Parasha: Vayishlach · Aliyah: Sixth (Yesod)

לאברהם וליצחק, to Abraham and Isaac. Check on what we have written on Genesis 26,3 that the promise G'd made to Isaac concerning inheriting the land of Israel contained an additional dimension to the promise made to Abraham. G'd promised this additional dimension also to Jacob.

אתן את הארץ. "I shall give the land." Why did the Torah have to mention the word "the land" once more instead of simply saying "it," as the Torah did at the beginning of this verse? Perhaps the Torah wanted to tell us that G'd would give this land to Jacob in order that he personally should possess it, not merely his descendants. Had the Torah merely written לך אתננה ולזרעך, we would have understood that Jacob could only make the claim to the land over to his children as an inheritance. This is why the Torah speaks of two separate gifts here, one to him and one to his descendants. This had not been the case when G'd promised the land to either Abraham or Isaac.

ויקרא יעקב….בית אל. Jacob called… it Bet El. This is difficult. We had been told this previously; even the additional word "El" had already been mentioned in verse 4. Perhaps the Torah means that at this time Jacob enlarged the area which he had previously named Bet El. Perhaps this is alluded to in the otherwise superfluous words "the name of the place that G'd spoke to him." He clearly referred to the difference between having experienced a dream with a divine message many years ago, and the present revelation where G'd appears to have addressed Jacob when he was awake.

אל תיראי כי גם זה לך בן. "Do not fear, for this one too is a son for you." What exactly was Rachel's fear which the midwife tried to alleviate? Assuming that Rachel was afraid to die, how did the midwife's words relieve Rachel's fears by saying "this one too is a son for you?" We also have to analyse the midwife's use of the word גם, "also."

In order to understand this we must refer to Bereshit Rabbah 82,8 that whereas a twin sister was born with all the other sons of Jacob, Benjamin's birth was accompanied by the birth of two twin sisters. This is why the midwife told Rachel that she should not be afraid to die but that her special difficulties were due to her giving birth to triplets, something that had not been the case when she gave birth to Joseph. The word גם was a reference to the births which would accompany the birth of Benjamin.

She may also have hinted at the statement we find in Niddah 31 that if a mother experiences difficulties when giving birth to a male child this does not threaten her life, whereas if she experiences similar difficulties when giving birth to a female child this does endanger her life. This is why the midwife reassured Rachel saying that the baby about to be born was definitely a boy.

בני לאה, בכור יעקב ראובן the sons of Leah Jacob's firstborn Reuben. The reason that the Torah had to repeat here that Reuben was Jacob's firstborn was in order that we should not think that Reuben's misconduct with Bilhah had disqualified him from being the firstborn. This also proves that when the Torah described Reuben as having slept with Bilhah this was not meant literally. When the number of Jacob's sons is described as 12, this too is proof that Reuben had not committed an act by which he forfeited being included in that count. Inasmuch as Reuben represented the first drop of semen Jacob ever ejaculated, the idea that he could have been guilty of such a horrendous crime as actually sleeping with one of his father's wives is quite impossible. This is why the Torah emphasises בכור יעקב, he was Jacob's firstborn.

ויהיו ימי יצחק מאת שנה ושמונים שנה, Isaac lived to be one hundred and eighty years old. The reason that the Torah does not add אשר חי, "which he lived," as it did when reporting Abraham's death or Jacob's death or even Joseph's death, may have been that from the day of his birth until the time he was bound on the altar no wife had been assigned to Isaac; our sages in Kohelet Rabbah section 9 state that anyone who lives without a wife is not really considered as "living." On the other hand, our sages also say that as a result of the עקדה Isaac began to lose his eyesight (Bereshit Rabbah 65,10). A person who is deprived of his eyesight cannot be described as truly "alive."

Alternatively: since he did not bring חיים with him on his way to the עקדה, the Torah did not see fit to mention the word חיים in his connection.

הוא אדום, who is identical with Edom, etc. This statement is repeated three times in this paragraph. Seeing that G'd has sworn to destroy Edom the Torah had to tell us that Esau is identical with Edom. The Torah also mentioned the town where Esau lived in verse 8; according to Talmudic practice when a statement is not needed in the context in which it is written it may be applied to another context; in this instance the Torah means the town Esau lived in. In verse 19 the Torah also mentions the sons of Esau once more, identifying them with Edom to tell us that all of Esau's descendants will go up in flames at the time when the prophet's assurance (Ovadiah 18) that "Israel will become a flame and Esau the straw to be consumed" will materialise. The reason they are all included is that the Torah has described them all as Edom. All of this is hinted at in Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 3,5 which describes that in the future Esau will wrap himself in a Talit and occupy a seat amongst the righteous. G'd, however, will remove him from there. Please read what I have written in this connection on verse 31.