- Yitzhak as model at last, defining the essence of Toledot as inclusive of קורותיו, showing them to be indeed an outgrowth of one’s life despite the objection of Ramban. His ability to sense the אימה חשיכה גדולה is the only thing that allows us to see for the first time the עקידה, for only one who would find the possibility of Life-as-Error more terrifying—עד מאד – than the loss of life itself can teach us what it means to have no assumptions about existence rather than being affected by a martyrdom complex! His insistence on continuing—nay, deepening—his love for Eisav after fully appreciating the הנה ריח בני וגן עדן and the fact that he was wrong about the nature of unbiased שדה,and after fully allowing for גם ברוך יהיה still putting himself into place the לאם מלאם יאמץ by giving the והיה כאשר תריד, recognizing בני בני and Eisav more than ever אבי אבי באי redefines the nature of אהבה. For גם אהבתם גם קנאתם כבר אבדה וחלק אין להם עוד בכל אשר נעשה תחת השמש and who could know better than Yitzhak how on the surface of the nature of being all that must be, yet insisted on the meaning of רבקה אוהבת...ויאהב יצחק which is the theme of the parasha of Toledot!! The question of the paths not taken and the lives not lived are therefore addressed in Yitzhak, who essentially views now the שדה as a simulation about which he can laugh לעתיד לבוא and which would therefore subsume all other simulations based on the information-set that is the essence of identity: it is this which is תולדה and therefore incorporates יעקב ועשיו האמורים בפרשה along with the קורות that are associated with the simulation. Without the ability to face אימה חשיכה גדולה the particulars of life are givens that cannot be denied and that are far too serious to live with as they are all that personally IS! This is the essence of רבי אלעזר and his decision “not to bother!” because as a simulation it will do good enough. Perhaps it was even God’s question to him about starting over randomly that brought him to the understanding that such a question is only a possibility if the information-set is a given and the rest is simulation. (I suspect that this similar to the relationship of ארץ ישראל to simulated חו"ל [which would be why it actually is experienced as a poorly executed simulation!] and the relationship of Yisrael to גויים [which is why they are experienced as not-quite-alive simulations!!])

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