(20) Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. (21) Isaac pleaded with GOD on behalf of his wife, because she was infertile; and GOD responded to his plea, and his wife Rebekah conceived. (22) But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” She went to inquire of GOD, (23) and GOD answered her,
“Two nations are in your womb,Two separate peoples shall issue from your body;One people shall be mightier than the other,And the older shall serve the younger.”(24) When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. (25) The first one emerged red, like a hairy mantle all over; so they named וַיִּקְרְא֥וּ him Esau. (26) Then his brother emerged, holding on to the heel of Esau; so they named וַיִּקְרָ֥א him Jacob (Fox so they called his name: Yaakov/Heel-Holder.). Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

לנכח אשתו FACING HIS WIFE — He stood in one corner and prayed whilst she stood in the other corner and prayed (Genesis Rabbah 63:5).

ויתרצצו AND [THE CHILDREN] STRUGGLED — .. Another explanation is: they struggled with one another and quarreled as to how they should divide the two worlds as their inheritance (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 111:2).

ויקרא שמו יעקב AND HE CALLED HIS NAME JACOB — Another explanation is: his father called him Jacob because he was grasping Esau’s heel.

(1) When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Here I am.” (2) And he said, “I am old now, and I do not know how soon I may die. (3) Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game. (4) Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my innermost blessing before I die.” (5) Rebekah had been listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out into the open to hunt game to bring home, (6) Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I overheard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying, (7) ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, with GOD’s approval, before I die.’ (8) Now, my son, listen carefully as I instruct you. (9) Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes. (10) Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies.” (11) Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I’m a smooth-skinned one. (12) If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing.” (13) But his mother said to him, “Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me.” (14) He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked. (15) Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on; (16) and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids. (17) Then she put in the hands of her son Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared. (18) He went to his father and said, “Father.” And he said, “Yes, which of my sons are you?” (19) Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing.” (20) Isaac said to his son, “How did you succeed so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the ETERNAL your God granted me good fortune.” (21) Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer that I may feel you, my son—whether you are really my son Esau or not.” (22) So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and wondered, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.” (23) He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; and so he blessed him. (24) He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And when he said, “I am,” (25) he said, “Serve me and let me eat of my son’s game that I may give you my innermost blessing.” So he served him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank. (26) Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come close and kiss me, my son”; (27) and he went up and kissed him. And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that GOD has blessed. (28)“May God give youOf the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth,Abundance of new grain and wine.(29)Let peoples serve you,And nations bow to you;Be master over your brothers,And let your mother’s sons bow to you.Cursed be they who curse you,Blessed they who bless you.”(30) No sooner had Jacob left the presence of his father Isaac—after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob—than his brother Esau came back from his hunt.

(46) Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am disgusted with my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like these, from among the native women, what good will life be to me?”

(1) So Isaac sent for Jacob and blessed him. He instructed him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanite women.

(9) Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing. (10) She said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” (11) The matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his. (12) But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued for you. (13) As for the son of the slave-woman, I will make a nation of him, too, for he is your seed.”

(18) And Abraham loved Jacob, but Isaac loved Esau.

(19) And Abraham saw the deeds of Esau, and he knew that in Jacob should his name and seed be called;

(20) and he called Rebecca and gave commandment regarding Jacob, for he knew that she (too) loved Jacob much more than Esau.

(29) Said he, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.”

(1)“And he said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but rather Israel.’” ... And in saying for you have striven with God, he uprooted the name Jacob from him, because “Jacob” [Yaakov] indicates the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), while “Israel” denotes straightness, as it is written regarding the future: And the crooked shall be made straight(Isaiah 40:4). This is not merely straightness as it appears in the eyes of people, but rather straightness as it appears in the eyes of both God and man. Therefore, he said for you have striven with God and with men, because through the virtue of your actions you will be a prince and leader with both God and men, and you will prevail. This is the meaning of “Israel” — “yashar El” — straightness that is apparent even in the eyes of the blessed God.

(1)“Your name is Jacob, your name shall no longer be called Jacob.” ...(2)And by way of allusion, I have a way to explain Jacob’s two names in reference to the two redemptions, since we find in our Rabbis’ teachings that the Exodus from Egypt will not be completely uprooted, but rather the remembrance of the miracles of the Exodus will become secondary, ... So why will the miracles of Egypt become secondary? Because during the redemption from Egypt, their merit was not sufficient to bring them out with an upraised hand, and they needed to proceed with cunning and deception, saying “Let us go sacrifice to the Lord our God.” And every fugitive goes in haste, as it is written you shall eat it in haste (Exodus 12:11). ...

However, in the final redemption, after the sin has been completely purged through the length of this current exile, their merit will be sufficient for them to depart with an upraised hand, on a straight path rather than with cunning/deception [reference to Jacob’s name’s meaning] and not in haste, as it is written For you shall not go out in haste, nor shall you depart in flight (Isaiah 52:14). This is what is meant by “the crooked shall become straight.” Nevertheless, the name Jacob will not be completely uprooted, and similarly, the memory of the Exodus from Egypt will not be completely uprooted, so that both redemptions will be remembered together, ...