This past week, our Rabbi Emeritus,
in his eulogy honoring the life of Ruth Lederer, invited us to consider which
phrases stand out as most important in Torah.
As he noted, there are quite a few good choices, some that might come
immediately to mind are: the Shema, a
text which tradition asks us to keep at hand and recite twice daily. We certainly recite it on Shabbat; Bereshit bara Elohim, those first words
of Torah which started it all; Anochi
Adonai Elohecha, God’s identifying Godself at Sinai and those famous Ten
Utterances that followed. Rabbi Buchdahl
had other examples of choice words from Torah, but his point, and what he so
beautifully (and so appropriate to Ruth) expressed was that rarely, if ever, do
we think of יצחק תלדות אלה (Eleh toldot Yitzchak), “these are the
generations of Isaac” as one of the more memorable sound bytes of Torah. Perhaps, we should.
Eleh toldot Yitzchak. Literally, “these are the generations, or
this is the line, of Isaac.” But, where
are the generations? Seriously, let’s
look at the text we are about to read (Gen. 27:19ff): “These are the
generations, or this is the line, of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac.” That’s
it. No other begots. The text
immediately proceeds not to a genealogical list descending from Isaac but rather
to tell us that, “When Isaac was 40 years old he married Rebecca.” From that
point, the focus is on Rebecca’s pregnancy and the birth of their twins.
So, where are the
generations? Arguably, after such an
announcement, “These are the generations…,” we would expect a genealogical
list, specifically in this case, a list of those who descend from Isaac. But, instead, we are only told about
Abraham’s lineage: Abraham begot Isaac. A pointed redundancy since Isaac has just
been identified as Abe’s son. In the
paragraph preceding the start of this week’s portion, we are reminded of the
other half of Abraham’s line, that of Ishmael, but there we are given a list of
Ishmael’s descendants. So, where is
Isaac’s list? Why does Torah not list Isaac
progeny, Jacob and Esau, similarly?
One way to understand the text is to imagine that
somewhere in the editing process of the Torah, Isaac’s short genealogical list
got cut out. More likely, the word toldot had a more nuanced meaning in its
ancient rendering. Instead of “these are
the generations, or this is the line of,” a more appropriate translation of eleh toldot here, and one suggested by
our creation story told earlier in Genesis (“Eleh toldot hashamayim v’haaretz b’hibaram” – this is the story of the
creation of heaven and earth [Gen 2:4]), so too, Eleh
toldot Yitzchak, “this is the story
of Isaac.”
This is the story of Isaac. Now this makes much more sense. The text highlights that particularly in
Isaac’s case, he is more than just a passing link in the chain of tradition.
Though the text will move quickly on to discuss Isaac’s
sons, Eleh toldot Yitzchak, reminds
us that he is central to their story. We
don’t often think much about Isaac. He
easily gets lost, or as I characterized a couple of weeks ago when discussing
the Akeidah, he gets silenced not
only by Torah, but by the arc of Jewish literary tradition. Even the midrash elaborates on his father and
his kids far more than on him. The
Midrash reminds us that his father smashes idols and exemplifies devotion to a
singular God. Jacob is characterized as eager
to leave the womb when his mother passes a place of study whereas Esau pushes
to get out when passing a pagan temple.
Another midrash regarding Isaac’s sons notes that the Hebrew word for
twins used here in the text is missing its silent letters, a grammatical form
labeled “defective,” to indicate that only one of the twins is righteous.
There is plenty our tradition says about Isaac’s dad and
his boys born to him and his wife Rebecca.
But, what about Isaac? Isaac
remains quiet, yet Eleh toldot Yitzchak his
presence is vital not only to his immediate family but to the line of the
Israelite nation. Isaac is presented as
the one who rebuilds and preserves. We
read this week of his re-digging the wells that his father dug that had then been
filled in by the Phillistines. And, he renames them, not with his own names but
with the same names his father used.
This effort is arguably one of the most important insights we have into
Isaac’s character. He isn’t an
innovator, but he is a consolidator who enshrines tradition and ensures the
continuity of his father’s legacy. He is
clearly characterized here as the vital link of tradition between Abraham, his
father, and Jacob, his son.
Eleh toldot Yitzchak, Isaac’s story is
important. Even though the author didn’t
give Isaac much of a voice, even much of a characterization, eleh toldot Yitachak, he understood the value of Isaac’s life and underscores
Isaac’s contribution to Israelite history, to our history.
Isaac is so often painted as the unsuspecting
victim. Not only in the Akeidah, but
here in this week’s portion when his sons, with their mom’s help, trick their
father out of his blessing for the first born.
Perhaps, Isaac isn’t so unsuspecting.
An insightful midrash, one I believe included in the Plaut commentary,
asks us to imagine Isaac as knowing exactly who his sons are by their choice of
words during that famous incident of trickery.
He doesn’t need to see them. He
knows his children. He knows how they
speak, and he recognizes Jacob by his immediate reference to God. Why doesn’t he speak up and put a stop to the
game? Perhaps because Isaac understands
his own story more than we generally give him credit for. He understands that his role is that of
preserving this covenant laid out by God.
A God that he knows Jacob recognizes and Esau ignores. Isn’t it better for him to let Esau believe
he was tricked out of blessing then for him to know it was never intended for
him in the first place? That he wasn’t God’s chosen one? Indeed, a difficult question for any parent
to answer.
Eleh toldot
Yitzchak. This indeed is the story of Isaac.
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