Parshat Toldot tells of Yitzchak, the second of our forefathers who is often looked upon as the link between the more seemingly charismatic Abraham and Yakov. The Parsha opens “And these are the generations of Yitzchak, Abraham’s son, Abraham begot Yitzchak.“ Noticeably two Hebrew words are used firstly “ben Avraham” for the son of Avraham and then “Avraham holid et Yitzchak” Avraham begot Yitzchak. Clearly it was Sarah who bore Yitzchak, but the Talmud Sanhedrin tells us: “he who teaches his friend’s son Torah, it is as if he bore him.” Being the son is just a question lineage, but begot “holid” expresses the way the child is brought up.
Rashi explains that the Torah simply wants to stress that Abraham bore Yitzchak, as there were those who said Sarah became pregnant from Abimelech, when taken to his palace. Hashem ensured a strong facial resemblance of Yitzchak to his father to settle any doubts. Rashbam, who prefers to look simply at the text explains, that after the Torah tells us of Abraham’s last years, where he bore more children and then relates the lineage of Ishmael, the Torah wishes to stress that the story of our nation is based on Yitzchak, and no other.
There are those who say that this Parsha should have been named “Yizchak” as it opens “And these are the generations of Yitzchak” similar to the opening of Parshat Noah, which does get the honour. However, Rav B H Epstein points out that here, differently from Noah, the text opens with “Ve’aleh – with the letter “vav” for “and,” indicating a continuation from what was written before. He explains that with the addition of “and” we can understand the significance of the opening verse. When Yitzchak was born, at Sarah’s request Abraham sends Ishmael away, Hashem promised Abraham “it is through Yitzchak that your offspring[ will be reckoned.”
Rav Epstein is puzzled by the seemingly superfluous opening Rashi saying just, “these are the generations of Yitzchak – Yakov and Esav,” which is fairly obvious. R Epstein explains that Rashi is hinting at another problem of the use of the letter “vav.” The word Toldot, should in Hebrew have two vav’s, and in the Torah one is missing. The Torah is intimating here that there is one son who is desirable and one who is not.
Reflecting on the text, the Abarbanel, suggests the message is that Abraham and Yitzchak had many similar experiences. Both married cousins who were initially barren, both had to move from famine, Yitzchak renewed the wells that Abraham had originally dug, and more. The Torah wants to emphasize that Abraham imbibed in Yitzchak the feeling of responsibility to continue and consolidate the work that he had begun.
The Maor Vehashemesh suggests the opposite and that we can see in Abraham and Yitzchak very opposite personalities. Abraham outgoing and communicates with his surroundings, Yitzchak quiet and stays out of the limelight, and then Yakov being constantly challenged and battling his way through. After the not very promising generations from Adam through to Abraham, we now have continuity, despite the different personalities, these three generations created a dynasty of facing the challenges each in their own way. This is the message, despite the change in personality and approach. Yitzchak is the son of Abraham.
In the modern world, there would perhaps not been a need for facial resemblance between Yitzchak and Avraham as we have DNA. In short DNA is a molecule that contains the genetic code, unique to every individual, the detail coded in DNA is hereditary, that is, it passes from parent to child. DNA is a fascinating scientific revolution and there is even now halachic discussion of proving Jewishness using DNA. I have always thought that one of the best ways that should have been implemented, would have been a Jewish birth certificate rather than the marriage certificate (Ketuba). It could have solved many issues over the ages.
Shabbat Shalom
Louis
Also at http://frydman.co.il/parsha