By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari:
Shalom ; Everyone is familiar with the pasuk in this week’s Parasha:
ויאהב יצחק את עשו כי ציד בפיו
Meaning that Yitzchak wanted to bring Eisav closer through love, so he will come back to HaShem, and that’s why he behaved in a manner of friendship towards him and ate from his food ( Alshech HaKadosh).
Rav Natan Tzvi Finkel the famous Alter of Slabodka, זצ״ל, had two students among his students in the Yeshiva who were close friends. One was very diligent and wasted no time, constantly studying the Torah. The other however wasn’t in the same boat. With the first one , the Altar had nothing to do with, but with his friend, he would take care of and show closeness, praise and respect and pay extra attention. The first who was one of the top students in the Yeshiva, was very upset about the fact that the venerable Rav wouldn’t give him any attention whereas his friend gets to be a part of his household and he is nowhere close to his diligence and knowledge.
When the first student was sitting “ Shiva”, the Alter of Slabodka came to visit him for consolation, he found this an opportunity to ask his Rav about this predicament. The reply was, “based on my understanding of who you are, you are completely immersed in your Torah study, and when you come to me you just want to satisfy your יצר הרע of hearing praise and honorable mention from me. That, I’m not willing to do, because I don’t see any benefit in this for you, actually it could be damaging for you.” “Your friend on the other hand, does not get his satisfaction from the study hall and when he comes to me he wants to satisfy his יצר הטוב , and that’s why I give him all the attention.” When the student would say this story over he said, from that moment my eyes opened up!!!