The Torah tells us that Yitzchak favored Esav and Rivka favored Yaakov. The reason for Yitzchak's love of Esav is that he ate from what Esav trapped in hunting. Even though these words seem to logically explain Yitzchak's love of Esav, Rashi sees the words as a figure of speech and tells us that Esav trapped and fooled his father into thinking that he was precise in his service to G-d. Esav would ask his father how to tithe salt and straw, causing his father to assume that
Esav was keeping commandments.

For years I did not understand Yitzchak's love of Esav, and I found it very hard to find logic in this particular commentary of Rashi. But now it seems to me that Rashi is leading us to a proper outlook of serving G-d in Torah and mitzvos.

Yitzchak knew that his son Yaakov would sit and study while Esav was in the field. He knew that Esav was inclined to violence and indulgence. But he believed that even behavior as dangerous as this could be improved and eventually overcome if Esav would stress certain mitzvos.

A person who demands gratification from the many offerings of the world, should first of all begin to put limits on himself. Not everything that he wants should be on his menu. For instance, if he got used to eating 2 pieces of steak a day, he should cut the amount down to one-and-a-half. If he was going to the movies once a week, he should reduce that to once a month. If his outlays on pleasurable activities was $50 a day, he should start limiting the amount. In this way there is hope that in the long run he can pull himself out of the materialism that is pushing him to the brink.

Tithing food is one of our mitzvos that protect us from "overdoing" the pleasures of this world. If Esav had been stringent in tithing, it would have been a good start in his service of G-d. Yitzchak was fooled into thinking that Esav was on the correct path, in spite of the material life that he lived. Esav even fooled him into believing that he tithed salt and straw - a stringency that meant that every item that he owned was being reduced.

Yitzchak was placed on the alter to be sacrificed by his father Avraham. He overcame the natural desire to live in order to be a servant of G-d. He believed that the natural inclinations that drive human beings could be overcome with serious practice and years of hard spiritual work. Therefore he supported what he saw were efforts by Esav to overcome the hidden forces that drove him to improper behavior. I think that had Esav actually tithed everything, he could have eventually turned into a fine man. In such a case Yitzchak's love for his son would certainly be understood by all of us as logical.

Each of us is required to serve our creator. And each one of us does things that fall short of proper behavior. Our service should put special emphasis on those mitzvos that help us out of our doldrums and lead us to a better spiritual life. There are enough "mitzvah opportunities" in the 613 commandments for each of us to improve ourselves little by little with some serious and honest efforts in the proper direction.