The blessing of "all" to Yitzchak

בפסוק ויתן את כל אשר לו ליצחק ולבני הפלגשים נתן אברהם מתנות.

On the pasuk: "And [Avraham] gave all that he had to Yitzchak, and to the sons of the concubines Avraham gave gifts (matanos)" (Bereishis 25:5-6).

The Sefas Emes opens with the pasuk describing how Avraham gave "all that he had" to Yitzchak, while giving mere gifts to the sons of his concubines.

וקשה לאו רישא סיפא כיון שנתן מתנות א"כ לא נתן הכל ליצחק.

And it is difficult: do the beginning and end of the pasuk not contradict? Since he gave gifts [to the others], then he did not give "all" to Yitzchak!

If Avraham truly gave everything to Yitzchak, there would have been nothing left to give as gifts to the others — so how can both halves of the pasuk be true?

אכן ביאור הפסוק שנתן בחי' כל ליצחק שזאת הברכה שבירכו ה' בכל ונתן ברכת הכל ליצחק.

Rather, the explanation of the pasuk is that he gave the aspect of "all" (kol) to Yitzchak — for this is the blessing with which "Hashem blessed [Avraham] with all (bakol)" (Bereishis 24:1), and he gave the blessing of "all" to Yitzchak.

"All that he had" does not mean every possession but a specific spiritual gift: the bracha of "kol" with which Avraham himself had been blessed. That essential blessing he transmitted to Yitzchak alone.

ובחי' זו אם כי היא נקודה קטנה כוללת היא הכל.

And this aspect, although it is a small point (nekudah ketanah), includes everything.

This "kol" is a single concentrated point, yet within that tiny point the whole of every blessing is contained — the inner essence that holds all good.

ונאמר כל אשר לו.

And it says "all that he had."

Thus the Torah can truthfully say he gave Yitzchak "all that he had" — meaning this all-encompassing inner point.

כי עיקר הברכה לצדיק הארת הקדושה שכוללת כל הטובות.

For the essential blessing for a tzaddik is the illumination of kedushah, which includes all the good things.

For a tzaddik the real blessing is not material wealth but the radiance of holiness, and that one light contains within it every true good.

ואם כי יש אגב זה מתנות מיוחדים כענין משמאלה עושר וכבוד ויש מתנות מכמה סיבות [כענין שמצינו שאמרו חכמים כשעלה מרע"ה למרום כולם נעשו אוהביו ומסרו לו מתנות כו'] אבל עיקר אשר לו זה מסר ליצחק.

And although alongside this there are particular gifts — as in "at her left hand are riches and honor" (Mishlei 3:16) — and there are gifts from various causes [as we find that Chazal said: when Moshe Rabbeinu ascended on high, they all became his friends and handed him gifts, etc.] — but the essential "that he had," this he handed to Yitzchak.

Secondary benefits like wealth and honor flow as a byproduct of holiness (as "riches and honor" come from Torah's "left hand"), and other gifts can be acquired for various reasons — but the core, essential possession, the radiance of kedushah, was given to Yitzchak alone.

וכעין זה פרש"י ז"ל מתנות שקיבל מאבימלך כו' שלא הי' שייך לו בעצם. נתן להם ע"ש:

And along these lines Rashi explains: the gifts that he had received from Avimelech, etc., which did not belong to him in essence (be'etzem) — these he gave to them; see there.

Rashi confirms the distinction: the gifts to the concubines' sons were external acquisitions, like what Avraham received from Avimelech, which were never essentially his — whereas the intrinsic blessing of "kol" remained Yitzchak's.

Summary: How could Avraham give "all that he had" to Yitzchak yet still have gifts for the sons of the concubines? The Sefas Emes answers that "all" (kol) is not every possession but the essential blessing of "bakol" with which Avraham himself was blessed — a single concentrated point that, though small, contains within it the illumination of kedushah and thereby every true good. That intrinsic blessing he gave to Yitzchak alone, while the merely external gifts and incidental benefits, never essentially his own, went to the others.