AU United Methodist Community

Mark Schaefer
Adas Israel Congregation, Traditional Egalitarian Minyan, Washington, D.C.
Toledoth (Genesis 25:19-29:9)
November 13, 1999

I. INTRODUCTION

I want to take the opportunity to thank Ken Goldstein for the invitation to give the D’var Torah today. I also want to take the opportunity to thank this minyan for the kindness and hospitality it has shown me. I have attended services here on and off for over a year and a half, sort of as the ger asher b’sha’areicha, the sojourner in your gates, and I have always been made to feel welcome. It is a special privilege and honor for me to be able to share with you one of the great treasures that our two faith traditions share: the Hebrew Scriptures.

II. THE PARASHA

This week’s parasha, Toledot, is a rather remarkable one that raises a couple of interesting questions: How good a cook exactly was Jacob? And how hairy exactly was Esau?

When Ken asked me to do this parasha I thought: ‘Oh, sure, give the Gentile the portion where he has to talk about what a heel Jacob is.’ This week’s Torah portion contains so much that it is not an easy thing to know what to talk about. For someone like me–a lawyer and a future minister–the temptation to talk until I had exhausted everything was overwhelming. But I would like to focus instead on someone in this story who is easy to overlook but is truly central to the entire narrative. That person is Rebekah.

III. REBEKAH

A. As woman of faith

Rebekah is truly a model of the faithful person. We first encounter Rebekah in last week’s portion, where you may recall the following scene:

And they summoned Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.”

Rebekah’s response is reminiscent of Abraham’s faithful response to his own call from God. You’ll recall God says:

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

and what is Abram’s response:

“And Abram went.”

B. Rebekah as Agent of God’s Will

1. God’s will is made known to Rebekah

It is with this woman of faithfulness, then, that we start this week’s parasha.

In the beginning of the parasha, Rebekah is suffering from Matriarch’s Syndrome: she is barren. Isaac prays to God and his prayer is answered–Rebekah conceives. But Rebekah’s problems are only just beginning, for the children are striving in her womb causing her so much trouble that she cries out lamah zeh anochi? “Why do I live?” or “Why am I thus?” She too prays to God. The Rabbis state that she inquires at the Teaching House of Shem, others that she goes to Melchizedek, others that she inquires of Abraham himself. However she receives her oracle, she receives a very different answer than the one Isaac gets. That is because unlike Isaac, who prays for results, she prays for understanding. Listen to what she is told:

And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.”

From the very beginning, then, Rebekah is made privy to God’s purposes. It is she, not Isaac, who knows that Jacob will be the beneficiary of the Promise to Abraham. Isaac is left out of the loop–he always favors Esau, but Rebekah knows that God favors Jacob. (Current and future Jewish mothers take note: you and God are on the same page–often to the exclusion of your husbands!)

2. Abimelech Story

Isaac is something of an enigma. He doesn’t do anything. His whole life is one of passivity. In his youth–I say “youth”–the rabbis maintain that Isaac was 37 at the time of the Aqedah–he served as a sacrifice for his father. In his old age, he is tricked by his cunning younger son. What is the one thing that he does with his adult years? He sojourns in the land of a king and pulls the old “she’s-my-sister” routine. But Isaac and Rebekah’s sojourn with Abimelech is very different than the ones that Abraham and Sarah had.

When Abraham and Sarah sojourned first with Pharaoh and then with another king named Abimelech, they were in a different situation than the one Isaac and Rebekah were in. For, Isaac had not yet been born. Sarah must be freed from the ruler’s harem before the ruler is with her, in order to make it clear that Abraham was the father of Isaac. In our story, however, Rebekah has already given birth to the heirs of Isaac. Preserving her integrity in order to guarantee the paternity of Isaac is not necessary. So why then is she rescued? Remember that she is the one to whom God has revealed his will for Jacob. She needs to be delivered so that she may be there later to play her role in Jacob’s blessing.

C. Rebekah as Parent

1. Rebekah’s Burden.

Think for a minute of the burden that is upon Rebekah. She was burdened with the knowledge of God’s plan and with the responsibility for ensuring that plan was fulfilled. We can also think of her burden in another way. Rebekah provides for us some important challenges in the role of parent. Imagine the situation of parents who discover while their children are yet in the womb that they will face special challenges: a birth defect, a genetic disorder, a handicap. Or even more broadly: that their children will be born into poverty, or into a situation of discrimination and prejudice. That kind of challenge demands a certain kind of response. How does Rebekah respond?

2. Listening

The first way that Rebekah responds to this challenge is by listening. Note the following passages:

“Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau.”

“I heard your father…”

Those of you who know Hebrew know that “listen” and “hear” are the same verb in Hebrew: Shama/Hear begins the great Hebrew affirmation of faith, Sh’ma Yisrael/ Hear, O Israel. it is not insignificant that Rebekah upholds her responsibility toward God and toward Jacob by Sh’ma-ing, by hearing.

3. Sacrifices Necessary

The other way that Rebekah meets her responsibility is through sacrifice. She makes some significant sacrifices for the child she knows will become the inheritor of God’s promise. When Rebekah tells Jacob what he must do to obtain Isaac’s blessing, he protests–not out of scruples mind you–this is Jacob, after all. Rather, he objects because he is afraid that he will get caught and he will receive Isaac’s curse rather than his blessing. What does Rebekah respond? “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my word, and go….” ‘Let your curse be on me, my son…’ It’s very easy for us in our twentieth century mindset to not think too much of this. But we must remember, if Isaac’s blessing was so greatly sought, his curse would be equally feared. This is no small matter. Rebekah is willing to take on a curse from Isaac in order that Jacob receive what she knows he is to have.

Later on, Rebekah “hears” again that Esau is plotting revenge against Jacob. She says to him:

“Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, hear my voice; flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away–until your brother’s anger against you turns away….”

Did Rebekah know that “a while” would turn into 20 years? Did she know that she would never see her son again? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But she was willing to take that risk. She was willing to risk everything to do what was right by Jacob. Rebekah realized that in order to save her child she must lose him. She is willing to take extraordinary risk and make extraordinary sacrifice in order to ensure that her child’s best interests are protected and God’s purposes are fulfilled.

4. Other items

I want to touch upon two things quickly.

We should not be too quick to judge Rebekah for using trickery and advocating that Jacob do the same. Trickery is how you get ahead in the Tanakh if you’re the second born or a woman and you’re living in a patriarchal society in ancient Canaan. Trickery is how the underdog gets ahead. Just ask Queen Esther.

And one other point… There is no one in this room who can read Esau’s plaintive cry, “Have you no more blessing for me, father?” and not be moved. The text is very sympathetic, even empathetic toward Esau and we feel with him. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, has three additional words at this point: “And Isaac was silent” increasing the pathos of the scene. Esau also presents challenges for us as parents–how we relate to the child who is not meant for greatness, who doesn’t do anything wrong, but will nevertheless not share in the glory of his sibling.

IV. CONCLUSION

We see in Rebekah an exemplar. By keeping an ear to the needs of her child, she provides us with a model of devoted parenthood. By keeping an ear to the word of God, she provides us with a model of a devoted servant of the Lord. May we here ever be mindful of her example.

And may the Grace and Peace of the Lord our God be with you all. Shabbat Shalom