Tanach · Acharonim on Tanach · Or HaChaim · Torah
Or HaChaim on Genesis 27:29/אור החיים על בראשית כ״ז:כ״ט
איַעַבְדוּךָ וגו׳. אוּלַי כִּי הַמֶּלֶךְ לֹא יַעֲלֶה מַס הַנּוֹגֵעַ לוֹ בֵּין הָעָם, וְכַדּוֹמֶה לָזֶה יִמָּצֵא בִּזְמַן שֶׁיִּשְׂרָאֵל מְשֻׁעְבָּדִים לְאֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, הַמְּלָכִים שֶׁבָּהֶם שֶׁהֵם בַּעֲלֵי תּוֹרָה פְּטוּרִים מֵהַמַּס (עזרא ז:כד). וּמַה שֶׁאָמַר אַחַר כָּךְ (בראשית כז:מ) ״וְאֶת אָחִיךָ תַּעֲבֹד״ וְהוּא הָיָה מֶלֶךְ, חוֹזֵר אֶל בְּנֵי עֵשָׂו.
1 יעבדוך עמים וגו׳. "Nations will serve you, etc." This might mean that the king would not impose on the people the taxes due him. We find that even when the second Jewish commonwealth was still a satellite of the Persians, their leaders, i.e. their Torah scholars were exempt from taxes as we know from Ezra, 7,24. When verse 40 continues "and you will serve your brother," this refers to a descendant of Esau when the latter had become king.
בהֱוֵה גְבִיר לְאַחֶיךָ. פֵּירוּשׁ, אָחִיו מַמָּשׁ לֹא יִהְיֶה לוֹ לְעֶבֶד, אֶלָּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה הוּא גְּבִיר לוֹ, אֲבָל הַבָּאִים אַחֲרָיו יִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לוֹ, וְהוּא אָמְרוֹ וְיִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְךָ בְּנֵי אִמֶּךָ:
2הוה גביר לאחיך. "Be your brother's superior;" This refers to Esau personally, i.e. that Esau himself will never become Jacob's servant, as opposed to some of his descendants to whom the words וישתחוו לך בני אמך, "your mother's sons will bow down to you" will apply.
געוֹד יִרְצֶה שֶׁיִּהְיֶה הוּא מִתְגַּבֵּר עָלָיו בְּאֶמְצָעוּת עֲבוֹדַת הַקֹּדֶשׁ, אָז יִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לוֹ בְּנֵי וְגוֹ׳, כִּי זוּלַת זֶה לֹא יִשְׁתַּעְבֵּד אָח לְאָחִיו, וְלָזֶה תִּמְצָא כִּי בִּמְעַט הִתְרַשְּׁלוּת שֶׁהָיוּ מִתְרַשְּׁלִים יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּעֲבוֹדַת ה׳, תֵּכֶף וּמִיָּד (מלכים ב ח:כב) וַיִּפְשַׁע אֱדוֹם:
3Another meaning contained in the blessing may be that as long as Jacob will exercise his dominion over Esau by serving the Lord in holiness, the blessing would remain in effect; were he not to do so, one brother could never become a servant to another brother. Should Jacob (or his descendants) fail to serve the Lord, Esau would assume dominion over him. This is why we find that even a relatively mild dereliction of duty towards G'd by the kingdom of Yehudah led to Edom recovering politically (Kings II 8,22).
דאֹרְרֶיךָ וְגוֹ׳ וּמְבָרְכֶיךָ וְגוֹ׳. פֵּרוּשׁ: אוֹרְרֶיךָ לֶעָתִיד אָרוּר הוּא מֵעַכְשָׁיו וְלֹא יָקוּם לְאָרֵר, וּמְבָרְכֶיךָ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מִקּוֹדֶם כְּדֵי שֶׁתָּחוּל בִּרְכָתוֹ עָלֶיךָ.
4אררך ארור ומברכיך ברוך. "Those who curse you will be cursed and those who bless you will be blessed." Those who plan to curse you in the future will already be cursed now so as to make their curse ineffective, whereas those who plan to bless you will already be blessed now so as to make their blessing effective.
הוְטַעַם אָמְרוֹ ״מְבָרְכֶיךָ״ לְשׁוֹן רַבִּים וְלֹא בֵּרַךְ אֶלָּא לְאֶחָד, גַּם הִזְכִּיר מְאָרְרִים רַבִּים וְאָרוּר לְאֶחָד, נִתְכַּוֵּן לִשְׁלֹל חֵלֶק מֵהַמְאָרְרִים שֶׁאֵינוֹ אָרוּר, וְהוּא אֲחִיָּה הַשִּׁילוֹנִי (מלכים א יא:כט) וְכַיּוֹצֵא בּוֹ, לָזֶה אָמַר ״אָרוּר״ וְלֹא ״אֲרוּרִים״ כֻּלָּם, וּבַמְּבָרְכִים גַּם כֵּן יֵשׁ מֵהַמְּבָרְכִים שֶׁאֵינוֹ בִּכְלַל בָּרוּךְ, וְהוּא בִּלְעָם הָרָשָׁע, שֶׁהֲגַם שֶׁבֵּרַךְ לֹא יְבֹרַךְ, וְלָזֶה אָמַר ״מְבָרְכֶיךָ״ – יֵשׁ בָּהֶם חֵלֶק אֶחָד שֶׁהוּא בָּרוּךְ וְלֹא כֻּלָּם, לִשְׁלֹל הַנִּזְכָּר.
5The reason the Torah employs the plural when referring to those who will bless, whereas the word "will be blessed" is in the singular, (and similarly when referring to the cursers and the cursed) is to tell us that not all those who curse will be cursed, such as in the case of Achiyah Hashiloni and people like him (Kings I 11,29). The same applies in reverse to people such as Bileam who blessed the Jewish people. He was not blessed as a result because his intention was not honourable.
ווְאָמַר וּמְבָרְכֶיךָ בְּתוֹסֶפֶת וָא״ו, לִרְמוֹז עַל מִין מְקַלֵּל שֶׁיֶּשְׁנוֹ בִּכְלַל בְּרָכָה, וְהוּא הַמְּכַוֵּן לְבָרֵךְ, עַל דֶּרֶךְ אָמְרָם רַבָּנַן לְרַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בַּר יוֹחַאי (מועד קטן ט:) ״תִּזְרַע וְלֹא תֶחְצַד״ וְכוּ׳, וְזֶה הוּא שִׁעוּר הַכָּתוּב אוֹרְרֶיךָ אָרוּר וּמְבָרְכֶיךָ פֵּרוּשׁ, וְאוֹתָם אוֹרְרֶיךָ אִם הֵם מְכַוְּנִים לִמְבָרְכֶיךָ – בָּרוּךְ.
6The reason the Torah adds the conjunctive letter ו before the word ומברכיך is to allude to the type of person who curses and is yet within the category of people deserving blessings since he uses the wording of a curse in order to bestow a blessing. We find an example of this in Moed Katan 9 where the Rabbis couched their blessing for Rabbi Eleazar, son of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, in words which sounded like a curse. We are therefore able to read the verse as if the three words ארריך ארור ומברכיך belonged together.