Being Thankful for Our Senses
Sermon, November 24, 2006
Rabbi Bruce Kadden

What would you do if all of a sudden you lost the use of one of your senses?  What would you do if one day you woke up and could not see or could not hear?  It is a frightening thought, but it is something that happens to people every day.  And, according to this week’s Torah portion, it happened to the Patriarch, Isaac.

“When Isaac became old, his eyes grew dim from seeing,” the text says (Genesis 27:1).  Although the Torah does not explain the reason for Isaac’s loss of vision, the rabbis offer a number of suggestions.  A couple of sources connect his blindness to the akedah, when he was bound on the altar by his father.  According to one, while bound he looked at the Divine Presence, which cause him to lose his sight; according to another, tears from the ministering angels fell into his eyes, causing them to grow dim.

One passage suggests that Isaac asked for suffering, pointing out to God that one who dies without suffering is held to a strict sense of justice in the next world, whereas one who suffers in this world is judged with more mercy. 

Many of the sources relate Isaac’s loss of sight to his love for Esau.  For example, one states that he was punished based on the proverb, “One who justifies the wicked…is an abomination to God” (Proverbs 17:15).  Another explains that he had accepted a bribe from Esau and, according to the Torah, “a bribe will blind the eyes of the wise” (Deuteronomy 16:19).  And other accounts attribute his blindness to the fact that Esau was wicked.  You get the feeling that the rabbis did not care much for Esau.

Whatever the reason for Isaac’s loss of vision, it plays a key role in the story of Isaac blessing his sons.  As he approaches death, he realizes that it is time to offer a blessing to Esau, his first-born.  So he sends him off to hunt some game and prepare a tasty dish that two would enjoy as part of the ritual meal that would accompany the blessing.

Isaac’s wife, Rebecca, however, has other ideas.  She convinces her favorite son, Jacob, to dress up as Esau, and receive the blessing that Isaac is to bestow on the son who will carry on the covenant with God.  Despite his reluctance, Jacob follows Rebecca’s advice and approaches his father, pretending to be Esau.

Jacob is immediately suspicious.  “Which son of mine are you?” he inquires.  When Jacob says he is Esau, Isaac asks, “How is it that you were able to find game so quickly, my son?”

Jacob replies that God caused it to happen.  But Isaac is still not convinced.  He asks his so to come closer so that he can touch him.  Fortunately, Jacob is wearing hair skins.  “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau,” he states, obviously still confused about the true identity of son before him.

Once again he asks if he is really Esau, and when he answers in the affirmative, he asks him to bring the dish of food which Rebecca has carefully prepared in the same way that Esau would.  After eating, and drinking a little wine, Isaac asks his son to come near and kiss him, allowing him to smell his garments.  “See, my son’s scent is like the scent of a filed blessed by God,” Isaac remarks, and then, finally, blesses him.

This long process has led some commentators to suggest that Isaac knew that he was offering the blessing to Jacob, rather than Esau.  They suggest that he could not bring himself to tell Esau directly that he would not be receiving the special blessing, so he goes along with the ruse perpetrated by Jacob and Rebecca. 

Isaac may or may not realize that he is doing, but what is most remarkable is how he handles his loss of vision.  He does not complain or get angry; at least there is not suggestion of these responses either in the Torah or midrash.  He does not give up and die; rather, he goes on with his life.  And in so doing, he makes up for his loss of vision by using each of his other senses.

He listens carefully and concludes that the “voice is the voice of Jacob.”  He feels his son’s hands and concludes that they are “the hands of Esau.”  He tastes his son’s food and smells his son’s clothes and only then offers his blessing.  He doesn’t allow his lack of vision to deter him from his efforts to determine the identity of his son.  He still can hear and touch and taste and smell.

What a wonderful lesson that is to each of us.  Most of us are fortunately enough to have the use of all of our senses; our vision or hearing might not be what it once was, but we are still blessed with being able to see and hear and touch and smell and taste.  And even if one of our senses goes, we have the others.

My grandmother was almost completely deaf in her elder years.  The first time I took Barbara to visit her, I slammed the door after we entered her house.  Barbara looked at me as if to say, “what did you do that for?” until I explained that my grandmother was able to feel the vibrations and sense that someone was there, so we did not scare her.  She never let her loss of hearing interfere with living independently for a number of years after my grandfather passed away.

On this Thanksgiving weekend, we have much for which to be thankful.  The story of Isaac reminds us to be especially thankful for each of our senses, to be grateful for the gifts of our senses, to appreciate each of them, to recognize they are a blessing and to utilize them to our fullest. 

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