Rivkah, struggling through unusual pains of pregnancy, became so distraught that she went to seek guidance at the Bais Ha’Midrash of Shem and Ever. She was told that she was carrying twins who were disparate in belief and temperament. They would eventually go their own separate ways, one to do good and the other inclined to the path of evil. This seems puzzling. How was Rivkah comforted by the knowledge that two nations existed within her womb? Did the news of the imminent birth of an evil son make her pregnancy any easier?
Indeed, the grim news that awaited Rivkah, the idea of also giving birth to Esov, the paradigm of evil, was preferable to giving birth to one child with dual inclinations. As the Ridvaz z.t.l. states, it is not the truly evil men who blatantly deny Hashem’s existence that constitute a danger to Judaism. No one really pays more than lip service to them. The danger they represent is manifested by their external manipulations and overt slander which are designed to denigrate the ideals of Torah life.
The greatest threat confronting Judaism emanated from those individuals who knowingly or unknowingly have themselves been infiltrated with apostasy. Their latent hatred of Torah scholars is veiled by their outward, sometimes meticulous, mitzvah performance. Some may even wear the mantle of “Torah” scholar! These menaces to Torah Judaism are ingenious in their ability to conceal their true intentions. By wrapping themselves in a cloak of righteousness while simultaneously casting aspersion on Torah leadership, they are able to deceive the unaware masses into following them.
The Ridvaz advances this thought with a proof from the Torah. On Yom Kippur we are commanded to bring two goats for atonement. The first is to be a korban to Hashem, while the other is to be sent away to Azazel. It does not suffice to simply split one goat in half. A mixture of good and evil in one being is more insidious, and the power of destruction is more potent than when there are two distinct goats involved.
This was Hashem’s “comforting” message to Rivkah. When she walked by a Bais Ha’Midrash, one power within her womb seemed to gravitate towards this holy center. When she passed a house of idol worship, another power struggled to escape. Unaware that she was carrying twins, Rivkah trembled with fear that she would be a mother to a confused child, who would combine both good and evil in one. When she was told that she carried two separate beings; two individual entities, she was reassured.
