Toldos – Peninim on the Torah

ויגדלו הנערים

The lads grew up. (25:27)

Rashi writes that when the twins turned thirteen-years-old they went their separate ways. Yaakov Avinu gravitated to the bais hamedrash, while Eisav ha’rasha leaned toward idol worship. It must be noted that their transformation (especially in Eisav) did not just happen in a moment. Their spiritual destination was not a fate accompli. They neither ran nor walked – they gravitated to their respective choices of worship. Indeed, growing up, Eisav was far from being a devoted idolater. On the contrary, he viewed himself as a tzaddik, a righteous and virtuous person. After all, he was so meticulous in his mitzvah…

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ותאמר אם כן למה זה אנכי

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5783

And she said, “If so, why is it that I am thus?” (25:22)

Rivkah was experiencing what she perceived to be a strange pregnancy. Something unusual was occurring in her body. When she walked by a house of (monotheistic) prayer, a house of learning, she felt the fetus within her womb gravitating toward it. Likewise, when she passed by a house that catered to idol worship, she once again felt a pulling to leave and embrace the idols. What kind of child was she carrying? Rashi explains the words, Lamah zeh anochi; “Why is it that I am?” Why is it that I am desiring and praying for pregnancy? Had I known that…

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ויעתר לו ד' ותהר רבקה אשתו

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5783

Hashem allowed Himself to be entreated by him, and his wife, Rivkah, conceived. (25:21)

Yitzchak Avinu and Rivkah Imeinu both prayed for a child. Hashem replied affirmatively to Yitzchak’s prayer – rather than to Rivkah’s. Rashi explains: “There is no comparison between the prayer of a tzaddik ben tzaddik, the righteous child of a righteous person, to that of a tzaddik ben rasha, a righteous person, the child of a wicked person.” The question is well-known; the answer is also well-known; the “why” however, is not. One would think that after all that Rivkah endured in the home of her youth, she would achieve greater recognition. She achieved tzaddeikes status, despite being the daughter…

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עקב אשר שמע אברהם בקלי וישמר משמרתי מצותי חקתי ותורתי

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5782

Because Avraham obeyed My voice and observed My safeguards, My commandments, My decrees, and My Torahs. (26:5)

Hashem gifted the Holy Land to Avraham Avinu due to his fidelity in obeying Hashem’s word. The Torah speaks of four categories of commandments which cover the entire corpus of Biblical and Oral Law, including Rabbinic enactments that were established to safeguard the Torah from incursion. Avraham did all this without Hashem commanding him to do so. He was able to perceive the entire Torah through Ruach HaKodesh, Divine Inspiration, and he observed it voluntarily (Ramban). Chazal teach that Avraham even adhered to the law of Eiruv Tavshilin, joining two cooked foods, in order to prepare on Yom Tov for…

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הנה אנכי הולך למות ולמה זה לי בכרה

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5782

“Look, I am going to die, of what use to me is a birthright?” (25:32)

Eisav’s negative position vis-à-vis the bechorah, birthright, is clear: He was not interested in it. His reason: “I am going to die, of what use to me is a birthright?” Rashi explains Eisav’s rationale. He was likely to die as a result of performing the sacrificial service improperly. A deeper understanding of this may be that a life of relinquishment, or spiritual life as he knew it, was tantamount to death. Eisav viewed spirituality, with its various demands and strictures, as an imposition on his desired lifestyle. He was on earth to live – not die. A sincere person understands…

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ויאמר עשו אל יעקב הלעיטני נא מן האדם האדום הזה... על כן קרא שמו אדום

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5782

Eisav said to Yaakov, “Pour into me, now, some of the very red stuff… (He therefore called his name Edom).” (25:30)

Avraham Avinu fathered Yishmael about whom we read in the previous parsha. The other symbol of evil born from a Patriarch was Eisav ha’rasha, Yaakov Avinu’s twin. The Torah makes a point to enumerate the alufim, heads of the tribes, of both Yishmael and Eisav, more so than other pagan nations. This is because these two individuals/nations represent the root source of the evil of all the other pagan nations. Horav Moshe Shapiro, zl (Mimaamakim), explains that Yishmael and Eisav represent the two primary categories of the seventy nations of the world, with each individual nation drawing its source of…

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אברהם הוליד את יצחק

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5782

Avraham begot Yitzchak. (25:19)

The Torah underscores that Avraham and Yitzchak were father and son. One would think this is a confirmed verity and does not require the Torah’s reinforcement. Apparently, as Midrash Tanchuma (quoted by Rashi) posits, the leitzanei ha’dor, cynics of the generation, intimated that Sarah Imeinu actually had become pregnant during her short captivity in the home of Avimelech, so that Avraham Avinu had not fathered Yitzchak, but actually, Avimelech had fathered him. Therefore, Hashem made Yitzchak’s features so undeniably similar to Avraham’s that no one could doubt Avraham’s status. Two questions glare at us: Why were these scoffers referred to…

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הקל קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5781

The voice is Yaakov’s voice, but the hands are Eisav’s hands. (27:22)

Yitzchak Avinu sensed a contradiction. The manner in which the “son” who stood before him spoke was gentle, pleasant and respectful. Hence, he assumed that it was Yaakov who stood before him. On the other hand, once he felt his hairy arms, he thought it was Eisav. Alternatively, the power of Yaakov’s voice was in his ability to plead with Hashem through the medium of prayer. Eisav was a “hands on” man; he lived with his hands – plundering and murdering. Nothing stood in the way of his hands. One question that weighs heavily on the reader: If Yitzchak questioned…

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הקל קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5781

The voice is Yaakov’s voice, but the hands are Eisav’s hands. (27:22)

Chazal derive from the above pasuk that when the voice of Yaakov Avinu prevails – when Torah is studied and his descendants are engaged in prayer – the murderous hands of Eisav have no power against us. When we slack off and weaken our vocal power, Eisav and his minions are strengthened. When we read the pasuk, however, the implication is different. It almost appears as if Yaakov lives by his voice and Eisav by his hands – and there is no counterbalance, such that one rises and the other falls. Furthermore, the word kol (ha’kol) the voice, is written…

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עקב אשר שמע אברהם בקלי וישמר משמרתי מצותי חקתי ותורתי

Sruly Schnair In Toldos, 5781

Because Avraham hearkened My voice and safeguarded My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws. (26:5)

In his commentary to the above pasuk, Sforno makes an important point. He notes that Hashem promised Yitzchak Avinu to multiply his offspring, grant his descendants the Land and bless them – all because of His oath to Avraham Avinu. We see here (explains Sforno) that z’chus Avos, merit of others (his father, Avraham Avinu) is invoked when Hashem speaks to Yitzchak. Not so with Avraham (who did not have z’chus Avos) or Yaakov. This is because, before Yitzchak was inspired to call upon the Name of Hashem (after Gerar), when Avimelech came to him and said, “We saw that…

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ויגדלו הנערים

The lads grew up. (25:27)

ותאמר אם כן למה זה אנכי

And she said, “If so, why is it that I am thus?” (25:22)

ויעתר לו ד' ותהר רבקה אשתו

Hashem allowed Himself to be entreated by him, and his wife, Rivkah, conceived. (25:21)

עקב אשר שמע אברהם בקלי וישמר משמרתי מצותי חקתי ותורתי

Because Avraham obeyed My voice and observed My safeguards, My commandments, My decrees, and My Torahs. (26:5)

הנה אנכי הולך למות ולמה זה לי בכרה

“Look, I am going to die, of what use to me is a birthright?” (25:32)

ויאמר עשו אל יעקב הלעיטני נא מן האדם האדום הזה... על כן קרא שמו אדום

Eisav said to Yaakov, “Pour into me, now, some of the very red stuff… (He therefore called his name Edom).” (25:30)

אברהם הוליד את יצחק

Avraham begot Yitzchak. (25:19)

הקל קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו

The voice is Yaakov’s voice, but the hands are Eisav’s hands. (27:22)

הקל קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו

The voice is Yaakov’s voice, but the hands are Eisav’s hands. (27:22)

עקב אשר שמע אברהם בקלי וישמר משמרתי מצותי חקתי ותורתי

Because Avraham hearkened My voice and safeguarded My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws. (26:5)

YEARS

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