A Quick Torah Thought

  Parshat Toldot is a parshah that usuall y leaves me with more questions unanswered than answered. So much is confounding in the way Rivka and Yaakov conspire to seize what would seem to be like Eisav's rightful blessings. The sale of the birthright is all the more perplexing, given the imperative to protect the weak and defenseless, and not manipulate those at a time of distress. Thus, I would like to share a few questions, that I hope will only multiply as the years go on. 1.        For one, why is it that Eisav's name was given to him my both of his parents, and Yaakov, only by his father? 2.        How was the sale of the birthright transacted, given that one cannot sell that which is heretofore undefined, amorphous and inconcrete? The Talmud states that one can sell the dates from a tree because of the overall certainty that they are forthcoming; presuming I understood correctly, if the birthright constitutes a...

One wouldn't think that within Avraham's purchase of Ma'arat Hamachpelah one could find a model for Jewish resilience in the face of intermarriage and assimilation, but that notwithstanding, there is in my humble opinion, stark similarity between Avraham's strategy to Jewish future, and that which Joseph employed in the land of Goshen.  In choosing Goshen, and instructing his brothers to convey this desire before Pharaoh, Joseph meticulously chose a place where his brothers would be viewed as an ethnic minority that could not integrate into the masses, and that would not lose out on its special identity. One could make the logical conclusion that it was from Avraham Avinu that he learned this approach.  "You are a prince among us," the Hitites tell Avraham. Avraham's recurrent rebuttal has two parts: but I am different, am a stranger among you, and secondly, I would like, because of my inability to jell and be one with you, an ancestral heritage of my own....

The Ramban shares a very sad comment about Lot, one that certainly causes pause.  Lot is asked for his male guests so that they can be sodomized by the public, young and old. Lot says, "Why do you want them, when you can have my two younger virgin daughters?!"  In of that, we see a shocking statement, a total lack of fidelity, and even basic decency, or humanity. We expect a father to respect his daughters and not hawk them for personal gain; perhaps it even shows how depraved Lot's view of God was, that he had messengers sent by God and he felt that the best way of advancing kindness in the world was sacrificing his daughters so that he could host the guests in his house for the night.  That notwithstanding, the Ramban shares, "One can see from his Lot what his true intentions were. Lot apparently saw no apparent blemish in keeping his daughters for himself. Hashem thus said, if you feel you can give away your daughters, you will suffer the shame of them sleeping wi...

A friend of mine, David Tauber, shared an interesting dvar Torah Friday night about the first conversation recorded in the Torah between husband, and wife. There were extenuating circumstances that brought about this conversation - namely, Avraham thought he would be killed because the Egyptians would be enraptured by his wife. That notwithstanding, the first time Avraham turned to his wife was to tell her, "Now I know how beautiful you are. (Given your beauty) the Egyptians will kill me, but not kill you. Please say you are my sister, so that I will benefit in turn thanks to you, and will live in your merit." An odd conversation, make no doubt about it. The rest of the story is known, Sarah is taken into Pharaoh's home, captive, bereft of her husband, and then the plagues brought upon Pharaoh's household lead him to introspect and realize that he has been dooped.  David explained the communication between Avraham and Sarah in the following manner. The famine brought ...