In a previous Devar Torah, we wondered about the paucity of genealogical
statements in the Torah. We said one such statement is to be found in Parshat
Toldot. "This is Isaac, Abraham's son's, genealogy. Abraham sired Yitzhak.
Yitzhak took to wife Rivka, Btuel's daughter, at the age of 40. Rebecca was
barren." "Yitzhak ngatar lo Adonay." He entreated Adonay in abundant
fashion. In other words, He spent an excessive amount of time pleading,
cajoling, begging Adonay's indulgence. According to Brown, Driver, and
Briggs, the definitive dictionary of the Bible, this verb connotes a human-God
relationship. In other words, one human cannot speak this way to another
human.
The Torah attempts to teach us that the language of prayer differs from all
others. In a true act of prayer, one seeks a solution to one's problem
different from what one can anticipate from a fellow human. In approaching
Adonay, we are communicating with the Author of the Universe, the One who
knows the intricacies of the universe more profoundly than any living being.
To this One we turn differently than we would to even the most powerful
influential human. In the act of "ngatar," we are asking for the removal of
seemingly natural barriers. A level of communication is achieved unknown to
human discourse. It is what Martin Bubar called the level of "I-Thou." The
"ngatar" process "bore fruit." Rebecca became pregnant.
The story doesn't end at that point. Rebecca felt uncomfortable. She
carried twins, each active in its own right. In her perplexity, she says,
"Why do I need this?' And she goes to inquire of Adonay. Note, she doesn't
engage in "ngatar" but in "drisha," an act of inquiry. "Please clarify my
condition. Why am I so uncomfortable?" She is told by Adonay, "You are carry
the ultimate scions of two nations." The rabbis modified this statement to
read: "You are carrying the ultimate science of two nations — Rabbi Judah
Hanasi and Antonios, the Ruler of Rome. And one will outwit the other."
Antonios' empire will crumble, while the empire of Judah Hanasi will survive
all wars and persecutions. Of course, we practicing Jews are testimony to
this prophecy.
The Sidra continues the saga of the two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was an
outdoors man, a hunter, and Jacob an indoors man, complete in the eyes of the
Torah. Early in life, the Talmud teaches us, Esau showed his true colors. He
raped a young woman, he killed an innocent bystander, he denied eternal life
and energy, and denied the existence of God. To the rabbis, this was the true
mark of the anti-Jew, for to them the message of the children of Israel was,
the eternity of nature and its creator and the sanctity of human person and
possession.
The Sidra reaffirms the promise to Avraham in Yitzhak's — Isaac's —
generation. To him, the promise of the eternity of Abraham's descendants was
reaffirmed.
After being expelled from Avimelech's territory, he settles in Nahal Gerar
and reclaims the wells which the Philistines had stopped up after his father's
death. He renamed them, restoring to them their spiritual significance, for
in a name one discovers its spirit. His servants find other sources of water.
Our Sages said, "Ayn mayim elih Torah." Living waters symbolize a living
faith. Thus, after the incidents of strife with Avimelech's legions, his
minions discovered the ultimate well-spring and named it Be'er Sheva, the
symbol of eternal peace between Isaac and his neighbors.
Esau meanwhile brought pain to his father. He married into the Hittite
clans, archenemies of Isaac and, according to the Sages, a symbol of ultimate
licentiousness.
Isaac is slowly approaching the end of his life and he wants to bless his
progeny.
He asks Esau, his older son, to provide him with a special "kiddush" so that
he may bless him. Rebecca, knowing Esau's true character — a molester of
women and a destroyer of life and property — feels her younger son is more
deserving of the family blessing. After all, Esau had rejected his birth
right. By a ruse, she clothes Jacob and the blessing is given to him. This
arouses great enmity. Esau's hate for his brother grows daily. Rebecca
discovers Esau's hate and advises Jacob to leave home, go back to her native
land, and perhaps he will find the peace he seeks in his mother's ancestral
land.