Crooked Blessings

It was incredible spending the day in Washington, DC, with almost 290,000 fellow Jews!

The Torah tells us the story of our Patriarch, Yitzchak, and how he wanted to pass on the blessings that he had received from his father to his oldest son, Eisav.

He requested Eisav to make him food, whereby the blessing on the food would draw down the blessings onto his son. Yitzchak’s wife, Rivka, overheard this exchange and hurried to prepare her other son, Yaakov, for this task. Preparing a hot meal and dressing him in furry clothes like his twin, Yaakov would now be ready to enter his father’s room and receive the blessings he rightfully deserved.

A big question arises when we read this story! Yitzchak wanted to give blessings to Eisav because he appeared righteous. Why didn’t Hashem just tell Yitzchak the truth, and therefore, Yaakov wouldn’t have to stoop to trickery to receive the blessings??

The answer is that, in many cases, the extra good things in life need to come into the world indirectly. The only way for it to have an everlasting effect is if it comes down in a hidden, crooked manner.

In order for the blessing to come down into this world, it couldn’t come down directly.

Whenever you’re in a difficult situation, you could ask yourself why you were put in that situation. But really, the only reason it seems so difficult is to get you to a higher and stronger place.

With the war going on now in Eretz Yisrael, it’s very important to remember that as much as war is hard, bad, and painful, we will overcome it and get to a much higher situation than before.

Wishing you all a peaceful and strengthening Shabbat!

Candle lighting time in NYC is at 4:18 PM.