"Torah Lights"
 
Video Insights on the Parsha
 
 by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

To Continue, Not to Imitate

Efrat, Israel - "These are the generations of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begat Isaac" (Gen 25:19).

The Bible describes the miraculous conception of Isaac, leaving no room for confusion about his parentage, so why does it now inform us twice in the space of one verse that Isaac was the son of Abraham?  What is it teaching us about the lives of the patriarchs?

Family can be a source of support and comfort, but it can also be a source of terrible jealousy, fostering a lifetime of enmity. This is as true of the Biblical families as it is of our own. Perhaps we get an indication of that from the opening verse of this week's portion, which describes Esau and Jacob as “the generations of Isaac, son of Abraham.” These boys will battle against each other from their mother's womb and “the events of the patriarchs will foreshadow the experiences of their descendants,” leading to an ongoing conflict between their descendents throughout the generations.  But what is the source of this sibling enmity? Perhaps the end of our verse hints that the answer lies in the complex relationship between the first patriarch and his son: "Abraham begat Isaac." 

Abraham is a world leader of great stature.  He is a successful businessman with plenty of land and livestock, a fearless warrior. He is a pioneering philosopher and the founder of ethical monotheism. Most important of all, he is chosen by G-d to bring blessing to all the nations of the world.

Isaac is born into this household of awe-inspiring royalty.  He knows that as the only son of Sarah whose birth was foretold by the angels, he is Divinely destined to be Abraham's heir. This is a heavy responsibility and a difficult role. So perhaps Isaac felt overwhelmed by the duty to replicate his father's accomplishments, which may explain why he sometimes acted like the passive son of a creative and determined father.  But Isaac's challenges do not end here. He also lives in the shadow of his elder half-brother Ishmael, a much more aggressive "wild ass of a man, whose hands are on everything and everyone" (Gen 16:12).  Isaac is deeply troubled by this boy whom Abraham had wished to maintain as part of the household, requesting of G-d that "Ishmael live before Him," even at the expense of Sarah's miraculous conception.  

Isaac may even have feared that Ishmael was the more likely heir, suspecting that their father had subconsciously interpreted G-d's instructions at the Akeda as "sacrifice" your son rather than merely "dedicate" him; he thought that perhaps his father had wished to remove him from the family, leaving Ishmael ascendant.  

Perhaps this is what led to the apparent estrangement between father and son after the Akeda.  You will note that Isaac is missing from his mother's funeral and from the familial home, constantly wandering to and from Be'er Lehai Roi.  Apparently Isaac is obsessed by the place in which G-d revealed himself to Ishmael and bestowed upon Ishmael great blessings.

Perhaps this also explains why, when Isaac bestows the mantle of the firstborn, he favors the more aggressive hunter, Esau, to the more passive "dweller of tents," Jacob. Maybe this is what led Jacob to imitate the more extrovert and aggressive characteristics of his brother Esau, deceptively masquerading as his older brother in order to gain Isaac's love and acceptance, so that the next heir apparent will resemble the initial path-breaker Abraham rather than the quieter Isaac.

At the end of this three-generational sequence, Jacob finally becomes Israel. He understands that the truest and most worthy heir to Abraham's legacy must express compassionate righteousness and moral justice rather than duplicitous deceptiveness and aggressive entrapment (Gen 18:19). This marks his victory over the "spirit" of Esau, enabling him to return to his brother the blessing that he gained by deception (Gen 33:11).

Moreover, history and theology is much kinder to Isaac than he may have been to himself.  Managing and maintaining a successful company requires very different skills to the risk-taking and often-impetuous conduct necessary to found the company.  So it is with religious movements as well. For Judaism to take root, the heir to the pioneering path-breaker could not be a carbon copy of his father; he had to be a consistent continuer.  Thus, Isaac opened the very same wells which his father had dug and Avimelekh had stopped up, and he worked and tilled the same sacred soil which his father had received from G-d. 

Isaac became the symbol of a tradition, a handing down from generation to generation without which Abraham's traditions could never have endured.

Parents must not attempt to clone their children in their image, and children must not strive to be clones of their parents.  Each must have his or her own identity, "taste" and "texture."  In the differences between the generations lie the unique contributions of each.  Ultimately, so long as one's central mission remains compassionate righteousness, moral justice and obedience to G-d's laws, "to thine own self be true."

Shabbat Shalom