Toldot shifts our focus from Abraham and Sarah to Isaac and Rivkah. “These are the generations of Isaac… Abraham begot Isaac...” Does the Torah repeat itself? How do we emphasize the continuity and different characters as we move from founder to formation; chesed and din. Isaac is unique in many ways. He stays rooted in the Land, sows and reaps me’ah she’arim, reopens wells, and grows “until very great.” Rivkah shows aspects of both Abraham’s generosity and Sarah’s prophetic clarity. What do we make of the interaction with Avimelech and Isaac “playing/laughing” with Rivkah? “The voice is Jacob’s voice and the hands are Esau’s hands...” what do each brother bring to our idea of the covenant?
We explore:• Why “These are the generations of Isaac… Abraham begot Isaac” matters, and what it signals about identity, lineage, and mission• Isaac as farmer and “man of the Land”: sowing in the land and reaping “me’ah she’arim” (a hundredfold), and the triple “gadal” verse of growth• Avimelech, “playing/laughing” with Rivkah (metzachek), and what the rhyming nature of this deception means• Chesed and din as complementary pillars: why we need Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob rather than one perfect hero• Blindness and other ways of seeing: how Isaac’s “inner sight” complicates the blessings scene• Esau and Jacob: parental love, effort vs achievement, and the hard truth of “the voice is Jacob’s voice, the hands are Esau’s hands” as an ideal of integration rather than a mistake• “Bless me too, Father”: holding empathy for Esau’s cry while acknowledging why covenant passes through Jacob• Rebecca as mother of both, stewarding futures: sending Jacob to marry well so the blessing does not unravel
Parshat Toldot 5786
Torah: Genesis 25:19–28:9 | Haftarah: Malachi 1:1–2:7
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