Toledot, Genesis 25:19- 28:9

by Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith of Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue

Summary

This sidrah begins with the story of the birth of Isaac and Rebekah’s twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The twins fight even in Rebekah’s womb. This traumatised family survives childbirth and famine and Isaac gains much wealth and also respect from others. But the twins are so different from each other –each parent favours one over the other-- and Jacob, the trickster, swindles Esau out of his inheritance. Rebekah and Jacob have misjudged Esau’s anger and Jacob must flee for his life.

Commentary

It can be said that Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob make up a rather disturbed family. How else could it be as each of the members of this family has been traumatised?

Let’s start with Isaac. He is old and blind. The sages offer many possible explanations for his blindness. But there is one that is especially astute, psychologically. Isaac is a survivor of his near-sacrifice at the hands of his father. A Midrash is cited by Rashi to explain his blindness. As Isaac lay shackled onto the altar, he looked up. The angels –who were about to call out to Abraham-- looked at Isaac and wept. Their glances meet in the form of blinding tears which were imprinted onto Isaac’s eyes. Perhaps what Isaac saw was too much for any human to bear? As he gets older, he is less able to suppress his emotions, his pain and he suffers a delayed psychosomatic response. As he becomes old and more preoccupied with his own death he has already seen what it is to be staring at death.

Isaac’s wife Rebekkah is also a traumatised person. In the Torah text, she is depicted as a woman who questions whether it is better to be dead than alive. As the twins struggle inside of her, she asks: ‘Why do I exist? Why did I pray for pregnancy (she was barren for many years) if the pain is so great?’ Rebekah is torn by conflict that she feels over her painful pregnancy. And Rebekah, too, must be aware of the possibility of sacrificing her own life when she will give birth.

The first born son Esau, who is less loved by his mother, is largely unoccupied and is weary of life. When he sells his birthright to he brother for a single bowl of lentil stew, he disparages the rights that he is really giving away, ‘I am starving, I am going to die; of what use is my birthright?’ His existence is listless, purposeless; his great love is merely hunting and killing.

And what about Jacob? He is the deceiver who pretends to be someone else. His search for his own real identity will be the struggle of his life. He will wrestle with himself --and an angel— later on. And, after that trauma, his sons will sell his most beloved son, Joseph, into slavery. The brothers show Jacob a bloodstained piece of clothing –a reminder of the skin cover that Jacob used to deceive Isaac into giving him the blessing-- as evidence that Joseph has been killed.

So, four highly imperfect characters and the lives and actions of each of them are shaped by their particular pain. It is the ambivalences and contradictions that make these stories so important to us.

Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith,
Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue