Isaac’s family is damaged by the Akedah. Isaac, while seemingly successful, has a dimmed vision.
Rashi, Avivah Zornberg trans.
When Isaac was bound on the altar and his father wanted to slaughter him, at that moment, the heavens opened up and the ministering angels saw and wept, and their tears came down and fell into his eyes; therefore, his eyes dimmed.
Midrash Bereishit Rabbah, Avivah Zornberg trans.
“Isaac’s eyes became dimmed from seeing”: from the impact of that vision. … [He saw the angels crying] and their tears were imprinted into his eyes.] And when he became old, his eyes became dimmed, from seeing.
Rebecca too suffers.
Bereishit 25:22
But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” [literally, Lama zeh anokhi Why this I am?] She went to inquire of the LORD.
Ramban, Avivah Zornberg trans.
If this is to be my fate, why am I in the world? I wish that I were not …
Maharal, Avivah Zornberg trans.
“Why then am I sitting passively, Why do I not investigate? It is my task to seek out explanations.” And she went to seek God.
Esau also suffers, he is, in Avivah Zornberg’s words, the presenting patient of the family.
Bereishit 25:32
And Esau said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?”
Midrash Bereishit Rabbah, Avivah Zornberg trans.
Esau asked Jacob: “What is the stew for?” Jacob answered: “That old man [Abraham] has died.” Esau said: “That old man has been struck down by fate!?” He answered: “Yes.” Esau then said, “If so, there is no reward, and no resurrection of the dead.” The Holy Spirit cried out, “‘Do not cry for the dead and do not lament for them’ — this refers to Abraham; Weep rather for him who is going’ [Jeremiah 22:10] — this refers to Esau.”
Rashi
A man of the field: A vacant man [batel]. hunting wild animals and birds with his bow.
Avivah Zornberg
Esau is a hunter, because he is vacant, empty of meanings, cut loose from the intentional energies of life, conscious of his own vitality only in the act of destroying life. … The Zohar makes the most challenging comment … “Everyone loves his own kind — one who is similar to himself.” What Isaac loves in Esau is precisely the hunter, the alienated … Esau staggers from murder to murder (indeed, according to the midrash, from woman to woman), in a search for the consummation that will include and redeem all traumas.
And so Rebecca, in her questioning of God, devises a plan to restore truth by having her other son, the simple man, become a trickster. By creating a discontinuity with the family’s past, the possibility of creating a new meaningful future is opened.
Bereishit 27:12
If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster [ki-metateia] and bring up myself a curse, not a blessing.
Rashi, Avivah Zornberg trans.
Ish Tam a simple man: Inexpert at hunting; his words reflect his inner meaning. One who is not sharp at deceiving is called tam — naif, sincere.
Jacob is transformed by Rebecca into a trickster. He starts as an ish tam, a sincere man. Sincerity, in Avivah Zornberg’s reading, is an identity connected with socially expected and approved roles. A trickster, a metateia, impersonates an other to break socially expected roles. It is an action that is disruptive. But, paradoxically, given how broken this family is, it creates an opening for authenticity. Jacob is given the opportunity by Rebecca, which is blessed by Isaac, to construct or find his true self.