Feature Tidbit And the Real First Born? Rav Yonason Sacks (OU Torah Dimensions tape on Parshat To'l'dot) explains the issue of what determines the status of firstborn - conception or birth. Rashi cites the Midrash that says that Yaakov was conceived first and attempted to prevent Eisav from being born first by holding onto his heel. The implication is that birth determines the status of B'CHOR. The Vilna Gaon makes an interesting observation on the p'sukim in Ki Teitzei about the man with two wives, one beloved to him, and one not so. The Torah says, and they bear him children, the beloved and the hated... he may not bypass the son of the S'nu'a who is the B'chor. The Gaon saysthat the order of birth was Ahuva and then S'nu'a. Yet the Torah identifies the latter as the B'chor, indicating that conception determines who is first born. Commentaries work their way out of this apparent contradiction by dividing the B'CHORA in the following way: There is the sanctity of the B'chor and there is the matter ofthe double portion of inheritance. One is determined by order of birth and the other by order of conception. Eisav, by virtue of his being born first (regardless of Yaakov being conceived first) would have been entitled to the sanctity of the birthright and the blessings that come with it, had he not given the B'CHORA away. But here is the main point. The legacy of Avraham Avinu goes to Yitzchak and his descendants. Not to Yishmael and not to the children of Ketura. This is not something that Avraham did; it is something ordered by G-d. KI V'YITZCHAK YIKAREI L'CHA ZERA. The Torah says explicitly that only through Yitzchak do we define the seed, the descent of Avraham. In a different way, the question continues to the next generation. Eisav is as much a son of Yitzchak's as is Yaakov. Yet the blessing of Avraham, as transmitted by Yitzchak to Yaakov, not unknowingly but fully aware of who is receiving the Bracha, states that Yaakov and his ZERA will inherit the Land. G-d told Avraham that his "seed" will be strangers in a strange land, they will be enslaved... This did not happen to Yishmael's line. This did not happen to Eisav's line. In fact, the Torah makes a point of telling us about Yishmael's lineage and that of Eisav and their respective lives. Not what G-d had in store for the true descendants of Avraham Avinu. When the Bible-believing world is ready to acknowledge the heritage of Avraham, they must also see that it goes to Yitzchak and from him to Yaakov, and through history to the Children of Israel, the Jewish People. [The To'l'dot Homepage] |
