Parashat Toldos

ויאמר יעקב אל אביו אנכי עשו בכרך עשיתי כאשר דברת אלי

בראשית כז:יט

ויאמר אתה זה בני עשו ויאמר אני

בראשית כז:כד

יעקב tricked his father in giving him the firstborn's blessing, which יצחק intended to bestow upon יעקב's older brother עשו.  Regardless of whether יעקב lied in the process of tricking his father, there is trickery involved here.

For some, this trickery raises moral quandaries.  In my view, a more practical quandary is raised:

אמר ליה זרעה חיטי ואזל הוא וזרעה שערי ואשתדוף רובא דבאגא ואשתדוף נמי הנך שערי דיליה מאי מי אמרינן דאמר ליה אילו זרעתה חיטי הוה נמי משתדפא או דלמא מצי אמר ליה אילו זרעתה חיטי הוה מקיים בי ותגזר אומר ויקם לך מסתברא דאמר ליה אי זרעתה חיטי הוה מקיים בי ותגזר אומר ויקם לך

מס' ב"מ, דף קו.

The גמרא in בבא מציעא presents an interesting case where one man (ראובן) hires another man (שמעון) to plant his (ראובן's) field with wheat.  שמעון instead plants barley.  The barley crop, along with much of the crops in the fields neighboring ראובן's field, is destroyed in blight.  The גמרא inquires as to whether שמעון must pay ראובן for the lost crops or whether ראובן must absorb the loss.  On one hand, שמעון can argue that no matter what he planted that crops would have been destroyed in the blight, so he caused no loss to ראובן.  שמעון's argument is strongly supported by the fact that the neighboring crops were similarly destroyed.  On the other hand, ראובן can argue that he specifically prayed for his wheat crop to succeed, and that his prayers would have protected his crop from the blight, but because שמעון planted barley instead of wheat, ראובן's prayers were not properly focused on the crops (which were actually barley and not wheat) and were therefore ineffective at protecting those crops from the blight.

The גמרא concludes that שמעון is at fault for planting barley since the barley was not protected by ראובן's prayers and had he planted wheat, it is possible that ראובן's crops would have been saved from the blight.

The גמרא's conclusion is built off a simple premise.  A misdirected prayer is ineffective.  In other words, if ראובן davens for his crops to succeed, but thinks his crops are wheat when they are actually barley, ראובן's prayers are ineffective.

Let's apply this principle to the blessings יצחק gave to יעקב.  יצחק attempts to bless עשו.  However, יצחק is unaware that he is actually blessing יעקב.  Based on the reasoning of the גמרא in בבא מציעא, one would expect that יצחק's prayer should be ineffective.  How then did יעקב steal עשו's blessing?

In order to understand the nature of a "mistaken prayer," we must look to another application of this principle, which appears during a battle between the Jews and עמלק towards the end of their journey through the desert.

זה עמלק . . . ושנה את לשונו לדבר בל' כנען כדי שיהיו ישראל מתפללים להקב"ה לתת כנענים בידם והם אינם כנענים ראו ישראל לבושיהם כלבושי עמלקים ולשונם לשון כנען אמרו נתפלל סתם שנאמר אם נתון תתן את העם הזה בידי

רש"י במדבר כא:א ד"ה יושב הנגב

In that battle, the Jews encountered a nation that wore the clothing of עמלק but spoke the language of כנען.  As such, the Jews did not know how to identify this nation in their prayers.  Therefore, instead of asking that ‘ה help them to defeat "עמלק" or to defeat "כנען," the Jews asked ‘ה to deliver "that nation" into their hands.  The vagueness of the Jews' prayers helped cover for any possible foe, and as such, the Jews' prayers were effective and their battle against "that nation" was victorious.

Which this in mind, it is worth noting that the blessings recited by יצחק never refer to either יעקב or עשו by name.  Generally, in the Torah, when a blessing is given (e.g., יעקב to his sons, Moshe to the tribes), the recipient of the blessing is identified by name.  Here, however, יצחק carefully leaves the recipient of his blessings nameless and vague:

ראה ריח בני כריח שדה . . . ויתן לך האלקים מטל השמים ומשמני הארץ . . . הוה גביר לאחיך וישתחוו לך בני אמך

בראשית כז:כז‑כט

יעקב could never trick his father into blessing the wrong son.  But יצחק could willfully choose to bestow a vague blessing on the strange "son" standing in front of him:

הקל קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו

בראשית כז:כב

The "son" standing in front of him wore the clothing of עשו and spoke the language of יעקב.  No blessing could be directed at "עשו" or at "יעקב."  So יצחק did the only practical thing, he blessed "that" son.

Whichever son it was,

גם ברוך יהיה

בראשית כז:לג