A vort from the Rebbe on this week's פרשה, פרשת ויצא. פרשת ויצא it says when Yaakov left Eretz Yisrael and was on the way to Charan, the Eibershter spoke to him and the Eibershter mentioned to him, \"I am the God of Avraham and God of Yitzchak, אלקי יצחק.\" Rashi says that we don't usually find in the Torah that Hashem should connect His name to a living person, because you never know what's going to be, he might later on, chas v'shalom, sin. Only a person that passed away and he's a tzadik, that's when the Eibershter puts His name on him. So how did the Eibershter refer to Yitzchak himself as Elokei Yitzchak, the God of Yitzchak, when Yitzchak was still alive? Rashi answers, because כהו עיניו, his eyes became weak, כלו בבית, he's locked in the house, והרי הוא כמת, he's like a dead person, ויצר הרע פסק ממנו, and the yetzer hara left him. So it seems from here that because he couldn't see, that's why we say that the yetzer hara left left him. But the Rebbe asks, what does that mean? Because that because he can't see the yetzer hara left him and he couldn't, can't do any aveirot anymore? We see bemuchash, we see gashmiyut that even a blind person has a ta'avah and has a yetzer hara and he's also able to sin. What does it mean here, because he can't see, mimela if we know for sure he won't sin?

So the Rebbe says the peshat is like this. The reason that he, his eyes became weak and he wasn't able to see, Rashi says in פרשת תולדות, one of the reasons is מעשנן, עשנן של אלו, from the smoke of Esav's wives שהיו מעשנות ומקטירות לעבודה זרה, they brought ketoret to avodah zarah, brought smoke, and the smoke caused Yitzchak to have problems with his eyes. But you could ask a she'eilah. We know that takeh that it says in a pasuk in Mishlei that smoke hurts your eyes, but it doesn't hurt your eyes so much that you can't see. So why is it considered that he couldn't see because the smoke of the what the עבודה זרה, קטורת of Avodah Zarah?

So the Rebbe says the peshat is it's not only because of the smoke, physical smoke. Since it was smoke that came from Avodah Zarah, that's what caused it. Yitzchak was a tzadik, and the pasuk says he, טהור עינים מראות ברע, clean eyes that can't see evil. So his eyes couldn't see Avodah Zarah, and that was mashpia that his eyes was became weak and he couldn't see in his eyes because it came because it was Avodah Zarah and he can't see Avodah Zarah, so that caused his eyes not to see. Similar to the story that we say about Reb Nachum Tshernobler that one once they gave him a glass of chalav akum to drink, and he didn't drink it. And they asked him, \"Why don't you drink it?\" He says, \"Drink what?\" He didn't see that there was milk there. So he said so later he taytsh that the Mishnah says בנוגע חלב עכו״ם: חלב שחלבו עכו״ם ואין ישראל רואהו, milk that was milked by a goy and a Yid doesn't see it, you're not allowed to drink it. So he taytsh: חלב שחלבו עכו״ם, milk that's milked by a גוי, אין ישראל רואהו, a Yid doesn't see it. Since it's a goyishe thing and it's not kasher, a Yid doesn't see it, so he didn't see it. Another story about the same Reb Nachum Tshernobler is that he once came into the house, into a room on Shabbos, and he started feeling the wall like as if it was dark, and it wasn't dark, there was a candle burning. But you could see that he couldn't see, and he started walking by touching the walls. So later they found out that candle was lit on Shabbos.

So pashut to him the candle didn't light, he didn't see it. So Yitzchak was such a tzadik that he couldn't see Avodah Zarah, so mimela it caused his eyes not to be able to see. So since his the fact that his eyes were not able to see came as a result of such a great kedushah that Yitzchak was, that he was טהור עינים מראות ברע, that he couldn't see evil, he couldn't see Avodah Zarah, if that's the reason that caused him not to see, that shows that he's such a great tzadik that he has no yetzer hara. And that's what Rashi means: because כהו עיניו, because his eyes became weak, and it all came because he couldn't see the Avodah Zarah. And that's why he his eyes couldn't see because he couldn't see avodah zarah caused him bichlal not to see. That's what Rashi means. So mimela that's a re'iyah that יצר הרע פסק ממנו, that he doesn't have a yetzer hara anymore, and therefore the Eibershter was able to put His name to Yitzchak.