“Va-ye’ehav Yitzchak et Eisav ki tzayid be-fiv, ve-Rivka ohevet et Ya’akov” – “And Yitzchak loved Eisav for game was in his mouth (he was a hunter), and Rivka loves Ya’akov.” How are we to understand Yitzchak’s and Rivka’s preferences, and what can we learn from their choice to “play favorites?”
R’ Shimshon Refael Hirsch explains this verse using the theory that “opposites attract.” Yitzchak, the “olah temima” who had lived a quiet and peaceful life, loved Eisav, the man of action – the wild hunter. Rivka, who had been raised in the house of Betu’el and Lavan, two men not known for their piety (to put it mildly), loved the simple perfection of Ya’akov, the “ish tam.”
R’ Hirsch takes this thought one step further by actually criticizing Yitzchak and Rivka for their preferences. He suggests that had they each loved both sons equally, realizing the strengths and weaknesses present in each of them, they might have been more successful in raising each child in a manner more appropriate to his individual personality. (“Chanoch le-na’ar al pi darko” – educate a child in accordance with his disposition.) Eisav, too, could have grown up to be a righteous individual, had he only been given the proper upbringing.