ספר בראשית

Genesis 25,28. “Yitzchok loved Esau for he had a taste ‎for game;” (normal translation). Our author, following a ‎kabbalistic approach demonstrated ever since his approach to ‎Genesis 3,1 (page 22) where he referred to certain sparks that fell ‎off the Shechinah and landed somewhere in our world, has ‎considered it the task and intense desire of the tzaddik to ‎snare (hunt and capture) some of these 88 sparks of the Divine ‎and make them his own in order to restore them to their origin. ‎Accordingly, Yitzchok views Esau as in pursuit of this valuable ‎‎“game,” hoping that his son Esau, the hunter, could help him in ‎his quest. Although he was aware that Esau’s “hunting” was ‎concerned with physical bounty, he hoped to sublimate his skills ‎to pursuing something more spiritual by teaching him Torah, ‎thus elevating him spiritually. After all, according to our ‎tradition, the souls of famous converts to Judaism such as ‎Shemayah and Avtalyon as well as the great scholar Rabbi Meir, ‎are all reported to be descendants of Esau’s soul. There are more ‎such “sparks” to be found on this planet until the messiah will ‎come. (Sanhedrin 96)‎