Rebecca's Flock and God's Flock

Now, my son, listen to my voice according to which I command you. Go to the flock and fetch me from there two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savory food for your father, which he loves.       Genesis 27:8-9

“Go to the flock”: Rabbi Levi says: go and presage the nation which is compared to flocks, as the verse [Ezekiel 34:31] states: you are My flock, the flock of My pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord God.

                                       Midrash Breishit Rabba 65:14

My saintly teacher, Rabbi Mordechai Rogov, suggested that Rebecca understood that Jacob was reluctant to accept his father’s blessing because it dealt with earthly matters, whereas his life was focused on heavenly issues. Thus Rebecca urged Jacob to hurry to ensure that he would receive the blessing, which ultimately related not to this world, but to the world to come and to the highest matters. Rebecca conveyed to Jacob that his descendants, the nation of Israel, will be compared to a flock, which tends to stay together, that is the People of Israel will be united, and this unity will turn the worldly blessing into a spiritual one. When Jews in any place are impoverished or suffering, Jews from all over the world will use their worldly resources to help their fellow Jews, turning the mundane blessings into spiritual ones. Rebecca told her son that he must accept his father’s blessing of physical things for the spiritual benefit of his descendants.