Toldot | "Avraham Begot Yitzchak"

 

(Summarized by Rav Eliyahu Blumenzweig)

 

'Avraham begot Yitzchak' - for the scoffers in that generation said, 'Sarah became pregnant from Avimelekh...' so God made Yitzchak's face look similar to that of Avraham... (Rashi, Bereishit 25:19).

 

     Rashi's words prompt us to ask why God must 'go out of His way,' as it were, and perform a special action just because of the scoffers of the day. Is it really necessary for an extra verse to be added into the Torah just because of these scoffers?

 

     The problem of childlessness is a theme among all the patriarchs - Avraham, Yitzchak, and even Yaakov, in the case of  his wife Rachel. Parallel to this physical childlessness, a type of spiritual barrenness also existed.

 

     Avraham taught belief in the Creator to the nations and all those around him. This belief was pure, devoid of any type of anthropomorphism or physicality, and demanded ideals of charity and justice that were beyond anything that the nations had previously known or believed. 

 

     In response, those around him acknowledged that his faith was genuine, but considered it too lofty and pure, and they doubted the possibility that future generations would follow in his path and continue the same pure faith. Humanity, to their minds, was incapable of this, and therefore should continue to worship idols, out of an inability to reach the level of Avraham. 

 

     This was, in fact, a spiritual barrenness - an inability to create a nation that would have genuine and pure faith.  Avraham and his descendants waged a constant battle to prove that indeed there could be a continuity of faith, and that there was a nation capable of continually following the path of truth.

 

     It was Avraham who revealed the attribute of 'chesed,' the influencing of others and calling on God's name, to the world.  Yitzchak would later reveal the attribute of 'yirah' - the withdrawal and silence inherent in Divine service. But even if Avraham was no longer childless in the physical sense, can we really say that from a spiritual point of view he had a successor who would continue in his faith, or had his son left his path and created a new and innovative path of his own? Yitzchak was truly unlike Avraham, the influencer. He was withdrawn and introverted.  Perhaps we might be led to imagine that Sarah had indeed become pregnant from Avimelekh, and not from Avraham!

 

     For this reason, God made Yitzchak's face appear similar to Avraham's, in order to make it clear that Yitzchak's faith was the same as his, and that Yitzchak was indeed following in his father's way. Rather than creating a new path, he was simply adding a new track to the existing one. While Yitzchak truly 'dug new wells,' these were the same wells which Avraham his father had dug before him, and he called them by the same names which his father had used.

 

     "Avraham begot Yitzchak" teaches us that there is continuity; there is a nation which walks in the lofty paths of Avraham.  It teaches us that Yitzchak is indeed Avraham's son, continuing in his path, adding scope and renewal.

 

(Originally delivered on Leil Shabbat Parashat Toldot 5732.

Translated by Kaeren Fish.)

 

(Summarized by Rav Eliyahu Blumenzweig)

 

'Avraham begot Yitzchak' - for the scoffers in that generation said, 'Sarah became pregnant from Avimelekh...' so God made Yitzchak's face look similar to that of Avraham... (Rashi, Bereishit 25:19).

 

     Rashi's words prompt us to ask why God must 'go out of His way,' as it were, and perform a special action just because of the scoffers of the day. Is it really necessary for an extra verse to be added into the Torah just because of these scoffers?

 

     The problem of childlessness is a theme among all the patriarchs - Avraham, Yitzchak, and even Yaakov, in the case of  his wife Rachel. Parallel to this physical childlessness, a type of spiritual barrenness also existed.

 

     Avraham taught belief in the Creator to the nations and all those around him. This belief was pure, devoid of any type of anthropomorphism or physicality, and demanded ideals of charity and justice that were beyond anything that the nations had previously known or believed. 

 

     In response, those around him acknowledged that his faith was genuine, but considered it too lofty and pure, and they doubted the possibility that future generations would follow in his path and continue the same pure faith. Humanity, to their minds, was incapable of this, and therefore should continue to worship idols, out of an inability to reach the level of Avraham. 

 

     This was, in fact, a spiritual barrenness - an inability to create a nation that would have genuine and pure faith.  Avraham and his descendants waged a constant battle to prove that indeed there could be a continuity of faith, and that there was a nation capable of continually following the path of truth.

 

     It was Avraham who revealed the attribute of 'chesed,' the influencing of others and calling on God's name, to the world.  Yitzchak would later reveal the attribute of 'yirah' - the withdrawal and silence inherent in Divine service. But even if Avraham was no longer childless in the physical sense, can we really say that from a spiritual point of view he had a successor who would continue in his faith, or had his son left his path and created a new and innovative path of his own? Yitzchak was truly unlike Avraham, the influencer. He was withdrawn and introverted.  Perhaps we might be led to imagine that Sarah had indeed become pregnant from Avimelekh, and not from Avraham!

 

     For this reason, God made Yitzchak's face appear similar to Avraham's, in order to make it clear that Yitzchak's faith was the same as his, and that Yitzchak was indeed following in his father's way. Rather than creating a new path, he was simply adding a new track to the existing one. While Yitzchak truly 'dug new wells,' these were the same wells which Avraham his father had dug before him, and he called them by the same names which his father had used.

 

     "Avraham begot Yitzchak" teaches us that there is continuity; there is a nation which walks in the lofty paths of Avraham.  It teaches us that Yitzchak is indeed Avraham's son, continuing in his path, adding scope and renewal.

 

(Originally delivered on Leil Shabbat Parashat Toldot 5732.

Translated by Kaeren Fish.)

 

(Summarized by Rav Eliyahu Blumenzweig)

 

'Avraham begot Yitzchak' - for the scoffers in that generation said, 'Sarah became pregnant from Avimelekh...' so God made Yitzchak's face look similar to that of Avraham... (Rashi, Bereishit 25:19).

 

     Rashi's words prompt us to ask why God must 'go out of His way,' as it were, and perform a special action just because of the scoffers of the day. Is it really necessary for an extra verse to be added into the Torah just because of these scoffers?

 

     The problem of childlessness is a theme among all the patriarchs - Avraham, Yitzchak, and even Yaakov, in the case of  his wife Rachel. Parallel to this physical childlessness, a type of spiritual barrenness also existed.

 

     Avraham taught belief in the Creator to the nations and all those around him. This belief was pure, devoid of any type of anthropomorphism or physicality, and demanded ideals of charity and justice that were beyond anything that the nations had previously known or believed. 

 

     In response, those around him acknowledged that his faith was genuine, but considered it too lofty and pure, and they doubted the possibility that future generations would follow in his path and continue the same pure faith. Humanity, to their minds, was incapable of this, and therefore should continue to worship idols, out of an inability to reach the level of Avraham. 

 

     This was, in fact, a spiritual barrenness - an inability to create a nation that would have genuine and pure faith.  Avraham and his descendants waged a constant battle to prove that indeed there could be a continuity of faith, and that there was a nation capable of continually following the path of truth.

 

     It was Avraham who revealed the attribute of 'chesed,' the influencing of others and calling on God's name, to the world.  Yitzchak would later reveal the attribute of 'yirah' - the withdrawal and silence inherent in Divine service. But even if Avraham was no longer childless in the physical sense, can we really say that from a spiritual point of view he had a successor who would continue in his faith, or had his son left his path and created a new and innovative path of his own? Yitzchak was truly unlike Avraham, the influencer. He was withdrawn and introverted.  Perhaps we might be led to imagine that Sarah had indeed become pregnant from Avimelekh, and not from Avraham!

 

     For this reason, God made Yitzchak's face appear similar to Avraham's, in order to make it clear that Yitzchak's faith was the same as his, and that Yitzchak was indeed following in his father's way. Rather than creating a new path, he was simply adding a new track to the existing one. While Yitzchak truly 'dug new wells,' these were the same wells which Avraham his father had dug before him, and he called them by the same names which his father had used.

 

     "Avraham begot Yitzchak" teaches us that there is continuity; there is a nation which walks in the lofty paths of Avraham.  It teaches us that Yitzchak is indeed Avraham's son, continuing in his path, adding scope and renewal.

 

(Originally delivered on Leil Shabbat Parashat Toldot 5732.

Translated by Kaeren Fish.)