Sorry for the delay, internet was down Friday



Parshat Toldot

This week's question: In this week's portion we find that the city Be'er Sheva is named after the seventh (shiva) well that Isaac's servants found (Genesis 26:32-33) but we already see that the city was named because of the oath (nishbau - they swore) which Abraham swore with Avimelech (Genesis 21:33)! What gives?



In this week's Torah portion we are introduced to Jacob and Esau. Jacob grows up and becomes the next Patriarch of the Jewish people while Esau becomes our enemy. How could both brothers, raised in the same home dedicated to loving kindness and Divine service end up diametrically opposed to each other?

Rav Hirsch gives a striking answer:

"Our Sages never hesitate to point out to us the errors and shortcming, both great and small, of our ancestors, thereby making their life stories all the more instructive for us... In regard to this passage [Genesis 25:27], too, our Sages make a comment which indicates that the sharp contrast between the two grandsons of Abraham may have originated not merely in their natural tendencies but may have been caused also by mistakes in their upbrining. As long as they were little, no attention was given to the latent differences between them. Both were given the same upbrining and education. The basic tenet of education 'Train each child in accordance with his own way' [Proverbs 22:6], that each child should be educated, both as a man and as a Jew, in accordance with the tendencies latent in him and in accordance with the individuality that will result from these tendencies, was forgotten..."

Rav Hirsch explains that had Esau's parents develope his own talents instead of treating ignoring him and treating him exactly like Jacob, Esau would not have been a might hunter but rather a mighty servant of G-d.

(See also Rav Hirsch's From the Wisdom of Mishle, pages 125-126, and his essay in his collected writings on Jewish Education entitled Chanoch LaNa'ar, and the Malbim on Proverbs 22:6)



The verse says "In all your ways know Him" (Proverbs 3:6).

This has two implications:

1. Everything we do must be for serving G-d (this will G-d willing be the subject of next week's devar Torah)

2. The verse says 'all' meaning there are multiple ways to serve G-d. (See Rambam Hilchot Deot 3:2-3)

With the proper intentions, we can transform the mundane into a mitzvah (but it must be authentic).

I will conclude with something about the Chofetz Chaim from an Artscroll book

"The Chofetz Chaim once expressed his great enby o a pharmacist regarding his occupation, which gave him myriad opportunities each day to dispense medication and thereby save lives" (Praying with Fire, by Rabbi Heshy Kleinman, page 142)



Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai