Twins & Enemies

Although he is the patriarch inhabiting the least biblical space, Isaac’s name arouses admiration, suspicion, and scandal. This week’s parsha, Tol’dot (generations), reminds us of what we’ve just read: that Isaac is Abraham’s son who married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean. Now, in the vein of so many biblical matriarchs, Rebekah is barren, and becomes pregnant only after the prayers of Issac on her behalf (sound familiar?). Anyway, she regrets almost immediately that for which Isaac prayed as the twins crushed (thrust, struck) each other inside her womb, crying out to G!d “WHY ME?!” In what is now a familiar turn of biblical events, G!d responds that there are two nations growing within her, which we have taken as the satisfactory explanation for the fighting, jostling, and Rebekah’s discomfort (and beginning training for being a Jewish mother). The twins are born in strife, and predicted to live in strife.

Then comes something else that makes us uncomfortable but the Bible often displays: favoritism. The twins each have a parent who likes them best, but in today’s world of equality, this hardly seems fair. As anyone familiar with the story knows, though, this is hugely important in later struggles. There is an early birthright sold for stew, as it goes, by Esau to Jacob, and later a blessing will be procured for Jacob that Isaac supposedly intended for Esau.

In the meantime, we read a third narrative of the sister-wife, this time with Isaac in the place of Abraham and Rebekah in the place of Sarah. This specific telling ends with a feeling of “nothing stolen, nothing lost,” but provides Isaac with great wealth and a foothold in Gerar on his way to Beer Sheva, redigging wells first established by his father along the way and renewing disputes over the prized resource of water in the desert. Beer Sheva to this day is said to bear the name given by Isaac for the well that finally did not result in strife.

Esau’s marriage to a Hittite sets up the Jewish mother role for Rebekah again, who might as well die since her son has disappointed her so much! If Jacob does this, she will surely have no more reason to live. This leads Isaac to send his son to Laban the Aramean, Rebekah’s brother, in order to procure a wife of his own type. Esau continues to not quite get it right, trying to please his father by marrying again but within the family, yet taking a daughter of Ishmael. One twin just can’t seem to stick with his people as his parents are shown to desire.

This section, said to be about Isaac, is rife with stories about Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob. After the introduction, Isaac indeed seems to be a player in their game. Yet, without Isaac, the overarching theme and necessity of Jacob’s blessing could not occur – so maybe it is about him in the end! This family drama has kept people talking and questioning for centuries, and won’t stop anytime soon. Rabbis have sought to find reasons for why and how G!d talked to Rebekah, whether Isaac knew which son he was blessing, and why the sister-wife narrative shows up again. Often lurking in the background is a need for justification of troubling passages, which is something that still fuels much discussion of this parsha. Letting the tension remain, however, is the only way the story can hold each piece together and move on with the narrative. Surely there are lessons to be learned and ideas to consider, but this story must also move G!d’s people eventually to Egypt on their way to the promised land. They’ll get there, and this is part of it.