Toldoth: courage
Last year I wrote about confrontation http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=d4hmw97_161dt5bkf&hl=en
Courage is related to confrontation, it is a prerequisite ( for, at least one of the parties)
One of the first confrontations is between Gd and Eve after she ate from the tree of knowledge. The punishment phase of that confrontation includes a mention of Aikev. The serpent will bite the aikev of the human. The woman's trespass of eating the forbidden fruit, of seeking knowledge, spawns the mention of the aikev. Rivkah seeks knowledge about her pregnancy and spawns Yaakov.
And the burning bush of Moshe is the undoing of the tree of Dath. His scientific curiosity leaves him open to Gd. ( like the Big Bang, not intelligent design - Rosh devorecha Emeth [ from the first letter to the last and the mem of plurality and origin in between])
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The relationship between food and bracha is a theme of Toldoth. The Bechorah ( which is a kind of bracha?) is bought with lentils [N.B. Eisav also drank]. The recognition by Avimelech that Yitzchok is blessed by Gd comes through a feast. Yitzchok requires a feast for the delivery of the bracha ( so that my soul will bless you) [27:4] וְאֹכֵלָה בַּעֲבוּר תְּבָרֶכְךָ נַפְשִׁי בְּטֶרֶם אָמוּת. I think that our custom of feasting for a simcha is related to these stories.
Yitzchok also drinks before delivering the blessing .... like Noach before he sorts out his sons?
