SHABBAT SHALOM (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot When the words of her oldest son Esau were reported to Rebecca, she sent her youngest son Jacob and said to him: Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. Now my son, listen to me. Flee at once to Haran, to my brother Laban. (Genesis, 27:42-43)   …Were reported to her… The Holy Spirit reported what Esau was planning in his heart. …Consoling himself… was consoled by the brotherhood between them. Otherwise he would have been...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot The children agitated within her and she said: If so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the lord. Bereishit 25:22   They agitated – When they were created and the time for movement arrived they were extremely active, until it seemed to her that they were running into each other. And she said: If so – Upon sensing this change, she wondered and asked other women if there was someone who experienced...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb… And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bore them. (Gen. 25:24,26)   And his hand grasped Esau's heel, to detain him, so that he would come out first (Hizquni). Or else: to detain him so that he would...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and they found there a well of living waters. And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds… so he named the well Esek (Bereishit 26:19-20)   So he named the well Esek – He gave it a name so that when the day came when he would overpower them Gerar's shepherds would not be able to say, "The well is ours." And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled –...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan aram, to take himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him, he commanded him, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan." And Jacob hearkened to his father and his mother, and he went to Padan aram. (Bereishit 28:6-7)   In Bereishit Rabbah (39), R. Yitzhak began by saying: "Hearken, daughter, and see, and incline...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot AND THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE LAND… AND ISAAC WENT TO ABIMELECH THE KING OF THE PHILISTINES, TO GERAR. AND THE LORD APPEARED TO HIM, AND SAID, "DO NOT GO DOWN TO EGYPT; DWELL IN THE LAND THAT I WILL TELL YOU. SOJOURN IN THIS LAND, AND I WILL BE WITH YOU… AND I WILL MULTIPLY YOUR SEED LIKE THE STARS OF THE HEAVENS, AND I WILL GIVE YOUR SEED ALL THESE LANDS, AND ALL...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot AND THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED WITHIN HER, AND SHE SAID, "IF SO, WHY AM I THIS?" AND SHE WENT TO INQUIRE OF THE LORD. AND THE LORD SAID TO HER, "TWO NATIONS ARE IN YOUR WOMB, AND TWO PEOPLES WILL SEPARATE FROM YOUR INNARDS, AND ONE PEOPLE WILL BECOME MIGHTIER THAN THE OTHER PEOPLE, AND THE ELDER WILL SERVE THE younger. (Bereishit 25:22-23)   Two Nations – Conflict or Reciprocal Enhancement? Two...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot SO JACOB DREW NEAR TO ISAAC HIS FATHER, AND HE FELT HIM, AND HE SAID, "THE VOICE IS THE VOICE OF JACOB, BUT THE HANDS ARE THE HANDS OF ESAU."   The Alternative Scenario As for Isaac's thinking: it seems to me that he wanted to bless Esau to make him his favorite because game was in his mouth. He wanted to reserve more blessing and success for him than for his brother,...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot WHEN ISAAC WAS OLD AND HIS EYES WERE TOO DIM TO SEE, HE CALLED HIS OLDER SON ESAU AND SAID TO HIM, "MY SON." HE ANSWERED, "HERE I AM." (Bereishit 27:1)   Isaac's Dim Eyes: Fate, Punishment, or Blessing? When Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see , another view: meire'ot – the power of that act of seeing:...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Toldot SO JACOB DREW CLOSE TO HIS FATHER ISAAC, WHO FELT HIM AND WONDERED. "THE VOICE IS THE VOICE OF JACOB, YET THE HANDS ARE THE HANDS OF ESAU.  (Bereishit 27:22)   The voice is the voice of Jacob – No prayer is ever effective without the participation of Jacob's offspring.  Yet the hands are the hands of Esau – No war is ever won without the participation of Esau's offspring in it.   Caution...