Drash Cards for Toldot (5780)<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 I have to backtrack a bit\nto the end of last week\u2019s parsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Abraham had other descendants, not just\nIshmael, but Zimran, Yakshan, Medan, Midian, Yishbak, and Shuach (Ch 25, v 2),\nwhich is at the end of last week\u2019s parsha. \nThese were the sons of Keturah, whom Abraham married after the death of\nSarah; Keturah is also identified as Hagar, whom he now married as a free\nwoman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 The Torah also lists some\nof the grandsons of Abraham in last week\u2019s parsah. Verse 3: Yakshan was the father of Shevan and\nDedan. Verse 4: The sons of Midian were Eifah, Efer, Chanoch, Avida, and\nElda\u2019ah. We know nothing about the sons\nof Medan, Yishbak or Shuach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 In verse 5, the Torah\ntells us, however, that \u201cAbraham gave\nall that he owned to Isaac\u201d. As Batya beautifully told us last week, it was\nSarah\u2019s guidance and understanding that the future of the Jewish people lay\nwith Isaac that lead Abraham to give everything to Isaac. From this, the Chazal tell us that Sarah was\nin some ways a greater prophet than Abraham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 I want to riff off of\nBatya\u2019s drash from last week. We begin\ntoday \u201cThese are the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham\u201d. They are Jacob (the younger) and Esau (the\nolder). Twins, who struggled within\nRebecca (Ch 25, v 22). During this\ndifficult pregnancy, God tells her that \u201cthe upper hand will pass from one\npower to the other\u2026the elder will serve the younger\u201d (v 23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 Thus, the time of their birth, Rebecca understood\nthat the future of the Jewish people lay with Jacob, not Esau. But think about\nit \u2013 Jacob was really the conduit not the enacter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[Star Trek fans, remember\nthe episode \u201cTomorrow is Yesterday\u201d. From its Wikipedia entry: In the episode, the crew of the USS Enterprise<\/a> travels back to\n1960s earth. A USAF plane piloted by Captain John Christopher\nis scrambled to identify the craft. Fearing an attack, Captain Kirk orders\na tractor beam to be used on the jet, which tears the plane apart. The\npilot is transported<\/a> aboard the Enterprise. Fearing Christopher could\ndisrupt the timeline if returned to Earth, Kirk at first decides that the pilot\nmust stay with the Enterprise.\nWhen Science Officer Spock<\/a> later discovers that the pilot’s as-yet-unborn son\nwill play an important role in a future mission to Saturn<\/a>,\nKirk realizes he must return Christopher to Earth after all.].<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 As Esau and Jacob grow\ninto men, we learn (Ch 25, v 28) \u201cIsaac loved Esau for the game he provided and\nbecause of his cunning words, while Rebecca loved Jacob\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Isaac loved Esau for particular reasons, but Rebecca simply loved Jacob. The Sefat Emet (R. Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger) says that Isaac\u2019s love for Esau \u201cdepended upon a particular thing.\u00a0 If that thing were to disappear that love would disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 The Sefat Emet continues:\n\u201cBut Rebecca loved Jacob without any reason, and her love thus lasted forever\u201d because\nit did not depend on any particular thing. \n God\u2019s love of Israel is of the\nsame sort \u2013 it does not depend upon anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 In her love of Jacob,\nRebecca was mimicking God\u2019s love of Israel. She understood that the future of\nthe Jewish people lay with Jacob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 In the Rebbe\u2019s chumash,\nwe learn that Esau had latent holiness that included the \u201csparks of the lofty\nsouls of future converts to Judaism who would become great Jewish leaders\u201d,\nincluding the prophet Obadiah, sages of the Mishnah, including Rabbi Akivah,\nand Onkelos (author of the Aramaic translation of the Torah). According to the\nRebbe, Isaac sensed the great potential for holiness within Esau, and loved him\nfor it \u2013 Isaac thought that if he could give Esau his blessing, it would\nunleash this latent holiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 But Rebecca saw that the\nfuture of the Jewish people lay with Jacob, which ultimately leads to the\ndeception of the blessing read in a later portion of this parsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 We have to conclude that\nRebecca was a greater prophet than Isaac.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drash Cards for Toldot (5780) by Marc Mangel \u2022 I have to backtrack a bit to the end of last week\u2019s parsha. \u2022 Abraham had other descendants, not just Ishmael, but Zimran, Yakshan, Medan, Midian, Yishbak, and Shuach (Ch 25, v 2), which is at the end of last week\u2019s parsha. These were the sons … Continue reading