned by the tragic and emotionally painful experience of the akeida.  What sort of blindness would be affected by this experience?  Not, I think, necessarily a physical blindness, but rather a different sort of mental blindness that afflicted Yitzchak.  Yitzchak was unable to distinguish between his worthy son, Yaacov, and his wicked, undeserving son Eisav.  This is a kind of blindness within Yitzchak's personality.  The midrash is suggesting that the experience, the traumatic experience, of having his father raise a knife above his throat while he was bound on the altar, has left Yitzchak unable to reject one of his own sons.  Although Yitzchak agreed to participate in the akeida, and although the midrash is not criticizing the morality of the akeida, nevertheless the emotional trauma has left a permanent mark on Yitzchak's personality.  When Yitzchak is bound helpless on his back, he looks up at his father above him, and he feels the infinite sadness of the heavens weeping. After that, can Yitzchak be expected to condemn one of his own children, and exclude him from the community of Israel? Yitzchak's blindness is a kind of radical non-discrimination, of non-differentiating love.  When it comes to his own children, since he cannot sacrifice one, he is blind to their real nature.

The last midrash connects his blindness to a different visual experience at the time of the akeida, a vision of the holy Presence that Yitzchak achieved while looking upward.  What is the connection between a vision of the divine and physical blindness?  The answer to this question is rooted in understanding Yitzchak's character.  Yitzchak is described earlier in the parasha as a "the dweller of tents." He not only fails to understand his children; he is generally uninvolved in worldly affairs. In fact, we know practically nothing about the incidents of Yitzchak's life, which is due, I suggest, to the fact that there was not much to tell. Consequent to the akeida, Yitzchak is characterized by the Sages as an "unblemished offering," which is used to explain why he is not permitted to leave the land of Israel. 

"Live in THIS land" (Bereishit 26,3).
R. Hoshaiya said: You are an unblemished offering. Just as an unblemished offering is disqualified if it exits the boundaries (of the Temple environs), so too if you leave the land of Israel you will be disqualified. (64,3).

The comparison to the Temple sacrifice makes the status of Yitzchak quite clear. He lives within the bounds of sanctity, not able to descend to the mundane or secular. The introduction to the midrash I just quoted makes that quite clear.

"Dwell in the land" (ibid) - Dwell ("shkhon") with the Presence ("shekhina").

Yitzchak literally dwells with God, and this is somehow a derivative of the akeida experience. Now this could be interpreted as a halakhic status, like the sacrifice to which he is compared. I think that our midrash, however, is giving it a psycho-anthropological interpretation. Yitzchak's personality is introspective, contemplative, and even hermetic. His head and soul are bound up with the Presence of God in a way that does not permit him to engage in mundane pursuits. His life is uneventful, in the outward sense, with none of the travels, struggles, wars, and adventures which characterize both Avraham and Yaacov. To this our midrash adds that he is blind. Once again this is meant to explain his lack of discrimination between Yaacov and Eisav, as well as his inability to distinguish between the disguised Yaacov and the real Eisav. Yaacov is not a man of the world. He is what is called in Yiddish a "luftmentsch," a man whose head is in the heavens. Understanding Eisav's deceit, or Yaacov's dissembling, is beyond him, not because he lacks intelligence, but because his eyes are so firmly bound elsewhere.

Why? Why is this Yitzchak's personality, in such an extreme manner? Because, when bound on the altar at the akeida, he looked up and his gaze pierced the veil of heaven and beheld the holy Shekhina. That experience took him out of the world. He had beheld the mystic vision and the world no longer was attractive enough to command his attention. Here it is not the sorrow of the akeida which seers Yitzchak's soul, but the intensity and power of the communion with God at the moment, the total dedication which the akeida exemplified. This inwardness is a kind of blindness, blindness to the matters of this world, a blindness that is the direct result of the keenness of vision aimed in a different direction.

Both of these midrashim are interpreting Yitzchak's blindness metaphorically, or, to be more exact, they explain that Yitzchak's physical blindness is an outward manifestation of an inner blindness. Both interpretations are trying to explain why Yitzchak was blind to the differences between his sons, and both see the root of the psychological trait that lies behind Yitzchak's lack of perception in the akeida. Both basically are describing the same trait, but the first is limited to Yitzchak's acuity in regard to his children, whereas the second sees this as merely one example of a general detachment from the mundane world in favor of an intense preoccupation with the Divine.

I think it is obvious that we are not being called upon to see this description of Yitzchak unfavorably. There is not a hint of criticism in the midrash, which is not describing a choice of Yitzchak but an overwhelming impression left by one of the most spiritually exalted incidents of human history. On the contrary, the midrash stresses the differences between Yitzchak and the other avot in order to remind us that there are THREE different avot, for the totality of the religious personality embedded in Israel is composed of different, and to some extent contradictory, personality types. One of the most basic distinctions in the history of values is that between this-worldly and other-worldly personalities (to use the terms coined by Lovejoy in "The Great Chain of Being"). There is a religious ideal of total absorption in the world of heaven, in contemplation of the Divine, to the extent that this world appears pale and unreal, an ideal extolled, for example, in the final sections of "Chovat Ha-levavot." This ideal is a necessary component in the makeup of the Jewish people, the people of God, to the same extent that the intense involvement in this world, in trying to make it better, that characterized Avraham's life, is a necessary component of the Jewish religious personality. Yaacov, as we shall hopefully see in a future shiur, represents a different personality from both of his forebears. Each father contributes a different strand of religious ideal and therefore they are three fathers of the children, of Israel.

B. When Evil Ones Arise, A Man Should Hide

	Now let us return to the first midrashic explanation. Yitzchak is blind because God wishes him to stay at home. While the midrash seems to present this phenomenon as a blessing for Yitzchak, sparing him the shame of people pointing him out as the father of the wicked Eisav, it seems clear from the maxim at the end that there is also an element of a mark of shame, of something very akin to punishment. This midrash would therefore appear to be blaming Yitzchak in some manner for the way Eisav turned out.

	Now, you will ask, if this is so, where is at least a hint of what is being criticized? How is Yitzchak responsible for Eisav's wicked ways? The answer, I think, although I cannot actually prove this, is found, in context, by contrasting this midrash to the following two which we have already discussed. Here Yitzchak's physical blindness is not an outward reflection of his inner lack of discrimination, but is the result of it, an outward sign of where he has failed. If one has raised a wicked son or a wicked disciple, the reason is because the proper education and upbringing has not been provided. Why would this happen, when dealing with professional educators and righteous parents? The answer is in the failure to give each child the direction that is appropriate to him; in other words, in the lack of discrimination and discernment necessary to "educate the youth according to his way." Blindness is the appropriate result of mis-education, which is based on a kind of blindness in judging each child individually. This midrash does not explain why Yitzchak is blind to his children's characters, but it does ultimately connect that blindness with his being fooled by Yaacov, through the instrument of the physical blindness that is a result of the psychological blindness.

	It must also be noted that this midrash also supplies an explanation for the aforementioned seclusion of Yitzchak from matters of the world. Yitzchak is a recluse as a result of his blindness, which shields him from other people. Once again, the midrash is giving us a basic insight into Yitzchak's character, which, for one reason or another, is inward-directed, leaving him with a concentration of spirituality at the cost of practicality and involvement with worldly matters.

C. Wives

	There is another midrash quoted by Rashi to explain Yitzchak's blindness, which connects it to the previous verse, where Eisav marries wives from the local Canaanite population. The verse states that these wives were a cause of displeasure ("morat ruach") for Yitzchak and Rivka.

R. Elazar said: A great man had a beautiful mansion, and his neighbors would burn straw and the smoke would come in to his window. He went ahead and closed up the window. 
So, the wives of Eisav would worship idols and Yitzchak saw and was pained. Immediately, his eyes became weak. (Yalkut Shimoni 114).

	This midrash is similar to the first one in the Midrash Rabba. Yitzchak is blind because of the sins of Eisav (or his wives). But there is a significant difference. Here there is no suggestion of a punishment. Rather, the sight of sin, so close to his own home, is painful to Yitzchak, as the verse had made clear. Blindness is a refuge from aggravation. 

	If we insist on an exact parallel to the parable of the rich man and his smoking neighbors, we would conclude that Yitzchak "closed the window" himself. This would mean that, psychologically, Yitzchak protected himself from the pain of having idolatry in his own home by simply not seeing it. Under normal conditions, we would interpret this as a pathological retreat from reality, but in Yitzchak's case, the midrash is indicating the extreme delicacy and refinement of Yitzchak's type of religiosity. The "unblemished sacrifice" can bear no defect; the very sight of idolatry is too painful to bear. The midrash makes this clear.

"They (the wives of Eisav) were a displeasure to Yitzchak and Rivka."
Why is Yitzchak mentioned first? Because Rivka was the daughter of an idolater, she was not so sensitive to idolatry, but Yitzchak, who was the son of holiness, was sensitive to idolatry. (Yalkut Shimoni 113).

D. Bribes

	One final midrashic approach to Yitzchak's blindness, this time an ethical one.

R. Yitzchak said: "Who justify the wicked in return for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous" (Is. 5,23).
One who takes a bribe in order to justify the wicked - this is Yitzchak -  because he justified the wicked his eyes became weak.  (Yalkut Shimoni 113)

	There is no question that this midrash is critical. The bribe referred to is the request of Yitzchak that Eisav bring him a delicious meal before he would bless him. Presumably, the midrash sees this as a typical conduct of Yitzchak and Eisav. The Torah states that "a bribe will blind the eyes of the righteous." Yitzchak's dependence on Eisav has blinded him to his true character. By calling this a bribe, the midrash clearly infers that the situation borders on the criminal. Indeed, the proof text from Yeshayahu states that the result of taking a bribe will be that "righteousness is taken from the righteous." The midrash did not state this outright, but leaves us to contemplate what this says about Yitzchak. 

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The next shiur will be after Pesach. Chag kasher ve-sameach.