Toldos
Rabbi Jablinowitz
This week’s parsha begins with the words, V’Eileh Toldos Yitzchak ben Avraham, Avraham Holid es Yitzchak. The commentators deal with the question of why the Torah repeats the words Avraham Holid es Yitzchak, Avraham bore Yitzchak, when the first words of the pasuk already teach us that Avraham was Yitzchak’s father. Rashi answers by quoting the Medrash which states that the Laitzanei HaDor, the scoffers of the generations, were questioning Yitzchak’s lineage. They said it didn’t make sense that all the years Sarah lived with Avraham she didn’t get pregnant, yet suddenly now she became pregnant after having been taken by Avimelech. They questioned whether Avimelech was the father. Therefore, Hashem made Yitzchak similar in features to Avraham in order to clearly indicate that Avraham was the father. This is why the Torah stresses and repeats Avraham Holid es Yitzchak. Everyone realized that Avraham was the father of Yitzchak.
The Sfas Emes explains the repetition in the following manner. Avraham was known as excelling in his Avodas Hashem, particularly in the trait of Ahavas Hashem. The pasuk in Yeshayahu (Chapter 41, Pasuk 8) refers to Avraham as “Avraham Ohavi”. Yitzchak, however, was known more for his trait of fear, of Yir’as Hashem, as we read in this week’s parsha (Chapter 27, Pasuk 33), Vayecherad Yitzchak Charadah Gedolah ad Me’od. The trait of fear can come from a good source, or it can come from not such a good source. Sometimes fear comes as a result of punishment. This type of fear disappears once the threat of punishment is gone. And this type of Avodah is one from distance. We keep our distance from that which we think will hurt us.
Yitzchak’s fear was a different type of fear. It was a Yir’as Hashem which was based on Ahavas Hashem. The Ramban explains that typically love and fear are mutually exclusive. Yet in Avodas Hashem they merge together to create the perfect level of Yir’ah. How is this done? When the fear is based on love it means, I feel such love for Hashem that I fear I will not do His will. I tremble at the thought of doing an aveirah, not because of the punishment, but because I don’t want to distance myself from Hashem. This is a Yir’ah which is based on closeness, not distance, and combines the trait of Ahavah with Yirah.
This is what the Torah was teaching when it says Avraham Holid es Yitzchak. Yitzchak’s yir’ah was “ben Avraham”, it was based on Avraham’s midah of Ahavah. It was a yir’ah which resulted from the love and closeness of Avraham. Similarly, Avraham Avinu, who was known as a man of Chesed, also served Hashem through yir’ah. In fact, after Avraham’s final and most trying nisayon he is told by the Mal’ach Atah Yadati Ki Yerei Elokim Atah. Now I know you are a Gd fearing person. The Torah is teaching us that the two traits of Ahavah and Yirah are actually connected and feed off of each other. And this is taught in the Tana D’Bei Eliyahu, Ani Yareisi MiToch Simchasi, V’Samachti MiToch Yirasi. My joy is a result of my fear, and my fear is a result of my joy.
Yitzchak’s name comes from the word laughter, which indicates that the fear and gevurah of Yitzchak came from a place of joy. And the joy and laughter of Yitzchak is in contradistinction to laughter of scoffing and sin. The Gemarah in Avodah Zarah 19A darshens the first pasuk in Tehillim, Ashrei Ha’Ish, as referring to Avraham Avinu. And when the pasuk says, U’Vemoshav Leitzim Lo Yashav, and in the company of scoffers he didn’t sit, it is a reference to the Pelishtim who exhibited by Shimshon depravity and decadence in a joking manner. Though Avraham lived many years among the Pelishtim, he didn’t learn from their ways.
The Ohr Gedalyahu teaches that when Rashi says the Laitzanei HaDor were saying that Yitzchak was from Avimelech, they were suggesting that the midah of Yitzchak was like the laughter of the Pelishtim, which was the place of Avimelech. They said his laughter was that of Tumah and decadence. But the Torah testifies that the laughter of Yitzchak was from a pure and holy source; it was the result of the chesed of Avraham, which also had contained within the midah of fear. This holy combination of love and fear created the laughter of Yitzchak; inherited from Avraham, but certainly not from Avimelech. As the Torah stresses, Avraham Holid es Yitzchak, the attributes of Yitzchak came from Avraham.
This continues with the next generation and the birth of Yaakov. The Meshech Chachmah teaches in last week’s parsha that when Eliezer is looking for a wife for Yitzchak, he says (Chapter 24, Pasuk 4), Ki Asisa Chesed im Adoni. He was looking for a woman of Chesed in order to join her trait with the Gevurah of Yitzchak. And when he found Rivkah and realized she was a woman of Chesed, he says (Pasuk 26) Baruch Hashem Asher Lo Azav es Chasdo V’amito. For when Rivkah’s Chesed was combined with the Gevurah of Yitzchak, the result was the midah of Emes, as the pasuk says (Michah, Chapter 7, Pasuk 20) Titen Emes L’Yaakov Chesed L’Avraham. The Yir’ah of Yitzchak when combined with the Chesed of Rivkah was the conduit through which the Chesed of Avraham was ultimately transformed to the midah of Emes of Yaakov.
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