Toldot
Genesis 25:19-28:9
Précis: The introductory phrase to this parasha is “These are the generations (“toldot”) of Isaac.” What follows is the birth of the twins, Esau and Jacob. Their childhood is omitted from narrative. We learn that Jacob is a quiet man while Esau is a cunning hunter; that their mother Rebecca prefers Jacob, and that Isaac prefers Esau. We then have the story of the sale of the birthright by Esau to Jacob for a bowl of porridge (or lentils). A famine takes place, and Isaac visits the Philistines where he claims that his wife Rebecca is actually his sister (as Abraham did with Sarah in Lech Lecha) and again, the woman escapes unharmed. The story then turns to the “great deception” where Jacob pretends to be Esau in order to obtain the primary blessing from his father Isaac. Esau hates Jacob and threatens him; Rebecca urges Jacob to escape to her family in Haran, to where he sets off at the conclusion of the parasha.
Gen. 25:19-20 “And this is the lineage of Isaac, son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac. And Isaac was forty years old when he took as wife Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, sister of Laban.”
While Isaac certainly has a major role in the Jewish family story as the second patriarch, one cannot deny that he appears to play a lesser role than his father Abraham (Isaac was, after all, the intended sacrifice on Mt. Moriah). He is also overshadowed by his son Jacob, who has direct interactions with God and sires the tribes which would become a nation. There are several aspects of Isaac’s life which distinguish him from his father and from his son: he lives his entire life in the Land of Israel, never leaving it; he has only one wife, and he has children with only one women; his name remains Isaac through his life (not as in Abram/Abraham, or Jacob/Israel).
What are we to make of these three differences between Isaac, his father, and his son? One might think that Abraham and Jacob are more “real world.” They wander, they face challenges, they assume new names (what we might call changes of status). They are active doers; Isaac is acted upon, both by his father on the mountain and by his son who deceives him in the matter of the blessing. He is not the actor but rather the object.
But we can see Isaac in a positive light as well. He is a person secure in his home, and he faces challenges with a kind of acceptance we might envy. He remains faithful to his wife, and instead of the turmoil of his father and son’s lives, he seems to be relatively at peace with his world and with himself. Midrash calls Isaac the “Master of Suffering," (Bereshit Rabbah 94:5) because he demonstrates the ability to overcome challenges and suffering (at the mountain and in his old age). Isaac’s ability to overcome challenges should inspire us all.
