"Yitzchak's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of fresh water. The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Yitzchak's herdsman saying, 'The water is ours,' so he called the name of that well Esek, because they involved themselves with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also; so he called it Sitnah. He relocated from there and dug another well..." (26:19-22)

It's tough being fabulously wealthy.

It takes so much time and worry and effort to protect and embellish your riches. You have to inspect your factories, lunch with lawyers, account with accountants. The Internal Revenue Service has you in its sights. You hardly have time to put out the cat.

By our standards, the Avos - Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov - were multi-billionaires. A tycoon's portfolio would pale in comparison. And yet, in spite of all their wealth, they never lost sight for a moment of the purpose of their wealth.

Oil may be called "black gold," but when you live in the desert your entire wherewithal is dependent on "white gold" - Water. Without water, you have nothing. When there was an argument over water rights, did Yitzchak become litigious? No. He let it go. He walked away and dug another well. Whenever there's a fight over something, it's going to eat up my time and peace of mind. What will I gain? Money? Status? Is it really worth it? It's going to knock me off the spiritual path, so I walk away.

Nothing is equal to the worth of my spirituality. That is my only lasting possession.

Yitzchak dug another well, "Sitnah," whose name is derived from the word "to oppose."

If the Philistines are trying to oppose my spirituality, to try to drag me down, I walk away. I build another well.

In the secular world they say that time is money.

We say "Money is time."

All you ever have in life is time. You can spend your life with your lawyers, or you can spend it talking and listening to your Creator. It's up to you.

"And Yitzchak love Esav, for trapping was in his mouth, but Rivka loved Yaakov." (24:28)

In the celestial courtroom drama which will take place at the end of history, Hashem will turn to each of the Avos and say "Your sons have sinned." Avraham and Yaakov will say to Hashem that if their offspring have sinned, they should be brought to punishment, for Hashem's name is sanctified when those who sin are punished.

Yitzchak, however, will defend his children claiming that their sins were petty and insignificant. He will do his best to get them "off the hook."

Why, specifically, should it be Yitzchak who will go to greater lengths than the other Avos to seek clemency and leniency for his children? Especially as he himself is the embodiment of the fear of Heaven and its awe.

Yitzchak had a winning claim against Hashem. He could say to Hashem: "I also had a son who sinned - Esav. And in spite of my being only flesh and blood, I loved him and forgave and pardoned him."

"You, Master of the Universe, You who are the essence of forgiveness, how much more so should You exonerate and forgive Your children, even though they have sinned against You!"

It turns out therefore, that through Yitzchak's love for Esav, he had a substantial and well-founded defense for the Jewish People.

This is what the above verse means when it says that Yitzchak loved Esav "because trapping was in his mouth." Yitzchak loved Esav so that when Hashem would accuse the Jewish People, Yitzchak would have a ready-made defense to, as it were, "trap" Hashem into forgiving them.

"And these are the offspring of Yitzchak the son of Avraham - Avraham begot Yitzchak." (25:19)

Yitzchak always considered that his only merit was that he was "the son of Avraham," and Avraham thought that his only merit was that he "begot Yitzchak." That is the way of the righteous: They never see themselves as sufficient in their own eyes; rather they see their only merit as being the son or the father of a righteous person.

"The voice is the voice of Yaakov, and the hands are the hands of Esav" (26:22)

The Voice is given to Yaakov. And the Hands, to Esav. The Voice is the internal power which emanates from the heart. The Hands are the external power of action.

But these Hands, the hands of Esav, are not satisfied just to dominate the physical world. They strive constantly to subjugate the Voice. The hands of Esav thrust themselves deep into the insides of Yaakov; coarse Hands delving into the depths of the soul; setting up an idol in the inner sanctuary of the Jewish soul; superficiality swelling up and suffusing the innermost chambers of the heart.

The Hands strangling the Voice; the Voice of prayer without the feeling of the heart; a mitzvah done mechanically - the Hands are working. And the Voice grows quieter and quieter.

But in spite of this, the Voice is the voice of Yaakov; destined to rise up, to dominate and elevate the Hands, to purify them and make them holy.

When Yitzchak said that the voice was "the voice of Yaakov and the hands, the hands of Esav" he thought that it was Esav who was in front of him and that Esav had acquired the voice of Yaakov - that the Voice had sanctified and elevated Esav. The truth of the matter was that Esav had remained unchanged in his evil, while it was Yaakov who stood before him, garbed in the goatskin hides of Esav.

For the Voice - the voice of Yaakov - will ultimately permeate to the outermost layer of the skin, even to the very end of the material world.