In Parshat Toldot, at the beginning
of Breisheet, Chapter 26, there is a famine in the Land and Yitzchak goes down
to Grar (the Gaza strip).

In verses 2-3 we read:

God appeared to him and said, “Do
not go down to Egypt. Settle (Shechon) in the Land that I will make known to
you. Stay temporarily (gur) in this land and I will be with you and bless you,
for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands…”

We learn in Bresiheet Raba 64:3: The
land that you should live in temporarily is Grar, a place of poor soil, and you
shall permanently dwell in the rest of Israel- cultivate the land, be a sower,
be a planter- plant seeds, plant trees.

Breisheet Raba also brings another
interpretation- Shechon- cause the Shechina (Divine Presence) to dwell in the
Land.

Rav David Avraham Spector teaches
that not only should we not leave the Land of Israel at a time of crisis, it is
the time to develop settlements and agriculture. By building up, settling and
cultivating the Land, we will cause the Divine Presence to rest there like it
says in Shmot 25:8: “They shall
make me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst.”

The Bach (Orach Chayim 208) teaches
about the holiness of the fruits grown in the Land of Israel:

The fruits of the Land of Israel are
nurtured by the holiness of the Shechina which dwells in the Land. That is why
we say the “Bracha Me’ein Shalosh” after we eat fruits from the seven species
of Israel: “to eat its fruit and to be sated with its goodness.” When we eat
the fruits from the Land of Israel we are being nourished by the holiness of
the Shechina.

We complete the bracha with “al
peiroteha,” “on her fruit” when the fruit of the seven species was grown in
Israel, as opposed to “al hapeirot,” “on the fruit” when the fruit was grown
outside of the Land. This is a constant reminder to appreciate the fruits that
are grown in Israel which are imbued with an extra element holiness.

On Simchat Torah, in addition to the
tremendous loss of life, Hamas destroyed a lot of the crops in Southern Israel
by burning down the farms and fields on the kibbutzim. They also murdered and
kidnapped many of the foreign workers from Thailand who worked in the fields. Most
of the surviving workers were brought back to Thailand.

Moshe Saiid who was best known as
Dod (Uncle) Moshe, an Israeli version of Old MacDonald, was murdered on his
Kibbutz, Nir Oz and his wife, Adina was taken hostage and is in Gaza. His
company, Dod Moshe, promises to
continue working the fields to produce the best vegetables including potatoes,
radishes and carrots.

Israelis are stepping up to the
plate and volunteering to help pick all types of produce including avocados,
lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. We need more Israelis to seriously consider
working in agriculture in order to continue the mission of settling the Land of
Israel and benefitting from its produce.

When reading through Parshat Toldot,
one may conclude that Rivka was a prophetess. In fact, we find in Breisheet
Raba and Yalkut Shimoni that all of the foremothers, Sara, Rivka, Rachel and
Leah were prophetesses.

If Rivka was a prophetess then why
is Sara the only one of our foremothers who is listed in the Talmud, Megilla 14a:

Seven prophetesses- Who were they?
Sara, Miriam, Devora, Chana, Avigail, Hulda and Ester.

The Taz (Breisheet 29:34) explains:

Rivka, Rachel and Leah are not
included in the list of prophetesses (Megilla 14a) since the women listed there
all had prophecies about someone else. For example, Sara’s prophecy was that
Yishmael would not inherit with Yitzchak. Rivka, Rachel and Leah’s prophecies
were about what would happen to them personally, not what would happen to
others and therefore they were not included on the list even though they did
have prophecy.

We see Sara’s prophecy in Breisheet
21:10:

She said to Avraham, “Drive out this
slave-woman and her son, for the son of this slave-woman will not inherit with
my son, with Yitzchak.”

Avraham was worried and therefore
God told him (Breisheet 21:12):

“Do not consider this wrong in your
eyes on account of the boy and your slave-woman. Regarding all that Sara tells
you listen to her, for only through Yitzchak will seed be considered yours.”

Rashi comments that we learn from
here that Avraham was inferior to Sara with regard to prophecy.

Since Sara was sure of her prophecy,
she spoke up and told Avraham what needed to be done.

Dr. Tamar Frankiel points out in her
book, The Voice of Sarah:

Sarah saw the character of Yishmael
and had him banished from the household. Rivka saw the character of Esav and
contrived to have his father’s favor taken away, then separated him from his
brother by sending Yaakov far away…Rivka’s story adds something new. The
rivalrous sons were both her own sons, not children of two different wives; and
she had to send her favorite son away, not, as in Sarah’s case, the misbehaving
one…

Rivka, as far as we see in the text,
did not discuss the prophecies that she received about her children with
Yitzchak. Instead, she took action behind the scenes to make sure that Yaakov
would inherit the Land of Israel.

In Parshat Toldot, Breisheet 26:1-3, there is a famine in the Land so
Yitzchak and Rivka head down to Avimelech, king of the Plishtim in Grar (region
of the Gaza strip) as Avraham did. God appeared to Yitzchak and said:

“Do not go down to Egypt: dwell
(shchon) in the land which I will make known to you. Reside (gur) in this land
and I will be with you and bless you for to your descendents I will give all
these lands (kol ha’artzot ha’el). I will thus fulfill the oath that I swore to
Avraham, your father.”

The Midrash in Breisheet Rabba 64:3
explains that the name of the city, Grar comes from the word Garua (the worst) as
the area of the Gaza strip was dry without water or good air. Rabbi Dostai
taught in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman: it is a bad settlement, not
good for planting and not good for living. This settlement extends until the
Straits of Egypt, the Southern border of Israel on the Southwestern side.

Even though Yitzchak lived in the
worst spot within Israel’s borders, he still was able to find blessings there. As
we see in Breisheet 26:12-13:

Yitzchak planted in that land. That
year he reaped a hundred fold, for God had blessed him. The man prospered. He
continued to prosper until he became very great.

Unfortunately, we see in verses
14-17 that Yitzchak’s success did not last:

He owned flocks and sheep, herds of
cattle, and many slaves, and the Plishtim were jealous of him. All the wells
that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father, Avraham- the
Plishtim plugged them, and filled them with earth. Avimelech said to Yitzvhak “Go
away from us. You have become more powerful than us.” Yitzchak went away from
there…

However, once Yitzchak was back in
Be’er Sheva, Avimelech and Pichol, his general went to meet with Yitzchak in order
to make peace.

In sentence 31 they make the peace
treaty: “They got up early in the morning, and they each swore to the other.
Yitzchak sent them away and they left in peace.”

The Midrash then asks why it says: “For
to you and to your seed I will give all of these lands (aratzot ha’el)” in
shortened form.

The Midrash answers: It says “ha’el”
and not “ha’ela” to teach that God is only giving some of the promised lands to
His children in this world (in the days of Yehoshua, David and Shlomo). And
when will He give the rest? In the future, in the days of the Mashiach they
will receive all ten lands as promised to Avraham.

In Jewish history we have a concept
of “Maaseh Avot Siman Libanim”, what happened to our forefathers will happen to
their descendents.

So much of what happened to Yitzchak
has happened in our lifetime as well. In 1967, Israel returned to the Gaza
strip and made it grow and bloom by creating 21 beautiful settlements.

For the sake of peace, Yitzchak left
the region. Fifteen years ago, in 2005, Israel pulled out of the Gaza strip,
also for the sake of peace. However, since the Israelis left Gaza, the
situation has deteriorated. Rockets, balloons with bombs attached and explosive
kites are being launched into Israel on a regular basis.

Those who were forced to leave Gaza
during the disengagement believe that one day they will go back and rebuild
their lives there.

May we see a time of peace and
tranquility on the border of the Gaza strip and throughout Israel.

 Commemorating
Harry V. DuBrow’s Yahrzeit

You need to look very hard at
Parshat Toldot in order to find Rivka and Yitzchak communicating.

When Rivka is having a difficult
pregnancy, she goes to seek out God, and is told (Breisheet 25:23) “Two nations
are in your womb and two kingdoms will separate within you. One government will
be mightier than the other, but the greater one will serve the smaller one.” Yet
we don’t see her reveal God’s message to Yitzchak.

When they go down to Grar, during
the famine, Yitzchak doesn’t tell Rivka to act as his sister, rather he tells
people that she is his sister.

When it is time to bless the twins,
Yitzchak calls in Esav without consulting Rivka. She then goes behind
Yitzchak’s back, dressing Yaakov as Esav to make sure that Yaakov receives the
blessing that Yitzchak intended for Esav.

We finally hear Rivka speak to
Yitzchak near the end of the parsha, when the blessings were already given out,
after Rivka heard that Esav wanted to kill Yaakov and after Rivka already told
Yaakov that he needs to flee to her brother, Lavan in Charan until Esav calms
down. None of which does Rivka mention to Yitzchak.

Instead, Rivka tells Yitzchak (Breisheet
27:46) “I am disgusted with my life because of the daughters of Chet. If Yaakov
marries a woman of the daughters of Chet, like these, from the daughters of the
land, what is life worth to me?”

After Rivka tells him this
information (Breisheet 28:1-4), Yitzchak follows her advice:

Yitzchak called Yaakov and blessed
him. He commanded him and said to him, “Do not marry a woman of the daughters
of C’naan. Set out and go to Padan Aram, to the house of Betuel, your mother’s
father, and marry one of the daughters of Lavan, your mother’s brother. May E-l
Shad-ai bless you, make you fruitful and multiply you. May you become an
assembly of peoples. May He give you the blessing of Avraham, to you and to
your descendents with you, that you may inherit the land of your dwelling which
God gave to Avraham.

At that moment, it was a life and
death situation (even though Yitzchak didn’t know that Esav wanted to kill
Yaakov) so Rivka had to speak up and when she did, Yitzchak listened to her.

What held Rivka back from
communicating with Yitzchak until that point?

The Netziv, in his commentary,
HaEmek Davar, explains that from the moment that Rivka first saw Yitzchak, when
she arrived with Avraham’s servant, she feared him.

 We see their first encounter in Breisheet
24:64-65:

Rivka raised her eyes and saw
Yitzchak. She let herself down from the camel. She said to the servant, “Who is that man walking through the field towards us?” The servant
said, “He is my master.” She then took the veil and covered herself.

According to the Netziv when Rivka
saw Yitzchak praying, he was like an awe inspiring angel. Even before she knew
for sure who the man meditating was, Rivka slipped off the camel out of fear
and awe. She covered her face when she realized that this is the man that she
would be marrying and she felt embarrassed, afraid and unworthy of being his
wife.

The Netziv adds that their
relationship was very different from Sarah and Avraham and Rachel and Yaakov where
the wives weren’t afraid to say what was on their minds (Sarah told Avraham to
send away Hagar, Rachel demanded that Yaakov give her children etc.).

The Netziv concludes that their
relationship was set up this way as part of God’s plan to make sure that Yaakov
would receive the blessings in the manner that he received them. If Rivka and
Yitzchak had communicated like Sarah and Avraham and Rachel and Yaakov, then
Yaakov would not have received the blessings in the same way. It was all part
of hashgacha pratit, Divine Providence that Rivka first saw Yitzchak like an angel
while he was connecting with God.

Yitzchak and Rivka were on a totally
different wave length and we will never fully understand their relationship.
However, they were both aware that the blessing of the Land of Israel belonged
to Yaakov and that intermarrying with idol worshipers was unacceptable. 

In Parshat Toldot (Breisheet 27:15),
Rivka dresses Yaakov in Esav’s garments in order to make sure that Yaakov
receives the better blessing: “Rivka took the garments of Esav, her elder son,
that were coveted (hachamudot), that were in her keeping in the house and put
them on Yaakov, her younger son.”

Breisheet Rabba 65:16 teaches that
the coveted garments were the garments that God made for Adam and Chava in the
Garden of Eden (Breisheet 3:21, “And God made for Adam and his wife leather
coats and he clothed them.”) According to Pirkei D’Rebi Eliezer 21, these
garments were taken on the ark and after the flood, Cham, Noach’s son gave them
to Nimrod. Esav saw Nimrod with the garments, coveted them, killed Nimrod and
took the garments. Esav kept the special clothing at his parent’s home and wore
them to serve his father.

In Breisheet 27:26-27, we read: “His
father Yitzchak said to him ‘Come close to me and kiss me, my son.’ He came
close and kissed him. He (Yitzchak) smelled the fragrance of his garments and
he blessed him. He said, ‘See, my son’s fragrance is like the fragrance of the
field blessed by God.’”

In the Talmud, Taanit 29b, Rav
Yehuda the son of Rav Shmuel bar Shilat said in the name of Rav: The garments
smell like the fragrance of a field of tapuchim.

Tapuchim in Modern Hebrew mean
apples, but the original meaning was a swelled fruit. We see this even today
with the Hebrew names for potatoes and oranges which are also variations on the
word “tapuach”, tapuach adama, tapucha zahav=tapuz.

Tosafot interpret the word tapuchim
in the Talmud, Taanit 29b and Shabbat 88a as etrogim (not apples as we know
them today) whose fruit precedes its leaves. The etrog, hadar is unique as the
fruit remains (dar) on the tree from year to year.

The Targum on Shir HaShirim (Song of
Songs) 2:3 translates tapuach as etrog. Later, in 2:5 it is translated as
k’tapuchei gunata d’Eden, the tapuach of the Garden of Eden (not ordinary
apples). Further, in 7:9 the unique smell of the fruit is specifically singled
out.

In Breisheet (3:6), we read about
the forbidden fruit: “The woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it
was tempting to the eyes and that the tree was desireable (nechmad)…”

According to Ramban, Vayikra 23:40,
etrog, pri etz hadar which is called “nechmad”, desireable is from the same
root as chamudot, coveted.

Since the garments were “chamudot”, there
is a good chance that they smelled like the coveted fruit.

The ertog has a very strong smell
and the miracle of the garments which came from the Garden of Eden was that the
fragrance remained for so many years. Even Esav, the hunter smelled good when
he wore them.

I grew up in the North Riverdale
section of the Bronx, New York in the 1970s. As there were no Modern Orthodox
synagogues near my home at that time, we used to take a long walk along the
Henry Hudson Parkway every Shabbat morning until we finally reached the
Riverdale Jewish Center. Along the way, we passed many different churches and
synagogues of every denomination.

As a young child, while studying
about Rivka’s pregnancy in Parsha Toldot, I imagined Rivka walking through
Riverdale and being pulled in all different directions as it says in Breisheet
25:22 “The children were running (vayitrotzetzu) inside of her.” Rashi’s
comment, quoting from Breisheet Raba 63:6 always reminded me of my own neighborhood
which was dotted with churches and synagogues: “When she would pass the
doorways of Torah study of Shem and Ever, Yaakov would agitate and rush to come
out. When she would pass doorways of other houses of worship, Eisav would
agitate to come out.”

Another place that we would pass along
the highway was the Riverdale fire station which I finally was able to visit on
an elementary school trip. Although different from the houses of worship, it
too is a holy place with firefighters dedicated to saving lives who put their
lives at risk on September 11, 2001 and every day.

Today, for the first time, I had the
honor to meet Jerusalem’s firefighters while distributing cards and gift
baskets at the Jerusalem fire station which is hidden on the edge of the Givat
Mordechai neighborhood. It was amazing to meet the men and women who are on
call 24 hours a day, the heroes who fought the fires last week in the cities
surrounding Jerusalem.

The firefighters were touched that
people from the United States and Israel were thinking of them during these
difficult times sending gifts and cards. They were also appreciative of the
firefighters who came from abroad (including from the United States) to help
out, staying until the heavy rains began to fall.

What surprised me was that aside
from the usual fire trucks and fire house that you find in a regular fire
station, although they did not have a fire pole or a Dalmation, they had a
synagogue on the premises including a women’s section.  

How fortunate we are to have
firefighters in Israel and abroad who deserve our love and appreciation every
day of the year.

In Parshat Toldot, Breisheet 26:13-15 we read: “The man
(Yitzchak) prospered. He continued to prosper until he became very great. He
owned flocks of sheep, herds of cattle and many enterprises and the Plishtim
were jealous of him. All the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the
days of his father, Avraham- the Plishtim plugged them and filled them with
earth.”

According to Sforno, the Plishtim were jealous of Yitzchak
since they planted a lot yet they had very few crops that actually grew while
Yitzchak only planted a little bit yet he grew many crops.

Chizkuni points out that the Philistines plugged up the
wells because they didn’t want Yitzchak to have a stronghold on the land.

The issues that Yitzchak had are still relevant for us
today.

When the Jewish people returned to the Land of Israel,
they made the desert bloom. No other nation was ever capable of that.

The fact that the Jewish people were able to reinvigorate
the land has brought about jealousy. This jealousy has led to the damage of the
property as well as the loss of lives of innocent people.

We still have residents of Israel who don’t like the idea of
the Jews having a stronghold on the land and will do everything in their power
to try to get us out.

Just as Yitzchak was simply trying to live in peace and make
a living, so are most Israelis.

The time has come to put jealousy aside and work together to
make a better future for all of Israel’s
citizens.

Rivka is a very confident woman. In Parshat Chayei Sarah, we
see her confidence when giving water to a stranger and his ten camels, inviting
him and his camels to stay over at her family’s home, following him to meet
Yitzchak and knowing right away that Yitzchak is “the one” for her. In Parshat
Toldot, she is confident in telling Yaakov to deceive his father and take
Esav’s blessing as well as when she tells Yitzchak that Yaakov must find a wife
in Padan Aram
(where her family lives).

Rivka’s confidence came from the fact that she was a prophetess.

For twenty years Rivka was unable to conceive. She is
finally expecting and is having a very difficult pregnancy but doesn’t understand
why. In Breisheet 25:22 “She went to inquire (lidrosh) of God”. According to
Ramban, “lidrosh” is used in the context of prayer. She went to pray to God.
His answer is in sentence 23: “God said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb
and two Kingdoms will separate from within you. One government will be mightier
than the other but the greater one will serve the smaller one.’”

This is clearly a prophecy of what is yet to come.

When Rivka sees that Esav chooses the dangerous profession
of a hunter and marries Cnaanite women who are a source of spiritual bitterness
(26:35) she knows that the prophecy is being fulfilled and that Esav is not
destined be the inheritor of the Land of Israel or the father
of the Jewish nation. Esav, the older son is destined to serve Yaakov, the younger
son.

Rivka is confident in carrying out her plan to make sure
that Yaakov receives the blessing of the firstborn even if deception has to be
used. Rivka tells Yaakov three times (27:8, 13, 43) to listen to her voice
(Shma bikoli). Rashi comments that when God told Avraham to listen to Sarah’s
voice, he was referring to the voice of prophecy as Sarah was on a higher level
of prophecy than Avraham. It is clear from here as well that Rivka was working
from a prophecy that Yitzchak had not been exposed to.

Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 8 states that when Esav married
Cnaanite women, Yitzchak no longer received prophecy as he grew up in a pure
home and never confronted idol worship before. 
Rivka however continued to receive prophecy (as she was raised in a home
of idol worship so it had no effect on her).

After Esav found out that Yaakov tricked his father and took
his blessing we read: 27:41-42: “Esav hated Yaakov because of the blessing with
which his father blessed him. Esav said in his heart, ‘The mourning days for my
father are approaching. I will then kill my brother Yaakov.’ Rivka was informed
about these words of Esav, her oldest son and she sent a messenger to call
Yaakov, her younger son and she said to him: ‘Behold, your brother Esav is
consoled through you for he intends to kill you.’”

Breisheet Rabba explains that through prophecy (Ruach
HaKodesh) Rivka was informed of what Esav said in his heart. How else could she
possibly know what he said in his heart?

According to Breisheet Rabba, all of the Imahot (foremothers)
were prophetesses.

Rivka was driven by her prophecies and was therefore
confident with her actions even when they seemed out of the ordinary. She tried
to shelter Yitzchak as much as possible from Esav’s wickedness. While she told
Yaakov: 27:43: “Now my son, listen to me. Get up and flee to Lavan, my brother,
to Charan”, all she tells Yitzchak is “I am disgusted with my life because of
the daughters of Chet. If Yaakov marries a woman of Chet like these, from the
daughters of the land, what is life worth to me”, in other words Yaakov needs
to leave town because he needs to find a wife in Padan Aram. She
doesn’t have the heart to tell Yitzchak that Esav plans to kill Yaakov and
therefore he needs to run away.

Rivka did not gloat to Yitzchak about the prophecies that
she received. She actually kept them a secret from him. She learned from her
prophecies and from her life experience what needed to be done in order to
insure proper continuity. Yitzchak had never been exposed to the cruel outside
world that Rivka came from and she did her best to keep him as sheltered from
it as much as possible.

May we all have the confidence that Rivka had to do what we
know is right.

Both Yitzchak and Rivka were aware that Esav was not the
perfect son. We see this in Parshat Toldot, Breisheet 26:34-35: “Esav was forty
years old when he married Yehudit, the daughter of Be’eri the Chitite and
Bosmat the daughter of Eylon the Chitite. They were a source of spiritual
bitterness to Yitzchak and Rivka.”

What was so bad about these wives that caused Yitzchak and
Rivka so much distress?

The Chitim were one of the seven nations that the
forefathers specifically asked their children not to marry.

Breisheet Raba 65:4 explains that these women were idol
worshippers.

Radak states that Esav specifically married these women in
order to aggravate his parents.

If that is the case, then why did Yitzchak want to bless
Esav?

Both Radak and Or HaChayim believe that Yitzchak did in fact
see Esav’s faults, yet he was hoping that giving Esav a blessing may help
improve his behavior.

Did Yitzchak’s blessing help influence Esav to become a
better person?

We do see Esav making a slight effort to please his parents
in Chapter 28:8-9: “Esav realized that the daughters of Cnaan were evil in the
eyes of his father. Esav then went to Yishmael and took Mochlat the daughter of
Yishmael, the son of Avraham and sister of Nevayot in addition to his other
wives for a wife.”

It looks from here that Esav did take notice that Yitzchak
told Yaakov not to marry the Cananite women.

According to Chizkuni, Esav thought that the reason that his
father did not bless him with the inheritance of the Land of Israel was because he married the Cananite wives. Esav was hoping that if he would
marry Yishmael’s daughter then maybe he would be worthy of inheriting the Land of Israel.

Marrying Yishmael’s daughter was a step up from marrying the
Canaanite wives yet he remained married to his first wives as it says “in
addition to his other wives”. Rashi points out that Esav did not divorce his
first wives.

It is hard to imagine that a child who strayed off of the
path will come back. However we must continue to bless all of our children.

Even Esav who seemed so far gone still said to his father in
27:32: “Bless me too, my father.”

In the end, Esav did not inherit the Land of Israel.
However he did receive the blessing in 27:40: “…When you have cause to be
grieved, you will throw off your brother’s yoke from your neck.”

According to Rashi, if the Israelites transgress the Torah
and are undeserving of dominion, then Esav will have a right to be aggrieved that
Yaakov has taken the blessing and then Esav may cast off Yaakov’s yolk from his
neck. This is the fulfillment of Rivka’s prophecy from when she was expecting
the twins: the two sons would not be able to coexist, when one ascended, the
other would decline.

Yitzchak’s blessing for Esav was fulfilled. The Romans are
descendents of Esav and there are countless times in history that they ruled
over the Jewish people.

We learn from here that we can never give our children too
many blessings and there is no reason to exclude any of our children from being
blessed.

At the end of Parshat Toldot, Breisheet 28:5 we read: “And Yitzchak sent away Yaakov: and he went to Padan Aram to Lavan, son of Betuel the Aramian, the brother of Rivka, mother of Yaakov and Esav”.

Why does the Torah which does not waste words have to mention that Rivka was the mother of Yaakov and Esav? The entire Parsha talks about Rivka from her pregnancy with the twins, their childhood, their personalities and their fight for Yitzchak to bless them.

Rashi has so much difficulty with this pasuk that he actually says “I don’t know what this is here to teach us”.

The Riyva, Yehuda Ben Eliezer, a commentary on Rashi, suggests that the Torah wished to explain how it was that Yitzchak and Rivka came to have Esav, a wicked son. The text therefore mentioned that Rivka had some unsavory kinsmen.

Chizkuni points out that in the Gemara in Baba Batra110a it says that most children turn out to be similar to their mother’s brother. A woman’s brother is the male product of the upbringing that she received from her parents and therefore she is most likely to pass on some of those values to her own children. Chizkuni concludes that it is not unusual for Esav to be similar to Lavan.

The Gemara continues saying that one who seeks to marry a woman should first examine the character of her brothers.