November 17, 2012

Toldot, Genesis 25:19–28:9

Isaac: Why Is This Patriarch Different from All Other Patriarchs?

Bruce Kadden

This week’s Torah portion begins with the phrase, V’eileh toldot Yitzchak ben Avraham, "This is the line of Isaac son of Abraham” (Genesis 25:19), indicating that the text is now going to focus on Isaac, the second of the Patriarchs of our tradition. And, indeed, he figures prominently in the stories of this portion.

However, he still seems to play a subordinate role to his father, Abraham, and his son, Jacob. In the stories of two of the major incidents of his life, the Akeidah (Genesis 22) and the blessing of his sons (Genesis 27) he is not even the central figure. Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut notes that “Of the three patriarchs, Isaac’s personality is the least clearly defined” and he is primarily “the bridge between Abraham and Jacob, the essential link in the chain of greatness” (The Torah: A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition [New York: URJ Press, 2005], pp. 184-185).

While it is easy to overlook Isaac and his role in the biblical narrative, we can learn quite a lot from three aspects of his life that distinguished him from both his father and his son:

Isaac never leaves the Land of Israel
he only has one wife and only fathers children with one woman
his name is not changed
Abraham was born in Ur and—after arriving in the Land of Israel—goes down to Egypt because of a famine. Though Jacob was born in Israel, he escapes the wrath of his brother, Esau, returning to his mother’s native land, and ultimately dies in Egypt. Isaac, on the other hand, lives his entire life in the Land of Israel. In fact, the Torah twice warns that Isaac must not leave the Land. When Abraham’s slave suggests bringing Isaac to the Land of Abraham’s birth if the woman the slave finds to be Isaac’s wife refuses to come to Israel, Abraham warns, “Take great care not to bring my son back there!” (Genesis 24:6). (I prefer this stronger translation of the Hebrew text, “Don’t you dare bring my son back there.”) Later, when Isaac travels to Gerar because of a famine, God warns him not to go down to Egypt: “Stay in the land and I will be with you and bless you” (26:3) God promises him.

While Abraham and Jacob reflect what will become the tradition of the “Wandering Jew” that has characterized so much of our history, Isaac can be viewed as the Jew who will not need to wander from place to place, but will be able to call one place home. That place is Israel, which makes him a role model for Zionists. But all Jews can appreciate that residing in one place allows one to establish roots and develop a sense of home that is not possible when one moves from place to place as is so common today.

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