Parshat
Toldot - 5761 "VaYeater
Lo HaShem" And
HaShem Allowed Himself to be Entreated by Him In this
week's Parshah, we find a particularly striking verse (Bereshit
25:21), "And Yitzchak
entreated HaShem
'for his wife/opposite his wife,' because she was barren; and HaShem allowed
Himself to be entreated by him, and Rivkah
his wife conceived." The
translation used above alludes to two alternate interpretations of the
expression "le-nochach ishto," which can be translated both as
"for his wife" and as "opposite his wife." It may mean, simply, that Yitzchak prayed intensely for his
wife, and HaShem answered his prayers.
Alternatively, it may mean, following the Midrash Bereshit Rabbah
(63:5), cited by RASHI,
"opposite his wife," with Yitzchak praying in one corner and
Rivkah in the other corner of their room. Following
the latter interpretation, RASHI raises the obvious question, "Why is
it that HaShem answers Yitzchak, but not Rivkah, as indicated by the usage
in the text of the pronoun "lo," him, to the exclusion of "lah,"
her, or most fairly "lahem," them?" And RASHI
answers, following the Talmud
in Masechet
Yevamot 64a, "that the prayer of a righteous person (Yitzchak), born of
a righteous person (Avraham),
'gains the ear' of HaShem, so to speak, more readily than the prayer of a
righteous person (Rivkah) born of a wicked person (Bethuel)." But RASHI
and the Talmud are forced into that somewhat arguable resolution of the
problem by their adoption of the two-corner interpretation of the "Passuk,"
while it is perhaps more probable that the simple
meaning of the verse is that Yitzchak alone prayed, focusing his "kavana,"
his intention, upon and for the benefit of Rivkah, in which case the
question disappears. Be that as
it may, let us try to understand the emotional bonds that the parents formed
with their twins, which in fact were diametrically opposed, as testified by
Bereshit 25:28, "And Yitzchak loved Esav, because hunted game was in
his mouth; and Rivkah loved Yaakov." When Rivkah
first encounters Yitzchak, he has gone out "to meditate in the field at
twilight" (Bereshit 24:63). She
asks Eliezer, "Who is this man, who is walking in the field towards
us?" (Bereshit 24:65) When
Eliezer answers "He is my master," Rivkah modestly covers her face
with a veil. But she has
noticed the reason for Yitzchak's being in the field; namely, meditation and
prayer, and also that he is capable of seeing "outside of
himself," for he has taken notice of the approaching group, and is
moving towards them. Yitzchak's
personality could probably be described by the expression "la-suach
ba-sadeh," to meditate in the field.
It has an inward component, prayerful and meditative, captured by the
word "la-suach," to meditate.
But it is also rooted in the real world, the "sadeh," the
field. When HaShem
answers the prayers of Yitzchak by granting twins to Rivkah, the twins in
essence divide his personality between them.
Esav takes the "sadeh" component, and becomes an "ish
sadeh," a man of the field, and Yaakov takes the "la-suach"
component, the inward, prayerful and meditative
aspect of his father's personality, and becomes an "ish tam," an
outwardly quiet, reserved man; a "yoshev ohalim," who resides in
the tents of study (Bereshit 25:27). Yitzchak's
experience as the "Olah Temimah," the would-be perfect offering of
Avraham, did not fail to leave a mark upon him.
His personal near-brush with death or according to a Midrash, his
actual death and subsequent revival, had pushed him towards his
other-worldly self. In order to
regain equilibrium, he now favors his this-worldly component, the field, the
hunt, the "Esav"-aspect of his personality.
Perhaps this is what is meant by "because hunted game was in his
mouth." Rabbi Pinchas Frankel |
