Game in His Mouth: Raising the Sparks
Bereishis 25:28
וַיֶּאֱהַב יִצְחָק אֶת־עֵשָׂו כִּי־צַיִד בְּפִיו וְרִבְקָה אֹהֶבֶת אֶת־יַעֲקֹב
Yitzchak loved Esav, for game was in his mouth; and Rivkah loves Yaakov.
10“Yitzchak loved Esav, for game was in his mouth.” A tzaddik's delight is to raise the sparks of holiness trapped in the kelipos, the husks that hide holiness.1 The word for “trapped,” nitzodu, comes from the same root as tzayid, “game.” How does he raise them? Through his Torah and his prayer, which are in the mouth. That is “for game was in his mouth”: with his own mouth the tzaddik brings the sparks out. And that is why “Yitzchak loved Esav”: in Esav's root there were trapped sparks, among them the souls of Shemaya and Avtalyon and the soul of R' Meir,2 and many more sparks [still to come out] until the days of Moshiach.
וַיֶּאֱהַב יִצְחָק אֶת עֵשָׂו כִּי צַיִד בְּפִיו (בראשית כה, כח). פֵּירוּשׁ, כִּי צַדִּיק הַתַּעֲנוּג שֶׁלּוֹ מֵעֲלִיּוֹת נְצוּצוֹת שֶׁמַּעֲלֶה הַנְּצוּצוֹת אֲשֶׁר נִצּוֹדוּ בַּקְּלִיפּוֹת וּבְמַה הוּא מַעֲלֶה אוֹתָם בַּתּוֹרָה וּבִתְפִלָּה שֶׁלּוֹ שֶׁהִיא בַּפֶּה. וְזֶהוּ כִּי צַיִד בְּפִיו, בְּפִיו שֶׁלּוֹ מוֹצִיא הַנְּצוּצוֹת. וְזֶהוּ וַיֶּאֱהַב יִצְחָק אֶת עֵשָׂו, כִּי בְּשׁוֹרֶשׁ עֵשָׂו הָיָה נְצוּצוֹת אֲשֶׁר נִיצּוֹדוּ שָׁם, דְּהַיְינוּ נִשְׁמַת שְׁמַעְיָה וְאַבְטַלְיוֹן וְנִשְׁמַת רַבִּי מֵאִיר וְכֵן כַּמָּה נְצוּצוֹת עַד יְמוֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ:
- In the teaching of the Arizal, sparks of holiness fell into the kelipos, and the service of the tzaddikim raises them. ↩
- Chazal teach that Shemaya and Avtalyon descended from Sancheriv (Gittin 57b), and that R' Meir descended from the Roman emperor Nero, who converted (Gittin 56a). ↩
In shortA tzaddik raises trapped sparks through the Torah and prayer of his mouth; Yitzchak loved Esav for the sparks in his root, among them the souls of Shemaya, Avtalyon and R' Meir.
Takeaway
Our mouths do holy work: every word of Torah and prayer can free sparks of holiness from the places where they are trapped. That is the delight of a tzaddik, and it can become our delight too, each time we learn or pray.
Learn this in the merit of Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. His yahrzeit and life ›
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English translation, notes and summaries © Zechusam.