Toldot - "Generations" תּוֹלְדֹ֥ת - Genesis B'reisheet 25:19 - 28:9 Gevurah ~ Inner Strength

Studying selected verses of the parsha through the lens of Mussar---exploring the character trait of Gevurah / גבורה/ Inner Strength

Gevurah is the attribute that allows individuals to cultivate a sense of resilience, fortitude, and self-discipline in the face of challenges. It is a quality that empowers individuals to harness their willpower, set boundaries, and navigate life's difficulties with determination and courage.

Bullet Points /key concepts:

• Isaac and Rebecca are childless for 20 years. Isaac prayed on behalf of her and God tells her that "two nations are in her womb". After a difficult pregnancy she gives birth to Esau and Jacob.

• God has told her that the younger of the two will prevail over the other. Esau is born first, with the second clutching at his heel.

• Esau grows up as a man of the 'fields', a hunter, while Jacob stays near home

• Jacob is making a stew of red lentils when Esau comes from the fields hungry and sells his birthright for a bowl of the stew.

• In this parsha, incidents are repeated with Isaac that Abraham experienced (famine, promises from God, lying about his wife being his sister, incidents with wells.)

• Esau marries two Hittite women.

• Isaac grows old and his eyes dim, and expresses his desire to bless Esau before he dies. While Esau goes off to hunt for his father’s favorite food, Rebecca, favoring Jacob as the next leader according to God's message, counsels him on how to deceive Isaac in order to receive the blessing of the first-born. Rebecca dresses Jacob as Esau, and sends him to Isaac. He receives the blessing.

• Esau when he returns is totally distraught, and pleads with his father for another blessing.

• Isaac predicts that he will live by his sword, and that when Jacob falters, the younger brother will forfeit his supremacy over the elder.

• Jacob leaves home for Haran, fleeing from Esau's anger and as Isaac told him, he goes to find a wife in the family of his mother's brother, Laban.

• Esau marries a third wife, the daughter of Ishmael.

Gevurah grants us the capacity to direct our actions, our thoughts, our commitments, and our love (Chesed from week 1). When we choose to commit ourselves, we are employing gevurah. When we choose the good and the holy or, God forbid, a different value to follow, that is gevurah–both the discernment between different values (love, awe, greed, power, justice, etcetera) as well as the commitment to channel them into our embodied lives are both gevurah. ~ Rabbi Meir Goldstein

Gevurah is particularly valuable during times of adversity or uncertainty. It enables people to tap into their reservoirs of courage, perseverance, and determination, allowing them to face challenges head-on. Whether it is in the face of personal setbacks, societal pressures, or moral dilemmas, the trait of Gevurah empowers individuals to hold true to their convictions and act with integrity.

But gevurah and Yitzchak seem like an odd mix. It was Yitzchak, more than other biblical figure, who was the epitome of passivity, the one who was acted upon and never showed any initiative. The story of the akeidah is the story of Avraham taking Yitzchak, even though Yitzchak was clearly not a baby. Yitzchak did not even choose his own wife. He dug the same wells that his father dug and, unlike his father, fought no battles. He did not, in contrast to Avraham, have to reject his family ties and their way of life. After his dispute with the shepherds of Gerar, G-d appears to Yitzchak and says, "Do not be afraid" (Breisheet 26:23). Surely a man of strength would not be so easily intimidated. ~Rabbi Jay Kelman, Toldot.

The cynics of that generation were saying that Sarah had become pregnant from Avimelech, since she had failed to conceive in all the years she was with Abraham. What did G‑d do? He formed the countenance of Isaac to resemble that of Abraham, so that all might attest that Abraham had fathered Isaac. This is the meaning of the repetitious wording of the verse: “Isaac (is certainly) the son of Abraham, (since there is proof that) Abraham fathered Isaac.” ~Rashi

רָצַץ (v) heb

1. • to crush, oppress
     • (Qal)
       • to crush, get crushed, be crushed
       • to crush, oppress (fig)
       • crushed (participle passive)

Esau and Jacob are “two nations” that initially cannot co-exist in peace. They represent two forces in each of our lives and in the world as a whole. Esau symbolizes the body, the material world, whose untamed elements need to be conquered. Jacob symbolizes the soul, the spiritual world. Initially these two worlds do not co-exist. Matter and spirit are at war with each other. “When one rises the other falls.” Yet they need each other – they are ‘twins.’ The vulnerable soul without an aggressive body would not be able to survive in this harsh world. Each of us needs to have a “warrior” dimension to protect and defend against the difficult forces of material existence. But the body must have a soul within, and the soul must be the directing force in life. “The greater one – the powerful body – will serve the younger [gentler] soul.” Your body has to be a vehicle for your soul not the other way around. If the body and material drives are in control then the gevurah of the “warrior” becomes excessive. ~The Meaningful Life Center

Esau came from the field, and he was exhausted (25:29) Esau committed five sins on that day: he dishonored a betrothed maiden, he committed a murder, he denied G‑d, he denied the resurrection of the dead, and he spurned the birthright. ~Talmud

Tradition offers that this was the meal of consolation prepared after the death of Avraham: "That was the day on which Abraham died, and Jacob made a broth of lentils to comfort his father Isaac.Why lentils? Just as the lentil has no mouth, so is the mourner speechless. . . . Just as the lentil is round, so mourning comes around to all the inhabitants of this world." ~Talmud

Isaac dug again the wells of water . . . and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them (26:18)

Behold the humility of Isaac. A person acquires a house and gives it a name; then his son comes, adds a new part to it, and calls it by a different name. Not so Isaac: all the wells which Abraham dug and named, although they were entirely stopped up by the Philistines, when Isaac redug them a second time he did not give them new names, but reinstated the names given them by his father.

And what reward did he receive for this? The other Patriarchs had their names changed: Abraham was first called Abram and later Abraham; Jacob was initially called Jacob and subsequently given the name Israel. Isaac, however, was given the name “Isaac” from G‑d even before his birth, and his name was not changed for all generations. ~ Midrash HaGadol

Yitzchak, in an amazing display of inner strength, understood that for Avraham's revolution to be successful, it needed a generation of consolidation, time for regrouping and internalizing the successes of his parents. Striking out on his own would have sunk the revolution, splintering it before it was ready. It would take a couple of generations to become twelve distinct tribes, distinct but united in a common goal. Yitzchak understood this, and happily copied his father. He was proud to be "Yitzchak, the son of Avraham; Avraham begot Yitzchak" (Breisheet 25:19). ~Rabbi Jay Kelman, Toldot

Rabbi Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz

Isaac, who grew up in the house of Abraham, surrounded by the righteous and pure, did not know the ways of tricksters, and therefore fell for Esau's trickery. But Rebecca, she grew up in the house of Bethuel and Laban. She knew tricksters and their lies. She was able to see through Esau and his lies.

The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau (27:22)

“The voice is the voice of Jacob”—no prayer is effective unless the seed of Jacob has a part in it. “The hands are the hands of Esau”—no war is successful unless the seed of Esau has a share in it. ~ Talmud, Gittin, 57b

...we need to go through the Esau-Jacob battle – the war of two nations – to achieve balance and harmony between G-d and the universe. The Romans destroying the Holy Temple, and then the wars of Christianity against Judaism – imposing their religion ‘by the sword’ – are all manifestations of Esau’s gevurah approach in his battles with the world. ~The Meaningful Life Center

We know that Ishmael was 14 years older than Isaac (cf. Genesis 16:16 and 21:5); that Isaac was 60 years older than Jacob and Esau (25:26); and that Ishmael died at age 137 (25:17). Hence, Jacob and Esau were 63 years old when Jacob stole the blessings from his brother and was sent by Isaac to Charan to take a wife from Laban’s daughters. www.chabad.org

The person who guards his speech builds real power. This is the power of self-discipline, the knowledge that one has control over his impulses, that he has the inner strength to restrain himself, measure his words, and act in accord with the highest aspects of himself. Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan --The Chofetz Chaim