Our Gemara on Amud Aleph warns: “The curse of an ordinary person should never be regarded as light in your eyes, for Abimelech cursed Sarah and it was fulfilled in her descendant.”  The Gemara explains that Yitschok’s blindness later in life was caused by a passing remark of Avimelech, who felt misled by Yitschok, in letting him behave “blindly” by taking Rivkah as a wife who was actually married to Yitschok.

The commentaries ask, the Midrash states that Yitschok became blind for a different reason, in that he trespassed by glimpsing the Shechinah at the moment of the Akeidah (Bereishis Rabbah 65:10).  Ben Yehoyada answers that glimpsing at the Shechinah caused a dimming of his vision, while Avimelech’s curse was the final blow, so to speak, that caused blindness.

In truth, the Midrash (ibid 65) offers three more reasons for Yitschok’s blindness, including:

• The tears of the angels at the Akeidah falling into his eyes
• Being “bribed” by Esau’s slick tongue and food, and we know that bribery blinds, as stated in Devarim 16:19.
• To allow for Yaakov to mislead him and give him the blessings over Esau.

I believe the true point is that, like many matters in life, there are genuinely multiple causes.  Someone suffers a heart attack or a stroke.  Is it obesity? Blood Pressure? Stress? Genetic predisposition? Or all of them?  The same is true for psychological and social difficulties.  If a person suffers from low self-esteem, insecure attachment and emotional dysregulation is it a genetic problem?  Is it from a traumatic childhood?  Is it from current ongoing hurtful experiences happening in relationships in the here and now?  Is it a poor combination of the person’s innate disposition and those around him or her to respond well?  The most correct answer is all of the above. And just as problems come from multiple causes, solutions will be found in multiple interventions.  It is so rarely one problem nor one solution.