Parshat Toledot; Genesis 25:19 –28:9 by Rabbi Denise L. Eger
Parshat Toledot is primarily focused on the life of Isaac. His parents, Abraham and Sarah are dead. His children Jacob and Esau are about to be born. The Jewish people’s story unfolds in Toledot as the text focuses on Isaac as patriarch of the next generation.
Embedded in this week’s story, following the birth of the children and the framing of the contention that will mark the relationship of Esau and Jacob, Isaac and Rebekkah repeat the journey taken by Abraham and Sarah. This journey to escape the effects of famine is not just a physical journey but it is a metaphysical journey. Isaac and Rebekkah have almost the exact same experience in the same city of Gerar as did his parents, Abraham and Sarah.
In the physical realm, Isaac portrays to the king, Abimelech, that Rebekkah is his sister and not his wife. Abraham did the same with Sarah in Genesis, chapter 20. Of course this caused in both cases problems as the king, fancied first Sarah and later Rebekkah. Abimelech is very upset when he discovers that these women are none other than wives, not sisters. Tradition teaches it is the same king who one would have thought would have learned his lesson! But that is exactly what this week’s parasha is about. Lessons learned and lessons not learned.
In the metaphysical realm we might look at this story in yet another way. We might see that Isaac now as patriarch of the next generation must walk in the footsteps of his father. He has to plumb the depths of his father’s experiences and make meaning for himself and his family and the traditions of his growing tribe. When confronted with similar moments in time, the choices that Isaac will make will not only shape him but shape generations to come. He has lessons to learn. Will Isaac learn from these lessons? Will he miss them and miss how they relate to incidents in his own life?
Though Isaac may once have fled from a father he may have feared, (See how in Genesis 22: 19 Isaac is not mentioned as returning with is father), he now meets him if only in re-living similar experiences. We learn about our ancestors when we have to grapple with similar decisions and incidents. We gain valuable insights into who they were and their character. What we could not understand as children or earlier in our lives, we understand differently when placed in similar situations. When we become parents, it is only then that we understand the feelings our parents must have had toward us. When we have to bury a parent or care for a sick spouse then we can only truly understand what an earlier generation must have gone through.
I believe this repetition of the story of Abimelech and the wives/sisters is a precursor for Isaac. By almost reliving the story of his father’s life, he will have to respond to many similar choices. Isaac was almost sacrificed on the altar by his father in response to the command of God. His father was fulfilling a divine call. Isaac will do the same to his son Esau when he gives Jacob the blessing even as he senses that Jacob is masquerading as Esau. And though Isaac won’t literally hold a knife over Esau’s head, he will sacrifice him and his future in a different way.
As parshat Toledot concludes Rebekkah remembering the prophecy about her children that the older will serve the younger, helps Jacob receive the blessing of Isaac. Even though it is manipulated and calculated, Jacob finagled the blessing from his father. Thus helping to fulfill the divine call and prophecy. Esau cries to his father “Have you but one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father (27:36).
Isaac does indeed walk in his father’s footsteps. Perhaps more than he realized in his lifetime. But perhaps all of us walk in our parents’ footsteps more than we realize!
Posted by Lee at November 28, 2005 09:54 AM
