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Toledot Vol.30 No.9.Qxp Layout 1 18 November 2017 29 Cheshvan 5778 Shabbat ends London 4.58pm Jerusalem 5.17pm Volume 30 No. 9 Toledot Artscroll p.124 | Hertz p.93 | Soncino p.140 Haftarah – Artscroll p.1207 | Hertz p.948 | Soncino p.1189 Shabbat Mevarechim. Rosh Chodesh Kislev is on Sunday In loving memory of Malka bat Peretz “Ya’akov simmered a stew, and Esav came in from the field, and he was exhausted. Esav said to Ya’akov, ‘Pour into me, now, some of that very red stuff for I am exhausted.’ He therefore called him Edom” (Bereishit 25:29-30). 1 Sidrah Summary: Toledot 1st Aliya (Kohen) – Bereishit 25:19-26:5 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 26:30-27:27 Yitzchak, aged 60, prays for his wife Rivkah to Yitzchak agrees to the peace proposal. Esav have a child. Rivkah conceives twins and is told marries two Hittite women. This pains his parents, prophetically that the two children will herald two as both women worship idols (Rashi). The ageing separate nations. Esav is born first, red and hairy. Yitzchak, almost blind, asks Esav to go and hunt Ya’akov then emerges, holding on to Esav’s heel. some game for him to eat, after which he will As they grow up, Esav becomes a hunter, whereas bless Esav. Rivkah overhears and instructs the Ya’akov dwells in tents of Torah study (see p.3 reluctant Ya’akov to go to Yitzchak disguised as article). Yitzchak loves Esav, whereas Rivkah Esav, with two cooked goats, so as to receive the prefers Ya’akov. One day Ya’akov prepares a red blessings instead of Esav. lentil stew. Esav returns exhausted from the fields, Point to Consider: what had caused Yitzchak to demanding that Ya’akov give him some of the lose his sight? (see Rashi to 27:1) stew. Ya’akov agrees, but in return for Esav transferring first-born rights to him. Esav agrees, 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 27:28-28:4 taking an oath in return for the food. Rivkah’s plan is successful; Ya’akov receives the Famine hits the Land of Cana’an (later Israel). God blessings. Esav returns from the field, realises tells Yitzchak not to go down to Egypt for food what has happened and lets out a bitter cry. and assures him that he will be a forefather of a Yitzchak also gives Esav a blessing, but it includes great nation. his subservience to Ya’akov. Esav plans to kill 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 26:6-12 Ya’akov. Rivkah realises this, and tells Ya’akov to Yitzchak lives amongst the Plishtim (Philistines) in escape to her brother Lavan in Charan. Yitzchak Gerar. Afraid to reveal that Rivkah is his wife, lest instructs Ya’akov to marry one of Lavan’s harm befall them from jealous suitors, Yitzchak tells daughters. Before Yitzchak sends Ya'akov away, the locals that she is his sister. However, the ruler he blesses him with the blessing first bestowed Avimelech discovers that they are actually married. upon Avraham, including, specifically, the blessing He accuses Yitzchak of deceiving him, but warns of the Land of Israel. From this we can see that the people not to harm Yitzchak and Rivkah. Yitzchak had always intended that the real legacy Yitzchak sows the land and is very prosperous. was to go to Ya'akov, not Esav. (Shevi’i) 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 26:13-22 7th Aliya – 28:5-9 The Plishtim, jealous of Yitzchak’s prosperity, stop Ya’akov sets off to Charan. Esav marries a third up his wells. Yitzchak carries on digging wells; the wife, the daughter of his uncle Yishmael. arguments eventually stop. Haftarah 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 26:23-29 The haftarah is the special reading for Shabbat Yitzchak moves to Beersheva. God appears to Erev Rosh Chodesh, from the Book of Shmuel him in the night, telling Yitzchak He will bless him. (Samuel). It relates how Yehonatan (Jonathan) Yitzchak builds an altar. Avimelech brings an risks his life to protect his friend David from the entourage from Gerar, offering Yitzchak a new wrath of Yehonatan’s father King Shaul (Saul). peace treaty. Their initial discussion of how to ensure David’s Question: what was the name of Avimelech’s safety takes place on Erev Rosh Chodesh, the day military general? (26:26) Answer on bottom of before Shaul’s special feast. page 6. United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue Editor: Rabbi Chaim Gross Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial Team: Ilana Epstein, Michael Laitner, Sharon Radley Available also via email US website www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Loraine Young on 020 8343 5653, or [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected] 2 A Fatal Disconnect by Rabbi Chaim Gross, Editor, Daf Hashavua “The lads grew up and Esav To help answer our questions, let us consider the became one who knows meaning of Ya’akov “dwelling in tents”. Rashi hunting, a man of the field; but (d. 1105) explains that these tents refer to the Ya’akov was a wholesome ‘study halls of Torah’. Ya’akov was intellectually man, dwelling in tents” advanced and refined in matters of the mind. Yet (Bereishit 25:27). his excellence was not limited to the study halls. As his life developed, we see that Ya’akov’s actions were also exemplary. For example, in all This week’s sidrah relates the birth and of his 20 years working for his demanding, development of Ya’akov and Esav. Whilst, deceiving and cheating uncle Lavan, he acted according to the Midrash, Ya’akov went on with total honesty and integrity (ibid. 31:38-40). to become the greatest of the forefathers, He was able to raise 12 sons who became the Esav became an animal hunter, sold his heads of the tribes and the kernel of the Israelite birthright for a bowl of lentils and married two nation. idol-worshipping women. Ya’akov may have been intellectually gifted, but However, the perception that Esav was no more he knew that real worth as a person comes when than a low life raises questions. As Yitzchak’s one translates ideas into actions. As the Mishnah death approached, he wanted to give Esav in Pirkei Avot (3:12 – see green siddur, p. 540) powerful blessings. Only Rivkah, with her relates, wisdom without good deeds will never superior prophetic powers, was able to see the endure. The man of Torah knowledge was totally danger of this; she persuaded Ya’akov to dress grounded in worldly good deeds. up, posing as Esav, to take those blessings himself (Bereishit 27:5-29). If Esav was no more than a villain, why was Yitzchak interested in Esav, in contrast, was able to grasp high ideals giving him blessings? and lofty matters. The Talmudic Sages tell us that he was knowledgeable in Torah laws (see Rashi’s commentary to Bereishit 25:27) and concealed A further, related question arises, about Esav’s his deeds from Yitzchak. Perhaps this intellectual death. The Talmud (Sotah 13a) relates a prowess is what his father saw in him, such Midrashic tradition that when Ya’akov died, that he considered Esav a candidate for the his sons took his body to Ma’arat (Cave of) blessings. This explains why his head, the seat Hamachpela for burial. Esav arrived and of those ideas, ended up in Ma’arat Hamachpela, disputed Ya’akov’s right to be buried there. As a a place of distinction and holiness, even though debate ensued, one of Ya’akov’s grandchildren, he was not righteous enough to be buried in Chushim the son of Dan, who was deaf and such a place. Unlike Ya’akov, Esav’s ideas unable to make out the content of the debate, tragically never translated themselves into saw his grandfather’s burial being delayed. righteous actions. There was no integration Seeing this as a terrible final attack on Ya’akov, between wisdom and deed, a disconnect which Chushim attacked Esav, cutting off his head in his severed ending fully symbolised. the process. The Talmud relates that Esav’s head rolled into the Cave, where it was buried, next to Ya’akov. Whilst we do not find that the Talmud praises Chushim, what is the significance of this message; especially that Esav’s body remained outside the Cave, whilst his head was buried inside? In memory of Avraham ben Yehoshua 3 Bein Adam Lechaveiro Part 17: Tzedaka – Practicalities II by Rabbi Daniel Fine, Community Rabbi, Stanmore & Canons Park United Synagogue When listing some of the Our great Rabbinic leaders were very careful most pertinent laws of to give tzedaka. Walking in Jerusalem, Rabbi tzedaka, it is important to Aharon Kotler (d. 1962) suddenly noticed a underline that the guidelines pauper and ran after him to give him some here are no substitute for coins. He later explained that some years earlier asking one's Rabbi for this man had approached him, but he had no specific halachic guidance, money to give. Years later, he ‘made up for it’. based on one’s individual circumstances. The Shulchan Aruch has a range of laws regarding the collection and distribution of The Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law, communal charity funds; those in charge must written 1563) rules that a recipient of tzedaka be scrupulous individuals who go out of their is to be provided with “whatever they are way to make sure that that the funds are lacking”.
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