The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash

Surf A Little Torah
Yeshivat Har Etzion

Towards the beginning of Parashat Toldot, we learn of Esav's surrendering of the birthright to his younger brother, Yaakov. Rashi (25:32) explains that Esav relinquished the birthright out of genuine fear of the immense responsibility involved. Upon hearing of the many strictures, rigorous guidelines and prohibitions applicable to the service in the Bet Hamikdash (which was to be the exclusive right of the first-born), and the death penalty issued against violators, Esav declined the privilege of the birthright.

If this fear indeed formed the basis of Esav's decision to forego this privilege, then we have trouble understanding the Torah's apparent criticism of Esav in this affair: "and Esav scorned the birthright" (25:34). How did Esav's sale of his birthright reflect any sense of contempt for the service in the Mikdash? To the contrary, he was motivated by a genuine, self-effacing realization of his inadequacy and the potentially disastrous consequences of his shortcomings.

Rav Moshe Feinstein answers that Esav's intimidation did, in fact, indicate an inappropriate attitude towards the privilege of the Temple service. There are reasons for one to decline a position of leadership, authority, or honor. Unwillingness to accept the responsibility - no matter how great it may be - is not a valid reason. When presented with an opportunity, one must respond with enthusiastic preparedness to take on challenges and do what it takes to get the job done. Esav's "scorn" of the birthright involved his lackadaisical attitude in this regard. True, he was afraid; but if the birthright meant anything to him, he would have undertaken the challenge, no questions asked.

Opportunities of all kinds present themselves before us regularly. One must always weigh the difficulty involved against the potential benefit to others. Rav Moshe applied this principle to the specific instance of potential rabbis and religious teachers who shy away, inhibited by the immense responsibility that leadership positions entail. Rav Moshe urges them to reconsider and accept the challenge rather than escape it. But this lesson may be applied to each individual, regardless of professional aspirations or inclinations. One can achieve greatness only by accepting upon himself difficult challenges and setting for himself high goals. Anything less amounts to a "scornful" attitude towards the many responsibilities we have the privilege to undertake.

[Prepared by David Silverberg]

In last week's parasha, Yitzchak married Rivka. Now they are expecting a child. Since Chava's curse, pregnancy has been difficult, but this is worse. Unbeknownst to Rivka, she is carrying twins and they're fighting. According to the Ramban, her reaction in our quote is better translated as her wishing she was dead. Experiencing such discomfort, she lost her will to live. What does this tell us about Rivka, mother of our nation? What can we learn from her as a role model?

The accepted way of explaining the stories of Bereishit is to read them as showing the greatness of our forefathers. This is consistent with the main flow of the narrative and with God's choice of the Jewish people. We do it, though, because that is our tradition. How do we explain this Ramban? Rivka, rather than being strong enough to fight pain, seems overcome by it.

The solution is found in the conclusion of the verse above, "she went to seek a message from God." Despite extreme pain and discomfort, wishing she is dead, her reaction is to find meaning in the pain, to try to reconnect to God. That is a very different model of greatness. She is not a superhuman in the teeth of suffering. Rather, she has the capability to pick herself up in a time of pain and recover her will to live.

Her answer from God is not so positive. Two warring nations will come from her womb. For Rivka, though, it is enough that there is a divine plan, a meaning to her pain.

After marrying, Rivka never sees her family again. She has two sons. One, Esav, goes off the path, marries unsuitably, and vows to kill his brother. His brother, Yaacov, her favorite, is forced to flee and she never sees him again.

It reads like a tragedy and it seems that Rivka felt the pain. However, she knew that, through Ya'akov, she was a mother of the chosen people. She saw her place in God's plan. She did not deny her pain. She served God through her pain. A worthy role model indeed!

[Prepared by Samuel Jackman.]

“Va-ye’ehav Yitzchak et Eisav ki tzayid be-fiv, ve-Rivka ohevet et Ya’akov” – “And Yitzchak loved Eisav for game was in his mouth (he was a hunter), and Rivka loves Ya’akov.” How are we to understand Yitzchak’s and Rivka’s preferences, and what can we learn from their choice to “play favorites?”

R’ Shimshon Refael Hirsch explains this verse using the theory that “opposites attract.” Yitzchak, the “olah temima” who had lived a quiet and peaceful life, loved Eisav, the man of action – the wild hunter. Rivka, who had been raised in the house of Betu’el and Lavan, two men not known for their piety (to put it mildly), loved the simple perfection of Ya’akov, the “ish tam.”

R’ Hirsch takes this thought one step further by actually criticizing Yitzchak and Rivka for their preferences. He suggests that had they each loved both sons equally, realizing the strengths and weaknesses present in each of them, they might have been more successful in raising each child in a manner more appropriate to his individual personality. (“Chanoch le-na’ar al pi darko” – educate a child in accordance with his disposition.) Eisav, too, could have grown up to be a righteous individual, had he only been given the proper upbringing.

[Prepared by Reuven Weiser]

As famine breaks out in the land of Canaan, Yitzchak takes a leaf from his father's book and makes for the more fertile land of the Pelishtim. He arrives in Gerar where Avraham had dug his wells a generation before. The Torah tells us (Bereshit 26:15-18):

The Torah tells us very little of Yitzchak's life compared to those of his father and son. Of what we are told, this story of re-digging his father's stopped up wells takes a significant place. Why is this?

The Vilna Gaon focuses on the detail that when re-digging the wells, he calls them by the names his father gave them - and that this was out of respect for his father. The Gaon understands this message as analogous to one's behavior: Just as Yitzchak did not even change the names of his father's wells - how much more so should a person not change from the ways of their ancestors The significance of this lesson is seen in that Yitzchak was the only one of our forefathers whose name was never changed (Avram-Avraham: Yaacov-Yisrael).

Rabbenu Bechaya cites an additional explanation. He understands that the wells are analogous to the converts who Avraham brought to monotheism. They came as easily to belief as wells are filled with water with ease. The opening up of a heart previously closed to belief is the digging here. It appears that when the Pelishtim stopped them up and filled them with earth, they closed these converts' hearts to belief and filled them up instead with their own idolatrous ideas. This is the "earth." It was Yitzchak who re-dug those wells, and called them by the names his father gave them - as a convert will take on a new name, so did they to a belief of one God.

Both of these interpretations stress the aspect of continuation. Yitzchak spent his life in continuing that of his father's. However, he did not merely refrain from living a different life - but actually devoted his energies and labors to reworking afresh the toils of Avraham. This was Yitzchak. For certain people it is easy to believe. Coming after them is harder. You often do not have whatever it was that gave your previous generations the conviction to go against the grain. However in such cases, it appears that it is all one can do just not to leave that pattern. Yitzchak teaches that not only is the trait of continuation worthy in and of itself - sometimes merely because it fixes firmly what had not yet taken strong root - but, often one needs to return and go through the same experience and perform the same toils before this part can take root and avoid its up- rooting by others.

[Prepared by Reuven Lavi.]

Parashat Toladot opens as follows: "These are the 'toladot' of Yitzchak: Avraham begot Yitzchak."

Although the term "toladot" generally refers to offspring, many translators and commentators prefer to translate this phrase as "This is the story of Yitzchak..." The reason is clear: if the verse opens, "These are the offspring of Yitzchak," then we expect the verse to continue with Yitzchak's children, not the already-known fact that Avraham was Yitzchak's father!

One may, however, retain the straightforward meaning of the word "toladot." On a simple, "peshat" level, the opening verse may serve to introduce the entire parasha, not necessarily the continuation of the verse. Indeed, the rest of the parasha does in fact tell of Yitzchak's progeny. "Avraham begot Yitzchak" may be seen as a parenthetical comment, inserted before the discussion regarding the offspring of Yitzchak.

Although this may be the simplest explanation, the peculiar structure of this opening verse calls for additional levels of interpretation, along the lines of "derash." Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l suggests that the verse here tells us that the primary "offspring," or legacy, of Yitzchak involved his being Avraham's son. His most significant contribution to the world in general and the development of God's nation in particular was his emulation of his father. "This is the legacy of Yitzchak - Avraham begot Yitzchak," Yitzchak was truly Avraham's son, the ultimate inheritor of his teachings.

It should be added that, as has been pointed out by many, Yitzchak innovates very little throughout his lifetime, at least as appears from the Chumash itself. As opposed to Avraham, who developed a revolutionary theological system and emerged as an internationally renowned religious figure, Yitzchak seems to introduce very little. Yet, his contribution may be the most significant of all. It was he who stabilized the new beliefs of Avraham, who ensured that the name and legacy of Avraham would survive the centuries and millennia and not be left as a curious historical anecdote. Yitzchak's dedication to that for which his father stood guaranteed its safe passage through the ocean of time, to this very day.

Rav Moshe applied this idea to what he perceived as an exaggerated tendency to innovate, to introduce new ideas and fresh concepts. He felt that too many organizations, many of which were motivated by sincere aspirations for the sake of Torah and Am Yisrael, emerged claiming some new idea to sell. What had been lost, felt Rav Moshe, was a commitment to perpetuity, to simply transmitting the Jewish heritage to the next generation. This constituted Yitzchak's primary contribution, and this constitutes the primary responsibility of every generation.

[Prepared by David Silverberg.]

Esav - Potential and Fulfillment

Throughout the story of Esav, from its beginnings in this week's parasha to its last mention in this week's haftora (taken from the last chapters of the Tanakh), Esav is described as wicked in an almost deterministic manner. One can explain that there was nothing deterministic at all but that God only "informed" his mother before his birth what his future would be. Another way to explain this is to say that he was born with the tendency for violence, but a tendency which he did not need to follow up on. According to this, we would say that even if he were not destined to be the father of the Jewish People, any effort put into his service of Hashem would have been valued in its own right. It is no one's fault but his own that he did not fulfill this potential.

The value of each person's efforts and intentions even while doing a mistaken act can actually be learnt from a verse later in the haftora (Malakhi 1:11). God tells us that across the world His name is great among the nations and that they all serve Him. This is explained by our Rabbis (Talmud Bavli Menachot 110a) and later by Rashi and Rambam (Guide for the Perplexed 1:36) as meaning that although they serve idols they relate to Hashem as the God of gods. Although the nations being described are not monotheistic, yet on some deeper level they are considered to be serving Hashem. This is because the core of their intention is valued even if their acts are incorrect. If this is how God judges human beings, God's "hate" for Esav (Malakhi 1:3) is only because Esav did not fulfill his potential, not because he was not as great as Yaakov.

[Prepared by Shlomo Dov Rosen.]

This shiur is provided courtesy of the Virtual Beit Midrash, the premier source of online courses on Torah and Judaism - 14 different courses on all levels, for all backgrounds.

Make Jewish learning partof your week on a regular basis - enroll in the
Virtual Beit Midrash

Yeshivat Har Et
Alon Shvut, Israel, 90433
office@etzion.org.il