Parashat Toldot, 5774/2013 edition
כא וַיֶּעְתַּר
יִצְחָק לַיהוָה לְנֹכַח אִשְׁתּוֹ, כִּי עֲקָרָה הִוא; וַיֵּעָתֶר לוֹ יְהוָה,
וַתַּהַר רִבְקָה אִשְׁתּוֹ.
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21 And Isaac entreated the LORD for
his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD let Himself be entreated of
him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
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טו וַתִּקַּח
רִבְקָה אֶת-בִּגְדֵי עֵשָׂו בְּנָהּ הַגָּדֹל, הַחֲמֻדֹת, אֲשֶׁר אִתָּהּ, בַּבָּיִת;
וַתַּלְבֵּשׁ אֶת-יַעֲקֹב,
בְּנָהּ הַקָּטָן.
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15 And Rebekah took the choicest
garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put
them upon Jacob her younger son.
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טז וְאֵת,
עֹרֹת גְּדָיֵי הָעִזִּים, הִלְבִּישָׁה, עַל-יָדָיו--וְעַל, חֶלְקַת צַוָּארָיו.
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16 And she put the skins of the kids
of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck.
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כג וַיֹּאמֶר
יְהוָה לָהּ, שְׁנֵי גֹיִים בְּבִטְנֵךְ, וּשְׁנֵי לְאֻמִּים, מִמֵּעַיִךְ
יִפָּרֵדוּ; וּלְאֹם מִלְאֹם יֶאֱמָץ, וְרַב יַעֲבֹד צָעִיר.
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23 And the LORD said unto her: Two
nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels;
and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder
shall serve the younger.
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- Here are my thoughts from last year, with links to my thoughts from previous years.
- I find it interesting that none of the divrei Torah (words of Torah) that I saw online or in print for this year's reading of Toldot mentioned the fact that Yaakov had already proven himself a thief without Rivkah's help when he conned Esav/Esau out of his birthright. Maybe we shouldn't be so surprised that his only concern about his mother's scheme was that he might be caught. לֹא-הִבִּיט אָוֶן בְּיַעֲקֹב 21 None hath beheld iniquity in Jacob"???!!!
- My favorite among the divrei Torah that I read this, er, last week
"Abraham prays on
Avimelech’s behalf, and we are told that as a result, “God healed Avimelech and his wife and
his slave girls, so that they bore children” (emphasis mine) (20:17). Abraham’s prayers, it seems,
can heal, and enable barren women to give birth. And yet, astoundingly, he has apparently
never chosen to intervene for Sarah. Couldn’t he have—shouldn’t he have—prayed for Sarah
rather than (or at least before) consenting to take Hagar into his bed? "