Jacob and Adam

            Tzror haMor explains that Isaac’s blessing to his son Jacob was intended to “redeem Adam from his curse,” since it was Jacob’s task to “rectify the world which was destroyed through the curse of Adam.”

            Zohar [1:35b] hints at this connection by teaching: “Jacob was similar to Adam and his beauty was that of Adam.” Rabbi Zvi Elimelech of Dinov presents a version of Zohar which reads: “Jacob’s beauty was the beauty of Adam and his rectification.”

            Based upon Zohar’s comment, Tzror haMor presents a list of parallels (by way of contrast) between the curse of Adam and the blessing of Jacob:

Adam [Genesis 3:17-19]		Jacob [Genesis 27:28-29]
The ground will therefore be cursed because of you		May God grant you the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth
It will bring forth thorns and thistles for you		much grain and wine.
and you will eat the grass of the field		wine
By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread (by your own labor)		Nations will serve you (and work your fields)
you will return to the ground (implying a lowly status)		You shall be like a lord over your brother

Similarly, the Gaon of Vilna comments that the blessings of Jacob stand opposite the curses of Adam.

Torat Ḥayyim [Comments on the Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia, 84a] notes an additional hint of the connection between Jacob and Adam in our Sages’ comment [Tanḥuma, Toledot 16] that Jacob came to Isaac for the blessing while dressed in the clothes of Adam, which had the fragrance of the Garden of Eden.

Avot d’Rebbi Natan [version B, chapter 25] teaches that when the Creator placed Adam in the Garden of Eden “to work it and watch it” [Genesis 2:15] His intention was for Adam to observe mitzvot (“to work it”) and study Torah (“to watch it”).

Based upon all the above, we can understand that when Adam failed to fulfill his destiny of serving the Creator, it fell to our Forefathers, and especially to Jacob, “the choice father” [Midrash Sechel Tov, Genesis 33:17] to realize human destiny.