The Ladder

A ladder was standing on the ground and the top of it reached to heaven (Gen. 28:12).
Prayer is the ladder that connects our souls with G-d. Although it stands "on the ground," beginning with no more than acknowledgment of G-d's greatness, its top (the Amida, or silent prayer) reaches this level through the prior attainment of understanding inherent in the Shema itself.


(Hayom Yom, from the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe)


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And Isaac loved Esau...but Rebecca loved Jacob (Gen. 25:25)

Isaac was a "perfect offering," whose "style" of Divine service was somewhat removed from the material world and its concealments. Rebecca, by contrast, had grown up in household surrounded by devious people. When Esau asked his father how to "tithe salt" (Esau knew that it is not required to tithe salt, he was just trying to show his father how "pious" he was) it was beyond Isaac's imagination that his son was being deceitful. Rebecca, however, with her experience in the ways of the world, recognized that it was only a scheme to impress his father, and "loved Jacob" for his quality of truthfulness.


(Der Torah Kval)


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And the man became rich, and gained more and more, until he became very wealthy (Gen. 26:13)

It often happens that the richer a person gets, the smaller his essential "humanity" and regard for his fellow man becomes. Isaac, however, not only retained his quality of being a "man" the wealthier he grew, but continued his rise to perfection as an empathetic human being.


(Rabbi Yitzchak of Torchiv)


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Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother (Gen. 27:6)

Although Isaac had carried on his conversation with Esau in a whisper, Rivka had heard it as loudly as if he were speaking in a normal tone. She thus interpreted it as a sign from Above to intervene.


(The Rebbe of Dinov)