“And [Yitzchok] said [to Eisav], ‘who, then, hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate from everything before you came, and I blessed him?” (B’reishis 27:33). After Yaakov brought food to Yitchok and received his blessing, Eisav showed up with the food he had hunted/prepared, expecting to be the one Yitzchok would bless. Initially puzzled, Yitzchok asked Eisav who had brought him food and received his blessing before he came, including the seemingly superfluous “and I ate from everything” in his query. Why did it matter that Yitzchok had already eaten if the point was that the blessing had already been given? More specifically, why did Yitzchok say he ate “from everything” rather than just saying he had already eaten? Also, why was the expression “before you came” stated at all? Wasn’t it obvious if Eisav is told that his father had already been served a meal that it had happened before he got there?

Rashi, apparently trying to explain why Yitzchok said he had eaten “from everything,” says that Yitzchok was telling Eisav that he was able to experience any and all kinds of tastes in the food he had eaten. While this may address the meaning of the word “mi’kol” (“from everything”), it doesn’t explain what such a statement adds. Why does it matter how good the food was, or that Yitzchok could taste whatever he wanted? It’s doubtful that he was trying to rub it in Eisav’s face, telling him that not only did someone else bring him food first, but that it was really, really good.

The word “mi’kol” is given special significance in our literature. The Talmud (Bava Basra 17a) tells us that all three of our forefathers were able to get a taste of the next world in this world, as regarding Avraham it says “ba’kol” (“with everything”), regarding Yitzchok it says “mi’kol,” and regarding Yaakov it says “kol.” The words “ba’kol,” “mi’kol” and “kol,” the Talmud continues, also teach us that our forefathers were free from Satan’s influence, did not die at the hands of the Angel of Death, and that their corpses were not eaten by worms (as opposed to almost every other corpse). These three words (“ba’kol,” mi’kol” and “kol”) are referenced whenever we bless/thank G-d after eating a meal, as we ask Him to bless us (and others who helped us with the meal) the same way He blessed our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov; “ba’kol, mi’kol, kol.” However, the word “mi’kol,” at first glance, doesn’t seem to belong in the same category as “ba’kol” and “kol,” as its context (the meal Yitzchok ate) is rather mundane, especially when compared with the contexts of the words “ba’kol” and “kol.” We are told (B’reishis 24:1) that “G-d blessed Avraham with everything,” which certainly implies a full and complete blessing that encompasses everything. Yaakov told Eisav he didn’t want his massive gift back, as he has “everything” (33:11), so doesn’t need it, which also implies having everything he needs for a full and complete spiritual existence. How does Yitzchok being able to taste whatever he wanted in the food Yaakov served imply anything similar? (I enjoy a good steak as much as, or perhaps more than, the next guy, but that indicates little, if anything, about my ability to pay all my bills or about my spiritual status.)

One of the focal questions asked about Yitzchok’s blessing is why he wanted to bless the wicked Eisav rather than the righteous Yaakov. He certainly knew that Yaakov frequently attributed things to G-d while Eisav didn’t (see Rashi on 27:21), and that Yaakov was more courteous than Eisav (see Rashi on 27:22). He was aware that Eisav had intermarried (26:34-35) and that he had even refused to be circumcised (see Tosfos on 25:25). Besides, if Avraham lost five years of his life to avoid having to see Eisav’s wickedness (see Rashi on 25:30), Yitzchok must have seen it firsthand! As I have previously explained (seehttp://rabbidmk.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/parashas-toldos-5773/), Yitzchok knew all along that Yaakov would take over the spiritual needs of the family’s mission, with his descendants fulfilling the roles of the Kohanim and Levi’im, but thought that Eisav was better suited to take care of its physical needs, including supporting Yaakov’s descendants. [The Midrash (Shir HaShirim Zuta 1:15) phrases it as Kohanim descending from Yaakov, and kings, who take care of the societal structure needed for Kohanim to flourish, from Eisav.] The blessing itself (27:28-29) was only for material things, which was precisely what Eisav would have needed to fulfill the role Yitzchok had hoped he would have (as opposed to the blessing Yitzchok had inherited from Avraham, which Yitzchok gave over to Yaakov before he left for Charan, see 28:4). Unfortunately, Eisav wanted no part of the family’s spiritual mission; he only wanted Yitzchok’s blessing for the material wealth it would bring him. Realizing this, Rivka had Yaakov bring the food Eisav was asked to prepare to Yitzchok so that Yaakov would receive the blessings for material wealth instead of Eisav, thereby ensuring that the nation that the family would grow into would have their physical needs taken care of.

One of the reasons Yitzchok thought Eisav could fulfill the “Z’vulun” role, supporting Yaakov’s “Yisachar” role, was the benefit he himself had received through Eisav’s hunting skills (see 25:28); just as Eisav, through his extreme fulfillment of honoring his father, had helped facilitate Yitzchok’s continued spiritual growth, so too (Yitzchok thought, and hoped) could he support Yaakov’s spiritual growth. Therefore, as a prerequisite for giving Eisav the blessings of physical prosperity, Yitzchok had him prepare a sumptuous meal for him, hoping to be able to sense an increased level of spirituality through Eisav’s physical support. And, lo and behold, after eating the meal he thought Eisav had provided, Yitzchok was able to “taste whatever he wanted to taste,” i.e. he was able to sense that the person who had brought him the meal was the one to whom the blessings for material wealth should be given, as through him the spiritual mission would be physically supported.

When Eisav showed up, after Yitzchok had already experienced “tasting everything,” Yitzchok realized that he had been mistaken, and Eisav would have no part in the family’s mission. [When Eisav asked if there was any blessing left for him (27:36), Yitzchok thought he was asking if there was any way he could still be part of that mission, so he responded that there was nothing left to give him. After realizing that Eisav only wanted a blessing so that he could be rich, not because he wanted to support the family’s spiritual mission, Yitzchok gave him such a blessing.] It was precisely because Yitzchok was able to “eat from everything” i.e. sense the physical and spiritual benefit the person who brought him the meal could provide, “before you arrived,” i.e. even without Eisav’s help, that he knew that “he (the one who had brought him the food earlier) will be blessed,” i.e. even the blessing for material wealth was appropriately given to him and not to Eisav.

The only way Yitzchok could know that he was able to “taste everything,” both the spiritual value and the physical value inherent in what Yaakov had brought him, is if he had already experienced “everything” beforehand. (How can anyone know if a Coke Slurpee really tastes like Coke without ever having had any Coca-Cola to compare it too?) Therefore, by telling Eisav that he had eaten “from everything” (“mi’kol”), we know that Yitzchok had experienced “everything,” and could take his place alongside Avraham’s “ba’kol” and Yaakov’s “kol.”