Crazy Choices and Second Chances

Rabbi Joel Fleekop

Saturday, November 21, 2009

This past Sunday evening, during a nationally televised football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots, made a decision to for it on 4th and 2. While going for it on 4th down instead of punting is risky, it is not really all that unusual. But this decision was. You see, the Patriots had the ball on their own 28 yard line — not the part of the field where you want to give the other team the ball. And there was only 2:08 left to play. Oh, most importantly, the Patriots were leading by 6 points.

For those who don’t know, the Patriots went for it on fourth down and didn’t make it. The Colts took over with great field position and with only seconds left scored the game-winning touchdown.

Belichick’s decision to go for the first down instead of punting was, to put it mildly, controversial. A more accurate description might be reckless. All week long the discussion on talk radio has focused not on whether it was a crazy decision, but rather whether it was the craziest decision in the history of the league.

In this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Toldot, the patriarch Isaac makes what is considered, by at least his wife Rebecca and son Jacob, to be a pretty foolish decision as well. The decision, of course, is Isaac choosing to give his blessing to the brutish Esau. As Michelle described earlier, Rebecca and Jacob go to great lengths — resorting to trickery — to keep Isaac’s plan from being carried out.

But why would Isaac make such a choice in the first place? In the press conference following Sunday’s loss, Patriot’s coach Bill Belichick justified his unusual decision by saying he though going for it on fourth down gave his team the best chance to win. Did Isaac truly believe that Esau gave the family its best chance for success? Did he really think Esau was the one to carry forward the covenant God made with Abraham?

The great sages of our tradition asked these same questions. Many of the answers they came up with center around the description of Isaac found in Genesis 27:1. There we read, Vayehi Ki Zaken Yitzchak VaTich-henah aynav marot — “when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see”

Read for the p’shat or simple meaning, this verse appears to describe the physical deterioration of Isaac’s eyesight. But the rabbis understand it as an allusion to Isaac’s blindness when it came to judging Esau’s true character.

The fifteenth century Sephardic sage, Don Isaac Abrabanel teaches the patriarch was blinded by affection. Whether his spiritual vision was obscured by his love for Esau, or the blinding affect of his love for the meat that the hunter Esau provided — as Genesis 26:28 declares, “Isaac loved Esau because he favored game” Isaac was, according to Abrabanel, unaware of his son’s poor choices and uncouth ways. As Abrabanel writes, “his powers of judgment grew dim and he was not able to see reality.”

The 19th century Lithuanian commentary, Hamidrash V’ehama’aseh offers a different reason for Isaac’s blindness to Esau’s poor character. Based on an early midrashic understanding that Isaac’s near sacrifice left him spiritually changed, the commentary explains, “Isaac’s purity of heart was so far removed from falsehood that he was unaware of its existence. It never occurred to him that it was possible for a person to be hypocritical. . . He was unable to discern iniquity in Esau’s behavior. This led, in his old age, to his gullibility and his believing that Esau was more deserving of blessing than Jacob.”

While interesting, explanations that rely on Isaac’s blindness to Esau’s true character face a flaw in logic. Just before Isaac summons Esau to prepare a meal and ready himself to receive the blessing, we learn of Isaac’s marriage to two Hittite women, marriages which the Torah tells us grieved both Rebecca and Isaac.

So if it wasn’t blindness that led Isaac to want to bless Esau, what was it?

According to the Kabbalist Hayyim Ibn Attar, Isaac wanted to bless his son Esau not because of what he could not see, but rather because of what he could. When Isaac looked at his son, he saw a man who was deeply flawed, but he also saw the spark of holiness that is present in every human being. So, according to Ibn Attar, he wished to bless Esau in hopes that the fatherly invocation of Divine blessing would help him mend his ways. Perhaps that is why Isaac sent Esau off to prepare a mealZ – so that he could begin a pattern of generous rather than selfish behavior.

As a result of the successful scheming of Jacob and Rebecca, there is no way of knowing if Isaac’s blessing — if Isaac’s expression and investment of love and support for Esau — would have really changed the ways of his eldest son. If our experience is any guide, the answer is most likely not.

But regardless of the efficacy of Isaac’s plan, his commitment to his imperfect son Esau is held up as an example. According to the Talmud, when God comes to judge the people of Israel, it is Isaac who is summoned on high to defend the Jews. Why Isaac, one of the most passive characters in the bible? Because, the Talmud teaches in Masechet Shabbat, Isaac kept faith with his flawed and rebellious son Esau, and so he can ask God to do the same with the flawed and rebellious children of Israel.

As we are reminded each High Holy Day season, with the annual call to the work of t’shuvah, Judaism believes in personal growth and change. Judaism affirms the ability of people to do better in the future than they have in the past.

Of course the corollary to this is that sometimes we have to go against reason and give people a chance – sometimes even a second and third chance so that they have the opportunity to be better.

In Midrash Genesis Rabbah the rabbis tell the story of God consulting with the angels prior to the creation of humanity. According to the legend, some of the angels – those representing love and righteousness argued in favor of the man’s creation. But the angels representing truth and peace spoke out in opposition – sighting the strife and dishonesty humanity would bring to the world.

As the story goes, the discussion got quite heated. So while the angels were distracted arguing with one another, God just went ahead and created human beings – even if reason might have suggested otherwise.

If they were polled, the angels might have thought God’s choice to create humanity was ill advised – perhaps a bit crazy. But I am sure glad God gave humans the benefit of the doubt. Let us follow in God’s footsteps, and those of our patriarch Isaac and give others the blessing of a second chance every once in a while – even if it makes people think we are a bit crazy ourselves.