The Courage of Persistence There is a strange passage in the life of Isaac, ominous in its foreshadowing of much of later Jewish history. Like Abraham, Isaac finds himself forced by famine to go to Gerar, in the land of the Philistines. There, like Abraham, he senses that his life may be in danger because […]
Why Isaac? Why Jacob? Why Isaac, not Ishmael? Why Jacob, not Esau? These are among the most searing questions in the whole of Judaism. It is impossible to read Genesis 21, with its description of how Hagar and her son were cast out into the wilderness, how their water ran out, how Hagar placed Ishmael […]
Why Did Isaac Love Esau? Even before they were born, Jacob and Esau struggled in the womb. They were destined, it seems, to be eternal adversaries. Not only were they were different in character and appearance. They also held different places in their parents’ affections: The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a […]
A Father’s Love “The boys grew up. Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Jacob was a mild man who stayed at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob” (Gen. 25:27-28). We have no difficulty understanding why Rebekah loved Jacob. She had […]
Was Jacob Right to Take Esau’s Blessing? Was Jacob right to take Esau’s blessing in disguise? Was he right to deceive his father and to take from his brother the blessing Isaac sought to give him? Was Rivka right in conceiving the plan in the first place and encouraging Jacob to carry it out? These […]
The Price of Silence In an earlier Covenant and Conversation I quoted the Netziv (Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin, 1816-1893, dean of the yeshiva in Volozhin), who made the sharp observation that Isaac and Rebecca seem not to have communicated closely. Rebecca’s “relationship with Isaac was not the same as that between Sarah and Abraham or Rachel and […]
Between Prophecy and Oracle Rebecca, hitherto infertile, became pregnant. Suffering acute pain, “she went to inquire of the Lord” [vatelekh lidrosh et Hashem]. (Bereishit 25:22) The explanation she received was that she was carrying twins who were contending in her womb. They were destined to do so long into the future: Two nations are in […]
Why Did Isaac Love Esau? Even before they were born, Jacob and Esau struggled in the womb. They were destined, it seems, to be eternal adversaries. Not only were they were different in character and appearance. They also held different places in their parents’ affections: The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, […]
Kinship and Difference Around the gaps, silences and seeming repetitions of the biblical text, Midrash weaves its interpretations, enriching the written word with oral elaboration, giving the text new resonances of meaning. Often, to the untutored ear, midrash sounds fanciful, far removed from the plain sense of the verse. But once we have learned the […]
The Other Face of Esau Last year, in Covenant and Conversation, I pointed out the other side of the Esau story. There is a midrashic tradition that paints him in dark colors. But there is a counter-tradition that sets him in a more positive light. First, Esau was indeed blessed by Isaac. In fact, his blessing […]
