{"id":224,"date":"2013-11-10T16:12:26","date_gmt":"2013-11-10T16:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=224"},"modified":"2013-11-10T16:12:26","modified_gmt":"2013-11-10T16:12:26","slug":"toldot-5770-2009","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=224","title":{"rendered":"Toldot 5770 (2009)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Drash for Toldot 5770<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n

Generations!\u00a0 Today, I would like to talk about two verses concerning the relationship between generations.<\/p>\n

The first is\u00a0 Ch26, v 34, in which Esau (40 years old according to the text) marries Judith and Basmat, both Hittite women and \u201cthey were a provocation to the spirit of Isaac and Rebecca\u201d. Now, one can make an argument (but that is a different drash) that when we read age of the patriarchs we should cut the number in half.\u00a0 Thus, Esau \u2013 more likely age 20 years– becomes the first nice Jewish boy who breaks the heart of his mother by\u00a0 choosing a woman of whom she does not approve.<\/p>\n

The reason for the bitterness of Isaac and Rivka is not stated, so the commentators are able to think broadly about what bothers his parents.\u00a0 Most think that there are two reasons 1) he breaks with social convention by arranging the marriage himself, rather than letting his parents do it and 2) he marries outside the kinship group \u2013 thus violating the fundamental first commandment of being fruitful and multiplying.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second verse \u00a0is Ch 27, v 20, when Isaac asks Jacob how it was that he was able to so quickly find meat for \u00a0him. Jacob says \u201cBecause HaShem your God arranged it for me\u201d. The commentators find this a more problematic verse \u2013 Jacob invokes God\u2019s name in what appears to be an outright lie!\u00a0Some commentators try to rationalize his answer to the question \u201cWho are you, my son?\u201d by noting that the Hebrew can be read \u201cIt is I, Esau your firstborn\u201d (the lie) or as \u201cIt is I. Esau is your firstborn\u201d (pure fact).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But there is another interpretation, and that brings us squarely to the question of who is a Jew. \u00a0About the instance in which Jacob meets Manasheh and Efraim, Pinchas Peli wrote \u201cWho is a Jew? Not somebody whose grandfather was Jewish, but somebody whose grandson is Jewish.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps the young Jacob understands, even if only at an intuitive level,\u00a0 that the continuity of Judaism requires that the children and grandchildren\u00a0 — not the parents and grandparents \u2013 are Jewish.<\/p>\n

And if we want to ensure that continuity, what should we do? The answer seems simple enough. We need to behave in a way that makes our children and grandchildren proud of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shabbat shalom<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Drash for Toldot 5770 by Marc Mangel Generations!\u00a0 Today, I would like to talk about two verses concerning the relationship between generations. The first is\u00a0 Ch26, v 34, in which Esau (40 years old according to the text) marries Judith and Basmat, both Hittite women and \u201cthey were a provocation to the spirit of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-224","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/224\/revisions\/225"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}