Toldot - תּוֹלְדֹ֥ת - Genesis B'reisheet 25:19 - 28:9 Ahava

AND ISAAC BROUGHT HER INTO HIS MOTHER SARAH’s TENT. The purport of the verse is to tell of the honor that Isaac bestowed upon his mother for from the time that Sarah died they did not take down her tent because they said, “Let not another woman come into the tent of the honorable mistress.” But when he saw Rebekah he brought her into that tent in her honor and there he took her as his wife. This is the meaning of the words, and he loved her, and he was comforted, indicating that he was deeply grieved for his mother, finding no comforter until he was comforted by his wife through his love for her. Otherwise, what reason is there for Scripture to mention a man’s love for his wife?
But Onkelos explained: And Isaac brought her into the tent and, behold, she was like Sarah his mother. It is for this reason that Scripture mentions the love he had for her because it was on account of her righteousness and the aptness of her deeds that he loved her and was comforted by her.

(19) This is the story of Isaac, son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac.(20) Isaac was forty years old when he took to wife Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.(21) Isaac pleaded with יהוה on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and יהוה responded to his plea, and his wife Rebekah conceived.(22) But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” She went to inquire of יהוה,(23) and יהוה answered her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
Two separate peoples shall issue from your body;
One people shall be mightier than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.”(24) When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb.

וַיֶּעְתַּר AND ISAAC ENTREATED —He prayed much and urgently.

ממעיך יפרדו SHALL BE PARTED FROM THY BOWELS —as soon as they leave thy body they will take each a different course — one to his wicked ways, the other to his plain life (Genesis 5:27)

ושני לאמים, they will also be politically different from one another, being separate kingdoms.

(25) The first one emerged red, like a hairy mantle [coat] all over; so they named him Esau.(26) Then his brother emerged, holding on to the heel of Esau; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

The lads grew up: Esav became a man knowing the hunt, a man of the open-field,
while Yaakov was a plain^*plain: [Other commentators use “simple.” or quiet, or a perfect man, while Hirsch notes single-minded] staying among the tents.

And Yitzhak loved Esav, for [he brought] hunted-game for his mouth, and Rivka loved Yaakov.

(29) Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open, famished [tired](30) And Esau said to Jacob, “Give me some of that red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished”—which is why he was named Edom.(31) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”(32) And Esau said, “I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?”(33) But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

(1) When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” He answered, “Here I am.”(2) And he said, “I am old now, and I do not know how soon I may die.(3) Take your gear, your quiver and bow, and go out into the open and hunt me some game.(4) Then prepare a dish for me such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my innermost blessing before I die.”(5) Rebekah had been listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau had gone out into the open to hunt game to bring home,

(6) Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I overheard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying,(7) ‘Bring me some game and prepare a dish for me to eat, that I may bless you, with יהוה’s approval, before I die.’(8) Now, my son, listen carefully as I instruct you.(9) Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father, such as he likes.(10) Then take it to your father to eat, in order that he may bless you before he dies.”(11) Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I am smooth-skinned.(12) If my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse, not a blessing.”(13) But his mother said to him, “Your curse, my son, be upon me! Just do as I say and go fetch them for me.”

(14) He got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a dish such as his father liked.(15) Rebekah then took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were there in the house, and had her younger son Jacob put them on;(16) and she covered his hands and the hairless part of his neck with the skins of the kids.(17) Then she put in the hands of her son Jacob the dish and the bread that she had prepared.(18) He went to his father and said, “Father.” And he said, “Yes, which of my sons are you?”(19) Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your first-born; I have done as you told me. Pray sit up and eat of my game, that you may give me your innermost blessing.”(20) Isaac said to his son, “How did you succeed so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because your God יהוה granted me good fortune.”

(21) Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer that I may feel you, my son—whether you are really my son Esau or not.”(22) So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and wondered. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.”(23) He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; and so he blessed him.(24) He asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And when he said, “I am,”(25) he said, “Serve me and let me eat of my son’s game that I may give you my innermost blessing.” So he served him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank.(26) Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come close and kiss me, my son”;(27) and he went up and kissed him. And he smelled his clothes and he blessed him, saying, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that יהוה has blessed.

(28) “May God give you
Of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth,
Abundance of new grain and wine.
(29) Let peoples serve you,
And nations bow to you;
Be master over your brothers,
And let your mother’s sons bow to you.
Cursed be they who curse you,
Blessed they who bless you.”(30) No sooner had Jacob left the presence of his father Isaac—after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob—than his brother Esau came back from his hunt.(31) He too prepared a dish and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father sit up and eat of his son’s game, so that you may give me your innermost blessing.”(32) His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, Esau, your first-born!”

(33) Isaac was seized with very violent trembling. “Who was it then,” he demanded, “that hunted game and brought it to me? Moreover, I ate of it before you came, and I blessed him; now he must remain blessed!”(34) When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!”

(34) When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst into wild and bitter sobbing, and said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!”(35) But he answered, “Your brother came with guile and took away your blessing.”(36) [Esau] said, “Was he, then, named Jacob that he might supplant me these two times? First he took away my birthright and now he has taken away my blessing!” And he added, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

(37) Isaac answered, saying to Esau, “But I have made him master over you: I have given him all his brothers for servants, and sustained him with grain and wine. What, then, can I still do for you, my son?”(38) And Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, Father? Bless me too, Father!” And Esau wept aloud.

(39) And his father Isaac answered, saying to him,
“See, your abode shall enjoy the fat of the earth
And the dew of heaven above.
(40) Yet by your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
But when you grow restive,
You shall break his yoke from your neck.”(41) Now Esau harbored a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing which his father had given him, and Esau said to himself, “Let but the mourning period of my father come, and I will kill my brother Jacob.”

(42) When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you.(43) Now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to Haran, to my brother Laban.(44) Stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury subsides—(45) until your brother’s anger against you subsides—and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will fetch you from there. Let me not lose you both in one day!”(46) Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am disgusted with my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like these, from among the native women, what good will life be to me?”

(1) So Isaac sent for Jacob and blessed him. He instructed him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanite women.(2) Up, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take a wife there from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.(3) May El Shaddai bless you, make you fertile and numerous, so that you become an assembly of peoples.(4) May you and your offspring be granted the blessing of Abraham, that you may possess the land where you are sojourning, which God assigned to Abraham.”(5) Then Isaac sent Jacob off, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, mother of Jacob and Esau.(6) When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, charging him, as he blessed him, “You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanite women,”(7) and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram,(8) Esau realized that the Canaanite women displeased his father Isaac.(9) So Esau went to Ishmael and took to wife, in addition to the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, sister of Nebaioth.

Now listen how love can spoil good deeds when his love is stronger than his wisdom. For there are all sorts of different kinds of love. One love is the love of a parent for their children, and because of this great love, they may not correct them and guide them to the good path, and they permit them to go in the obstinacy of their evil hearts, and out of this can come great harm.

The third love is the love of men for their wives. And if a man has a bad wife — conceited and self-centered — she may remove from his heart the desire to fulfill the commandments and draw him after her. And because of his great love for her he is not firm with her and listens to her counsel, and she can bring him to evil acts. And it can also happen that a man, because of his great love of women, will gaze at them constantly and speak disgraceful things and come to immoral conduct.

The fourth love is the love of a man for his relatives — his father and his mother, his brothers and his sisters and the rest of his kind, friends and companions, and because of his love for them he helps them in their quarrels, and does not feel, nor does he ascertain whether or not his relatives did wrong against the other party of the quarrel, but always helps, protects and shelters them. And even if they have broken forth into wild and boisterous conduct, he protects them. And he may even listen to their advice, and even if the advice is not good he will not turn away from their words. He may even want to raise them to positions for which they are not fitted — for example, to make them rulers and leaders of their generations, to dominate and govern the people. And even if they are wicked, he does not sense it, for love blinds his eyes and makes deaf his ears, and there is, in this nepotism, great damage, for they will cause others to go astray in this same folly.

(1) Love, therefore, your God יהוה, and always keep God’s charge, God’s laws, God’s rules, and God’s commandments.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths smooth.

Likewise for love of G-d - if we do not exert ourselves to implant it in our heart through all the means which lead to this, how will it exist within us?!