3 December 2016 3 Kislev 5777 Shabbat ends London 4.47pm Jerusalem 5.21pm Volume 29 No. 10 Toledot ,uksu, Artscroll p. 124 | Hertz p. 93 | Soncino p. 140 In loving memory of Lawrence Krendel “And the servants of Yitzchak dug in the stream and found a well of fresh water there” (Bereishit 26:19) 1 Sidrah Summary: Toledot 1st Aliya (Kohen) – Bereishit 25:19-26:5 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 26:23-29 Yitzchak, aged 60, prays for his wife Rivka to have Yitzchak moves to Beersheva. God appears to him a child. Rivka conceives twins and is told in the night, telling Yitzchak He will bless him. prophetically that the two children would herald two Yitzchak builds an altar. Avimelech brings an separate nations. Esav is born first, red and hairy. entourage from Gerar, offering Yitzchak a new Ya’akov then emerges, holding on to Esav’s heel. peace treaty. As they grow up, Esav becomes a hunter, whereas Ya’akov dwells in tents (of Torah study - Rashi). 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 26:30-27:27 Yitzchak loves Esav, whereas Rivka prefers Yitzchak agrees to the peace proposal. Esav Ya’akov. One day Ya’akov prepares a red lentil marries two Hittite women. This pains his parents, stew. Esav returns exhausted from the fields, as both women worship idols (Rashi). The ageing demanding that Ya’akov give him some of the stew. Yitzchak, almost blind, asks Esav to go and hunt Ya’akov agrees, but in return for Esav transferring some game for him to eat, after which he will bless first-born rights to him. Esav agrees, taking an oath Esav. Rivkah overhears and instructs the reluctant in return for the food. Ya’akov to go to Yitzchak disguised as Esav, with Famine hits the Land of Cana’an (later Israel). God two cooked goats, so as to receive the blessings tells Yitzchak not to leave the Land in order to get instead of Esav. provisions from Egypt and assures him that he will Question: How old was Esav when he got be a forefather of a great nation. married? (26:34) Answer on bottom of page 6. Point to Consider: Why was Ya’akov cooking a 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 27:28-28:4 stew? (25:29) Rivkah’s plan is successful; Ya’akov receives the 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 26:6-12 blessings. Esav returns from the field, realises what Yitzchak lives amongst the Plishtim nation has happened and lets out a bitter cry. Yitzchak (Philistines) in Gerar. Afraid to reveal that Rivka is also gives Esav a blessing, but it includes his his wife, Yitzchak tells the locals that she is his subservience to Ya’akov. Esav plans to kill Ya’akov. sister. However, the ruler Avimelech discovers that Rivka realises this, and tells Ya’akov to escape to they are actually married. He accuses Yitzchak of her brother Lavan in Charan. Yitzchak instructs deceiving him, but warns the people not to harm Ya’akov to marry one of Lavan’s daughters. Yitzchak and Rivka. Yitzchak sows the land and is 7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 28:5-9 very prosperous. Ya’akov sets off to Charan. Esav marries a third 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 26:13-22 wife, the daughter of his uncle Yishmael. The Plishtim, jealous of Yitzchak’s prosperity, stop Haftarah up his wells. Yitzchak carries on digging wells; the arguments eventually stop. The prophet Malachi speaks of God’s love for Ya’akov and rejection of Esav. However, Ya’akov’s nation have to justify God’s favour; the prophet rebukes them for being lax and insincere in their Temple service. United Synagogue Daf Hashavuah Produced by the 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 Hashavuah please contact Loraine Young on 020 8343 5653, or [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavuah please email [email protected] In loving memory of Shprintze bar Meyer 2 Solutions in the Sidrah: An Ode to Envy by Rabbi Yoni Birnbaum, Hadley Wood Jewish Community In July 2013, New York Times Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (d.1888) literary critic Parul Sehgal questions why the Plishtim were envious of presented a TED talk entitled Yitzchak’s wealth but not that of his father An Ode to Envy. “Jealousy Avraham, who like Yitzchak, was blessed with an baffles me”, Sehgal said. “It's abundance of material possessions. Rabbi Hirsch so mysterious, and it's so explains that during Avraham’s lifetime, despite the pervasive. We know babies fact that, like Yitzchak, he was a stranger amongst suffer from jealousy. We know the nations of Cana’an, the force of his personality primates do. Bluebirds are actually very prone. We enabled him to gain such respect that he was know that jealousy is the number one cause of viewed by them as a “prince of G-d” (Bereshit spousal murder in the United States. And yet, I 23:5). He was therefore able to live in relative have never read a study that can parse to me its harmony, without provoking envy on their part. loneliness or its longevity or its grim thrill… .” As soon as Avraham died, however, the Plishtim In her talk, Sehgal’s central premise was that the became consumed by envy towards his son. The world of literature is the only tool we have to help us fact that Yitzchak was different to them became properly understand what drives envy. In fact, there more pronounced, and the wealth and prosperity is an episode in this week’s sidrah which powerfully he attained led them to become envious of the conveys the damaging effects of envy: “And honour and position his wealth had brought him. [Yitzchak] had … much farmland and the Plishtim (Philistines) became envious of him. All the wells As a result of their jealousy, the Plishtim were that his father’s servants had dug in the days of determined to prevent Yitzchak gaining from his Avraham, his father, the Plishtim had stopped them material possessions, despite the inevitable up… .” (Bereshit 26:14-15). suffering that stopping the wells would also cause them. During a time of famine, those wells would surely have benefitted them as well. Yet the ‘pervasiveness’ of envy meant that those basic considerations were forgotten by the Plishtim. In a famous speech to the Conservative Party conference in 1975, Margaret Thatcher said, “The spirit of envy can destroy. It can never build”. In Yitzchak's case, envy was provoked by his being noticeably different. At other times, the causes of envy may indeed be 'mysterious', as Parul Sehgal notes. But its destructive effects, as also demonstrated in this sidrah, are all too apparent. In loving memory of Rivka bas Gershon 3 Achievements of the Spirit by Rabbi Daniel Fine, Community Rabbi, Stanmore & Canons Park United Synagogue Daf Yomi, the international The Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Yehuda Loew study of one page of Talmud d.1609) writes that women excel at gevurah, as a day, is attributed to its physically reflected in the process of childbirth: the founder, Rabbi Meir Shapira woman cultivates the biological potential provided (d. 1933). This was not Rabbi by the man and provides form in bringing a baby Shapira’s main project – the into the world. As bastions of gevurah, women Yeshiva of Chachmei Lublin have traditionally exhibited more loyalty than men and his work in the Polish throughout Jewish history; it was the women who Parliament (Sjem) took up most of his time. Yet Daf remained strong in Egypt, as well as at the Golden Yomi was ultimately seen as his greatest success. Calf and in the sin of the Spies. They were also the In fact, it was the Chasidic Rabbi Avraham heroes of the Purim and Chanukah stories. Mordechai Alter, (the ‘Rebbe’ of the Gerrer Chasidim’ d. 1948) who publicly sat down to learn Today’s media often accentuates fame, publicity the first page of the Daf Yomi cycle on the day of its and public achievement. Facilitating others' inauguration. Seeing the Rebbe do this, hundreds achievements is often hidden behind the followed suit; so perhaps the Gerrer Rebbe is the scenes and cannot be calibrated. Yet from a unsung hero of Daf Yomi. Torah perspective, as we see from the life of Yitzchak and the inspiration of the Gerrer Rebbe, This week’s sidrah is the only one in which Yitzchak this is not to be underestimated. plays the main role. The achievements of Avraham and Ya’akov are well known; but what about Yitzchak? Perhaps his greatest achievement was the Akeidah (Binding of Yitzchak – Bereishit 22). Yet this is seen as Avraham's test. Moreover, this sidrah is called Toledot, meaning ‘descendants’; it is named after ‘others’! Yitzchak embodied the spiritual quality known as gevurah. Gevurah is the ability to know when to consolidate, as opposed to innovate. Gevurah involves taking an existing concept and bringing it to its fruition. This does not seem glamorous, yet it is a necessary part of the project. Avraham was the one who discovered God and spread active Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter monotheism. Ya’akov was the one who formed a nation. Yitzchak's achievements were not in creating novel ideas; rather he gave form and substance to Avraham's mission and laid the foundations for Ya’akov to form a nation. One of his most significant achievements was indeed the Akeidah, because he facilitated Avraham's test.