Parashat HaShavua - Toldot
Parshat Toldot -- finally the parsha of Yitzhak! In the previous two Parshiyot Yitzhak had only passive roles. Having experienced (seemingly submissively) the Akedah on Mount Moriya, Yitzhak was then a silent beneficiary of Avraham’s servant’s search for his wife. Our parsha, Parshat Toldot, begins “אלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם” - “These are the generations of Yitzhak, son of Avraham.” This is the moment -- or so it seems -- for Yitzhak to finally come into his own -- this is the time for him to make a name for himself -- as his father clearly did during the 14 chapters of the book of Bereshit that tell his story: Avraham had been a pioneer, a believer, a warrior, a protester, someone willing to lay it all on the line.
What will be Yitzhak’s legacy? The second half of the opening verse of our parsha continues, “״אברהם הוליד את יצחק, “Avraham fathered Yitzhak.” A moment after becoming the subject of his own story, Yitzhak is once again cast as the object. He is again passive.
One chapter later, in Chapter 26, we read the primary narrative of Yitzhak’s life; this one chapter tells the entirety of Yitzhak’s story as the main character. In this chapter, Yitzhak experiences life-defining events: a famine causes him to want to leave Israel; he pretends his wife is his sister so as not to be killed by the Pelishtim; he digs wells and names them; he has conflict with the Pelishitim over wells; he makes a pact with the Pelishtim; and he receives promises from God that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars in heaven. A single chapter with numerous challenges and triumphs. What is even more remarkable about all these events, however, is that each of them is identical to events that his father Avraham experienced! Yitzhak’s life accomplishments, the Torah seems to be saying, are a duplication of Avraham’s. In case it needed to be more explicit to us as readers, God tells Yitzhak: “I am the God of your father Avraham. Fear not … I will bless you and increase your offspring for the sake of my servant Avraham" (my emphasis).
How could it be that when Yitzhak is finally the protagonist of his own story, his actions -- moment-by-moment, event-by-event -- duplicate his father’s actions? Surely, our forefather Yitzhak -- whose name is invoked in our daily prayers, and in whose name God saves the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery -- must have his own qualities, his own contributions, his own legacy?
There is one short passage in Chapter 26 in which Yitzhak does something entirely different from what his father did: “Yitzhak sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold the same year. The Lord blessed him. And the man grew, and continued to grow until he was great.” Yitzhak was a farmer. Though his father Avraham had achieved great wealth and success, he never farmed the land; he had been a nomad. When Yitzhak faces famine or strife with his neighbors, he does so as someone tied to the soil -- a farmer’s success requires patience and resilience. When there is conflict over access to water, Yitzhak faces it as someone invested in the place where he is. While Avraham had been a world traveler, Yitzhak stayed put.
As a farmer, Yitzhak requires a unique kind of perseverance. While facing a set of challenges seemingly identical to those faced by his father, Yitzhak does so with an eye toward tending the crops; this requires work and attention over weeks, months, and years. As a protagonist, Yitzhak demonstrates that challenges of all kinds -- situations generated by nature, as well as interpersonal conflicts -- require resilience, and a special kind of stick-with-it-ness -- character traits particularly needed for farmers, as opposed to nomads. For most of us, challenges tend to stay with us throughout our lives. Yitzhak faces his challenges, not by moving on from them, but by working through them.
Yitzhak’s resilience is captured by the names he gives the wells that he digs: After each time he finds water, the Pelishtim challenge Yitzhak. The name of each well captures his thinking. The first well is named "Esek" meaning “Controversy,” and the second is “Sitna,” “Enmity.” My teacher Rabbi Alex Israel describes the process of seeking a third well: “Yitzhak does not give up. Yitzhak demonstrates a phenomenal tenacity, patience, and endurance. He digs again and again. And it is upon his third attempt that the arguments cease: ‘Rechovot’ – ‘Expanse.’” Yitzhak is dedicated, resilient, and indefatigable; Yitzhak is able to maintain the long view.
This is a profound lesson and legacy for us as a people, and more specifically for a school community: learning often requires re-tracing others’ steps who have gone before us. But this does not remove the challenges each of us faces. Yitzhak’s life and legacy demonstrate the possibility and necessity of facing our challenges and setbacks and continuing on; it may not be until after multiple failures that the learning opens up for us -- our feeling of “rechovot,” “expanse.” But we will need to stick with it to get there.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Benji Shiller