All three aspects of service to Hashem are alluded to in the names of the Patriarchs (Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov), the Avos. The gematria of Avraham is 248; this is the number of positive commandments in the Torah and his name reminds us of the action we must take to perform Hashem's will. Yitzhak reminds us of the obligation to learn Torah with joy for thier is laughter in his name; Yitzhak's mother, Sarah, said that Hashem made a "tzchok" on her and therefore named her son, which means laughter or joy. The imperative to learn Torah is alluded to by Yaakov. Hashem's names as tetronym and as Adoshem equal the gematria of 91 and in both Oral and written law there are revealed and secret aspects. 91 times 2 equals 182 or the gematria of Yaakov indicating both revealed and hidden Torah.

When Yaakov blessed his grandsons, Ephraim and Menasheh, he did so using his own name, his grandfather Avraham's and his father Yitzhak's. While his own name symbolized Talmud Torah, the name of his grandfather and father, respectively, invoked performance of Hashem's commandments with joy. As our verse indicates, these aspects of the Avos are the 'flags' of Israel and are signs or represented by their names. With this merit, even if Jews deviate from the proper path and sin, they can return once more to the divine radiance of Hashem by cleaving to the ways of their Avos.

Author's comments: It is interesting to note the order which Yaakov uses when he blesses Ephraim and Menasheh. This order is the natural progression one must take in Torah growth -- study, performance with joy. First, he blesses them with his own name which represents all aspets of Talmud Torah, then Avraham, his grandfather, who puts the theoretical Torah into action and last he invokes the name of his father whose character is joy and must be an element in both study and performance of Torah. Rav Pam, shlita, points out that to have happy and healthy Talmidei Chachamim they have to learn b'simchah.

Furthermore, it is Yitzhak who is the "Patriarch of Joy." Upon a cursorary reading of the Torah and her commentaries, it appears that he is the most subdued and possibly unglamourous of the Avos. The life of Yitzhak's father and son seem to hold much more excitement and adventure, so why is the "tzchok" an integral part of Yitzhak and not either of the other Avos ?

The answer may lie in what true joy and chedvah really mean. If it is about "having a good time" and "living it up," Yitzhak avinu does not fit the bill. But if it can be gauged by own's steady and quiet fulfillment of the will of Hashem, the pleasure one can enjoy and the contentment one achieves by discharging his obligations rivals other diversions. Yitzhak, under this definition, lives up to his name.