Parshat Toledot

2005

Generations

Twenty-five years ago, when I was 13, I celebrated becoming a Bar Mitzvah at a very large Conservative congregation in Albany, N.Y. Because there were so many teenagers in the Hebrew school at the time, our celebrations were often not during the week of our actual birthdays and parshiot. I read from the Torah and had a big party in November when we read parshat Toldot even though my Hebrew birthday is back in Elul and "my" parsha is really Ki Tavo. In any event, I have felt a connection to this "adopted" parsha ever since.

I remember the drash that I presented that day. It was about God's answer to Rebecca when she complains about her difficult birth. I told the congregation (in my prepubescent voice) that if twins could not get along, how much harder it must be for nations to get along. I thought that it was very deep at the time. Now, as a professional Jewish educator, I see this parsha as containing some additional very important teachings and fascinating details.

Here is an overview of the portion. Isaac (meaning "laughter") and Rebecca ("pen-fatted calf") have twins, Jacob ("he will heel") and Esau ("completed"). Jacob spends most of his time in the tent while Esau is a Field and Stream hunter-type. Isaac loves Esau because of his hunting and cooking skills, and Rebecca loves Jacob, just because. Esau, born moments before Jacob, is the first-born but trades his birthright for Jacob's red lentil soup. Esau was then called Red. Isaac re-digs the wells that his father Abraham dug. Esau marries a local woman and both of his parents are upset. Isaac has become old and blind and calls to Esau to bring him some fresh meat and be given a birthright blessing. Rebecca convinces Jacob to dress up as Esau and get the blessing instead. Isaac blesses Jacob dressed up as Esau. Esau arrives and is given a less desirable blessing. Esau decides to kill his brother. Jacob, after being blessed a second time by Isaac, runs away from home to escape Esau and find a wife among his cousins back in the "old country."

Among the more interesting verses in this portion is the description of Esau when he sells his birthright. Genesis 26:34 says: "Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. Esau ate, drank, got up, left, and rejected [or despised] the birthright." This is one of the longest string of verbs in the entire Torah, and it gives us a powerful insight into Esau's character. Esau is a man of action. When he feels like he is starving to death he sells his birthright. When he is satisfied, he gives the birthright no further thought. He eats, drinks, (evidently doesn't recite Birkat HaMazon) and leaves, not only the dining room table, but he also leaves his birthright and his heritage behind. Esau lives in the moment while Jacob plans for the future. About 25:34, Rashi teaches: "The text attests to Esau's wickedness, that he despised [not only the birthright], but the service to God."

Clearly the most famous part of the story is the deception of Isaac. But was it really a deception? When Jacob comes before his father disguised as his brother, his father says, "Who are you, my son?" When Jacob says, "It is I, Esau, your first-born," Isaac asks how he was able to return so quickly with food. Jacob's response uses the language of Jacob, not Esau: "God was with me." Jacob touches him and says, "Are you really Esau or not?" and then says, "The voice is Jacob's but the hands are Esau's." He then asks him again, "Are you really Esau?" and Jacob says, "I am." Isaac then smells his son and blesses him. While this sounds like Isaac was tricked, it is very interesting to notice that the blessing given to Jacob when he is disguised as Esau mentions being the future leader of the household, but there is no mention of the of the real birthright, the blessing of being the next spiritual leader of the family. Only when Jacob appears before his father as Jacob does Isaac bestow this blessing of God onto his son, and there is not even a hint of a reprimand from Isaac to Jacob for "taking" the first blessing. About this second blessing from Isaac to Jacob, Rashi adds: "'And I give you the blessing of Abraham (Genesis 28:4)' as God told him to do." So was Isaac tricked, or did he know who he was blessing and only blessed Jacob with the true blessing when he stood before him truthfully as the future leader of the Jewish people?

Our Torah and our traditions are not whitewashed. We are shown our ancestors in their true colors as a dysfunctional family. We learn from their failings and their successes. As we read these verses each year, as Hebrew school students, as Hillel staff, as children or as parents, the levels of meaning and understanding become ever more richer. From one generation to the next we encounter these stories and the Jewish journey continues.

Prepared by Rabbi Shalom Bochner, interim executive director/director of Jewish campus life, Santa Cruz Hillel

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Additional commentaries and text studies on Parshat Toledot at MyJewishLearning.com.