Rishon (Bereishis 25:19 – 26:5)
All three Avos in one parsha
Parshas Toldos is the one parsha where all three Avos appear. Yitzchak is its subject and Yaakov is born in it, and Avraham is here too: the lentil stew Yaakov was cooking when Esav came in from the field was the mourners' meal for Yitzchak, the day Avraham passed away.
Look at the children each of them had. Avraham had good and bad: Yitzchak and Yishmael. Yitzchak also had good and bad: Yaakov and Esav. Yaakov's children were all tzaddikim, which is why he is called mitaso sheleimah, the one whose "bed was complete." Even where the Torah tells of failings among the shevatim, all twelve remained tzaddikim.
Now look at where each of them lived. Avraham spent most of his life in Eretz Yisrael, and Yitzchak spent all of his life there. Yaakov, the one whose children all turned out righteous, raised them in many places outside the land: in Lavan's house in Charan, on the road, and later in Mitzrayim. In the old days that took mesirus nefesh. The lesson for today is that going out from your comfortable place does not stand in the way of success. Children raised on shlichus, far from established communities, grow up chassidim and do very well.
"Yitzchak son of Avraham; Avraham fathered Yitzchak"
The parsha opens: V'eileh toldos Yitzchak ben Avraham, Avraham holid es Yitzchak (Bereishis 25:19). The Torah has just called Yitzchak "son of Avraham" and, for whoever followed the previous parshiyos, we already know Avraham and Sarah had him at 100 and 90. Why add "Avraham fathered Yitzchak"?
Rashi gives two answers. First, only once Avram became Avraham, with the promise and the change of name, could he have children. Second, the leitzanei hador, the scoffers of the generation, were saying that Sarah conceived from Avimelech: she had lived with Avraham for many years without children, and right after she was taken into Avimelech's house she became pregnant. So Hashem formed Yitzchak's features exactly like Avraham's, and anyone who saw them knew Avraham was his father. The Gemara adds that until Avraham there were no visible signs of age, so father and son could be confused; signs of age began with him.
This was not the first such mockery. People had also said that Sarah never gave birth at all, that she found a foundling in the street. At the great feast Avraham made, the women brought their nursing babies, and Sarah nursed them all. This is the meaning of Hashem's promise to bless Sarah (Bereishis 17:16): milk enough for all the children at the celebration.
Rashi raises several questions:
Why does the Torah answer the scoffers in particular? If people had a real doubt, after so many barren years and her time in Avimelech's house, the Torah should answer everyone. And a scoffer goes on scoffing whatever proof he is shown.
Is it a miracle for a son to look like his father? That is natural; you often know whose child someone is without any sign or DNA test.
The Torah is not trying to convince the people who will always mock. It must reach every level, including those who doubt and ridicule, so that its truth can enter even there. At the same time Hashem leaves room for bechirah chofshis, free choice: whoever wants to hold on to a falsehood is given room to do so. We could have been made like robots who cannot err, but our greatness comes from overcoming. "One hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is greater than all the life of the World to Come"; there is no struggle there, while here we turn darkness into light, ishapcha chashocha linehora. Even Avraham and Yitzchak were tested by people who mocked them.
There is also a scoffer inside each of us. When something terrible happens, a voice says, "How could Hashem let this happen?" The Torah addresses that doubt not because evidence silences every critic but because it strengthens whoever sincerely wants to believe.
Pride in our traditions
The lesson is not to be ashamed. The very first halachah in Shulchan Aruch is v'al yisbayesh mipnei hamal'igim, not to be ashamed before those who mock. People unfamiliar with Yiddishkeit, and even Jews who do not keep halachah, may look strangely at the details we keep, especially the customs of Chabad and what the Rebbe instituted. I watched a family bring their youngest son to cheder with every detail of the minhag [CHECK: unclear word in class 006]. Someone could find it all strange or excessive. These details tie us to every generation before us.
In every generation there are those who see Torah observance as outdated and themselves as enlightened, and scientific claims and cultural ideas wash over us all our lives. The Rebbe made a play on words: people are careful about what goes into the teppel, the pot, but not about what goes into the head [CHECK: the Yiddish pair]. Just as food needs a hechsher, so do ideas, both foreign philosophies and thoughts of hopelessness.
"Yitzchak looked like Avraham": each generation must look like the one before it. When people say a new generation should look different, the Torah insists on mesorah. Yitzchak does not stand alone; he is a link in a chain back to Avraham. When we raise our children we must not hide who we are. Proud Jews and proud chassidim, following our traditions without apology, earn respect in the end. May Hashem give us nachas from our children, each of them a true "Yitzchak ben Avraham."
What Avraham gave Yitzchak
The Rebbe reads the double phrase another way. How did Avraham merit a son like Yitzchak, and how did Yitzchak come to father Yaakov and carry the chain of Jewish destiny? Avraham holid es Yitzchak: Avraham invested in him, with his nurturing and with his mesirus nefesh. Everything that follows from Yitzchak grew out of what he received from Avraham, so the verse describes spiritual inheritance as well as birth. Our own devotion shapes the generations after us the same way.
The Rebbe connects this to what made Yitzchak unique, even beyond Avraham:
Bris milah. Avraham was circumcised at 99; Yitzchak at eight days, the mitzvah in its ideal form.
Bar mitzvah. The Midrashim differ on when Avraham recognized his Creator, at three or at forty or later. The age of thirteen begins with Yitzchak.
Avraham made a mishteh gadol, a great feast, b'yom higamel es Yitzchak (Bereishis 21:8). One reading takes higamel as the bris: hei (5) plus gimmel (3) is eight, mal, he was circumcised on the eighth day. The other reads it as the day Yitzchak became bar mitzvah and was weaned from the yetzer hara to the yetzer tov. All the great men of the generation came, for Avraham was a prince among them, Og among them. Og mocked: "With one little finger I can crush Yitzchak." Hashem answered that Yitzchak's descendants would conquer him.
Avraham came to Hashem through reason, late in life. Yitzchak's bond began at eight days, before any understanding, like the bond of a child to a parent. The Rebbe cites the halachic discussion whether bris milah is a one-time act or an ongoing state. In the spiritual sense, even as an adult with full intellect, a Jew never loses the bond above reason formed at eight days; that connection should be constant.
How do we secure our children's continuity? By following Avraham: publicizing Hashem's name everywhere, declaring that Hashem fills all existence with no separation between Him and the world. Avraham's work gave strength to the generations after him against every Og who doubts or opposes Jewish survival. As chassidim of the Rebbe, spreading Torah and mitzvos is how we secure our future, physically and spiritually.
"Toldos" means children, deeds, and above all Esav
Toldos means children, and also good deeds; Rashi says elsewhere that the main offspring of tzaddikim are their maasim tovim. Before naming the children, the Torah tells that Yitzchak was forty when he married Rivkah, daughter of Besuel and sister of Lavan the Arami; that she was barren; and that after the prayers of both of them Hashem gave them twins.
Rashi says these toldos are Yaakov and Esav. Both are called the generations of Yitzchak, not only Yaakov. Today we have many mosdos for the "Yaakovs," children openly connected to Hashem, the ish tam yoshev ohalim. All of Yitzchak's children are part of his legacy.
The Midrash goes further. V'eileh, "and these," continues what came before: the toldos of Yishmael, and before them the sons of Keturah. Those were difficult children, and "these" points mainly to Esav. Yitzchak's greatness as a father showed in the difficult child, whom he never stopped trying to reach.
The Rebbe asks why a parsha named for Yitzchak is called Toldos. We think of outreach as the work of Avraham and Yaakov, who traveled far; Yitzchak never left Eretz Yisrael. There are two ways to influence. You can go out to others, as Avraham did, and bring a person closer step by step, a mitzvah here, an introduction there. Or your own holiness can shine so strongly from within your place that people are drawn all the way in, and they become your true toldos. The Rebbe himself did both: he sent shluchim to every corner of the world, while he stayed home and drew Jews from everywhere.
In 5617 (1857), a chassid asked the Tzemach Tzedek about moving to Eretz Yisrael to devote himself to Torah and avodah. The Tzemach Tzedek answered: "Reb Hillel [Paritcher] doesn't lack Eretz Yisrael, and you want Eretz Yisrael? One must make Eretz Yisrael here. Mach do Eretz Yisrael, make Eretz Yisrael here!" The place where we live must itself become a place of Torah and holiness. (Igros Kodesh of the Frierdiker Rebbe, vol. 1, letter 274; quoted by the Rebbe in Igros Kodesh, vol. 4, letter 1138, 21 Menachem Av 5711.)
The twins in the womb
Rivkah felt turmoil in her pregnancy and went to inquire. She was told she carried two nations. When she passed houses of Torah, Yaakov struggled to get out; when she passed places of idolatry, Esav did. How could Esav be drawn to evil before he was born?
The Gemara says an angel teaches a child the whole Torah in the womb and strikes him at birth so that he forgets it. If we remembered, there would be no struggle and no choice. Forgetting begins the lifelong contest between yetzer tov and yetzer hara. Esav too heard the Torah in the womb, and that did not decide his choices. Vayigdelu hane'arim, "the boys grew up," means they grew spiritually too, each through his own choices.
"The boys grew up": Esav's age
Rashi says that until thirteen no one noticed a difference; at thirteen one went to the batei midrash and the other to idolatry. To a bar mitzvah boy I say: until now people paid little attention to which way you would go; from now your path shows. You are counted in the community. Ten boys who just became bar mitzvah can say Kaddish, read the Torah and repeat the Amidah, while nine great rabbis without a tenth man cannot. You count as much as the greatest tzaddik.
Now do the arithmetic. Yitzchak lived 180 years; Avraham should have lived as long but lived 175, because Hashem promised him seivah tovah, a good old age, and spared him the sight of his grandson leaving the path. Avraham was 100 when Yitzchak was born, and Yitzchak was 60 when the twins were born, so Avraham was 160. At his passing at 175, Esav was 15. Rashi says Esav turned at 13, but the years point to 15.
The Daas Zekeinim answer that for the first two years Esav hid his deeds. Yet Hashem could have kept hiding them from Avraham rather than shorten his life. The Sefer HaBahir suggests that after the Akeidah Yitzchak spent some years in Gan Eden, so "sixty years old when they were born" counts only his years in this world; counting Gan Eden he was 63 [CHECK: how this resolves the 13/15 question]. The evidence: Yitzchak told Yaakov he smelled of Gan Eden, and how would he know that scent had he not been there?
Esav the hunter, Yaakov in the tents
Esav was ish yodei'a tzayid, Yaakov ish tam yoshev ohalim (Bereishis 25:27). Rashi says Esav trapped people as well as animals, and tzayid b'fiv, "game in his mouth," means he trapped his father with words. He asked how to tithe salt and straw, items that need no tithe. Salt alone is worth little except as seasoning; straw is worth little until it is made into bricks. He asked to look meticulous. The Rebbe adds that the questions also showed something real: what a thing can become once elevated, a hint of Esav's lofty root beneath his behavior.
The Torah gives a reason Yitzchak loved Esav and none for Rivkah's love of Yaakov. Perhaps his goodness was obvious; perhaps she saw through Esav's front. She had also heard the prophecy that "the elder will serve the younger" and felt responsible to see it fulfilled.
Raising children: our part and Heaven's
How could Avraham, who "walked before Hashem" like a servant whose every wish matches his master's, have a Yishmael, and Yitzchak an Esav? Parents and teachers do everything right and sometimes it does not turn out as hoped. Earlier communities were insulated; today every influence reaches into the home. We need siyata dishmaya. The greatest parents in history faced this, so we must not blame parents whose children stray, and we must not blame ourselves entirely.
The Rambam describes two kinds of people: the one who does right with little inner struggle, and the one who battles his desires all his life [CHECK: "land of Canaan" / "land of Edom" in class 026]. Nisayon, a test, shares its root with nes, a banner raised high; every challenge is a chance to rise, and someone never tested may be unprepared when hardship comes. The Avos are the pattern for every Jew, and their strengths are our inheritance.
Years ago I wanted to expel a disruptive student from yeshivah. My father told me to give him another chance. Decades later that student thanked me for not giving up on him.
Famine: why Yitzchak could not leave the land
A famine came, besides the one in Avraham's days (Bereishis 26:1). Avraham had gone down to Mitzrayim, and Rashi says Yitzchak meant to do the same. Hashem told him not to go down to Egypt but to stay in the land He would show him, and he went to Avimelech, king of the Plishtim in Gerar, still within Eretz Yisrael. Rashi explains: "You are an olah temimah," an unblemished offering since the Akeidah, and leaving the land is not fitting for you. Of the three Avos, only Yitzchak was commanded never to leave.
Was the land already holy then? Today halachah permits leaving Eretz Yisrael only for real needs, such as marriage or livelihood. Hashem told Avraham "to your seed I have given this land" (Bereishis 15:18), in the past tense, and Rashi explains that Hashem's word is as good as done. In plain terms, though, the land's holiness took effect only when Bnei Yisrael conquered it under Yehoshua. So the reason in Avraham's time was not the land's sanctity. Rashi explains it elsewhere: Avraham had filled Canaan with the knowledge of Hashem, while outside it people were ignorant or hostile. Where we place ourselves matters; surrounded by people with the same goals, we grow. That is the strength I take from the yearly convention of shluchim.
The lesson works both ways. Some people are always surrounded by holiness, Torah and mitzvos, the yoshvei ohel, living spiritually in Eretz Yisrael, of which it is said "the eyes of Hashem are always upon it" (Devarim 11:12). Others must go out to earn a living and deal with the world. Both are needed, like Yissachar and Zevulun, and like an army in which a minority fights while most serve in support; in Tanach the spoils were divided equally between those who fought and those who guarded the supplies. Torah study brings Hashem's blessing on all of us, our safety included, which depends on Hashem's favor more than on strength or alliances. Neither approach is superior. Those immersed in Torah must sometimes reach out for the community's good, and those always busy with others must return "to Eretz Yisrael," to learning and self-refinement. Outreach need not mean travel: a neighbor, a coworker, someone at the gym, family. And however busy we are with others, our own children and family need us too.
Sheini (Bereishis 26:6–12)
"She is my sister": the third time
Yitzchak settles in Gerar. The people ask about his wife, and fearing they would kill him to take Rivkah, he says she is his sister. Avimelech, king of the Plishtim, sees them behaving as husband and wife and confronts him: "Why did you say she is your sister? One of the people almost lay with her!"
This is the third time in three parshiyos that we read nearly the same story. In Lech Lecha, Avraham asked Sarah to say she was his sister in Egypt. In Vayera, Sarah was taken by Avimelech, though she was about ninety. Now it happens with Yitzchak and Rivkah. Why does the Torah repeat it?
After each episode the Av came out wealthy. Paro gave Avraham abundant gifts, Avimelech gave gifts too, and here, though no gift is mentioned, Yitzchak sows the land and reaps a hundredfold that very year. These were not random events but nisyonos, tests from Hashem. Hashem told Avraham to go to the land with the promise that all would go well, and at once his wife was in danger. He did not question; he was certain Hashem would protect her.
Mesirus nefesh in our own time
The same test ran through the last century. My parents lived in Communist Russia, where Torah and Yiddishkeit were forbidden by law and Stalin's government was fiercely anti-religious. Keeping secret yeshivos, teaching children Torah and keeping a mikveh took tremendous determination. The Rebbe sent shluchim into these dangers, and my father was among those who carried funds to keep the yeshivos alive. Some never came home.
How can a person risk his life, or send others into danger, for Torah? From a confidence in Hashem and a sense of mission greater than personal safety, the same certainty Avraham had that nothing would happen to Sarah. Not of those interrogators, nor of their descendants, does anything remain today. Those who fought with mesirus nefesh raised generation after generation committed to Jewish life.
Fewer miracles each time
Look at how Hashem intervened in the three stories:
With Paro, Hashem sent plagues on Egypt.
With Avimelech the first time, Hashem came to him in a dream and warned him.
With Yitzchak and Rivkah, Avimelech figured it out himself, with no open miracle.
The open miracle grows less necessary as the lesson is internalized. When we face difficulties even while doing what Hashem wants, we may ask why things are not going smoothly. These are tests that make us stronger, and as Avraham and Yitzchak came out richer in body and in spirit, so can we. May Hashem grant us success without hardship, and if challenges come, may we meet them with courage.
Shlishi (Bereishis 26:13–22)
"The man grew greater and greater"
Yitzchak became great, "growing greater until he was very great" (Bereishis 26:13). Chazal say people valued the dung of Yitzchak's mules above Avimelech's silver and gold. The Plishtim grew jealous and stopped up the wells Avraham's servants had dug, filling them with earth, and Avimelech told Yitzchak to leave.
Yitzchak re-dug his father's wells and gave them the names his father had given them. Then he dug new ones. Over the first the shepherds of Gerar quarreled, and he named it Esek, contention. Over the second they quarreled too, and he named it Sitnah, enmity. The third went uncontested, and he called it Rechovos: "For now Hashem has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land" (Bereishis 26:22).
The Torah is precise in every word. Why does it spend so many verses on digging wells, which seems a trivial matter?
Avraham's chesed and Yitzchak's gevurah
The stories of the Avos happened literally, and each Av also embodies a way of serving Hashem that he passed to all his descendants. As a father passes on his physical DNA, the Avos pass their spiritual qualities to every Jew. The shevatim later branched into twelve paths, but the foundations from Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov belong to all of Am Yisrael.
Avraham is chesed. He invited guests and even pleaded for the wicked of Sedom. Chazal say that from when Avraham came into the world, the attribute of chesed had nothing left to do, for he filled the world with kindness. Kindness fills a lack, physical or spiritual: food and shelter, or teaching Torah and bringing someone close to Hashem. Chesed flows milmaalah l'matah, from above to below, from one who has to one who lacks. In our own service it means drawing Godliness down so that we are inspired by holiness.
Yitzchak is gevurah, and his service runs milmatah l'maalah, from below upward: refining and raising what is already there but hidden under layers. That is digging a well. You do not create water; you remove the dirt and stones to reveal water that was always there. Avraham brought Godliness down into the world; Yitzchak raised the world up to Godliness.
The name Yitzchak comes from tzechok, laughter and joy, the delight above when darkness is turned into light. When we break through obstacles and let the soul shine after a struggle, the light is greater than before. That is the purpose of creation. Let us take this from Yitzchak: treat every challenge as a chance to serve Hashem with new strength.
The well inside every Jew
The Rebbe explains that every Jew has an inner well: the neshamah, pure, living and bound to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Over time "dirt" collects on it, habits and influences that are not in keeping with Torah and Chassidus. Reaching it takes work, scraping away what covers it. Once you reach the water, it flows by itself, abundantly. Even someone who has ignored his soul for years has moments of thirst for something higher; that thirst is the water rising, revealed through davening, mitzvos and commitment. With another person, sometimes all it takes is removing a little dirt for the good inside to come out.
A man named Yitzchak once came to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe told him that since his name is Yitzchak, he should be digging wells, revealing the neshamah of other Jews. The man answered that he had not yet dug his own well. The Rebbe gave two answers. First, helping someone else will itself help you dig your own. Second, you may be the one person meant to touch that particular Jew, so you cannot wait until you are ready. Feeling like a hypocrite is only another layer of dirt; do what you can now and keep growing.
Shluchim: today's well-diggers
The Rebbe taught that digging wells is every Jew's task, and the shluchim have made it their life's work. At the convention in Crown Heights, more than 4,500 shluchim gathered, young couples who serve communities large and small, often far from any Jewish infrastructure. One figure reported there: 60% of students who connect with Yiddishkeit in college stay connected after they leave, a true pe'ulah nimsheches, a lasting effect. One year South Dakota became the fiftieth state with a permanent shliach, for a community of a few hundred Jews. Much of the distance we see comes from not knowing; no one ever took the time to teach. The Gemara speaks of mekarev rechokim, bringing near those who are far, and every one of us must find a way, according to his ability, to bring Hashem's children back to their Father.
People ask how shluchim keep their fire far from community, often without pas Yisrael or chalav Yisrael, without friends for their children. Won't the warmth fade, like hot water diluted by cold? Not if the pot stays on the fire. Connected to the source, the water stays hot, and the cold water poured in warms up too. Shluchim stay warm because they remember who sent them and why.
Yosef, sold by his brothers and tempted in Potiphar's house, nearly gave in. The Gemara says the image of his father Yaakov appeared to him and saved him. So too a shliach, and every Jew, draws strength from remembering who sent him and what his mission is.
Three wells, three Batei Mikdash
The Ramban explains that the three wells are the three Batei Mikdash. The first two were destroyed amid strife, like Esek and Sitnah. The third will stand forever, like Rechovos, where "Hashem has made room for us."
The Rebbe develops this. Digging a well is hard labor, but once there is a space, water fills it by itself. Building a dwelling for Hashem is hard labor, but once it is built, the Shechinah fills it at once.
Yet the Zohar says the third Beis HaMikdash will descend from heaven, ready-made. Where is our digging? The Rebbe answers that our service in golus is the digging, especially service with mesirus nefesh, beyond reason. Even without physical danger we face distractions and struggles from within and without: doubts, emotional battles, worldly confusion. Despite all that we say Modeh Ani, daven, trust Hashem, learn Torah and do mitzvos. That effort makes the vessel, so that when Hashem brings down the Beis HaMikdash, it seems He built it alone.
The Jewish people have rebuilt after destruction in every age, the Holocaust included: families, communities, Torah and faith. Do not be discouraged when your first wells are stopped up. Dig again, and again; the uncontested well will come.
When the wells are stopped up
The Plishtim could not bear Yitzchak's success, and it is the same hatred Esav bears Yaakov. These classes were twice given on the morning after Jews were murdered at prayer in Yerushalayim, wrapped in tallis and tefillin at Shacharis, among them rabbanim and talmidei chachamim, some connected to our own Boston community. People look to a rabbi for answers, and sometimes there are none; we cannot know the cheshbonos of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
We can learn how to respond. The enemy tried to stop up the wells at the moment the soul is most open before Hashem, in prayer. Yitzchak did not give up when his wells were filled in; he dug again until he reached Rechovos. Every morning we recall that vayashkem Avraham baboker, Avraham rose early to the Akeidah, and from him we have Shacharis. At the Akeidah Hashem said at the last moment "do not harm the boy." Those who rose early to daven and were bound in their tefillin had no such reprieve; they became korbanos, giving their lives al Kiddush Hashem, the highest level. May Hashem bind their souls in the bond of life.
Our answer is not fear or retreat but strengthening, especially Shacharis: coming on time, davening with more kavanah, not talking during davening, looking inside the siddur, and coming one or two more days a week if your schedule allows. Increase kindness, light Shabbos candles, keep taharas hamishpachah, the three mitzvos symbolized by Sarah's three miracles: the candle that burned from one Erev Shabbos to the next, the cloud over her tent and the blessing in her dough. Take the practical precautions, too: lock the shul doors and stay alert. "Hashem, I am doing my part; now You do Yours." Lo sakum paamayim tzarah (Nachum 1:9), may distress not come a second time, and ach tov vachesed yirdefuni (Tehillim 23:6).
Rechovos: room to do good
Rechovos, spaciousness, goes with ufarinu va'aretz, "we will be fruitful in the land." Yitzchak had only two children; here fruitfulness also means spiritual productivity, making room for growth in ourselves and others.
Turnus Rufus asked Rabbi Akiva: if Hashem made a man poor, isn't giving him tzedakah going against Hashem's will? Rabbi Akiva answered with a parable. A king imprisons a slave, and someone feeds him; the king is angry. A king imprisons his son, and someone feeds him; the king is grateful. We are Hashem's children. Giving tzedakah brings Him joy, and as His children we have the power to change reality. When we step forward to help, Hashem gives strength beyond what we imagined.
Revi'i (Bereishis 26:23–29)
The Plishtim through the generations
Yitzchak goes up to Be'er Sheva, Hashem appears to him and reassures him, and he builds a mizbeach. Then Avimelech comes with Achuzas his friend and Pichol his general to make a covenant. Whether today's Philistines are the same people is unclear, but they live in the same region of southern Eretz Yisrael, and from Shimshon through Shmuel and all the kings, the Plishtim troubled the Jewish people.
Avimelech has a pattern. He always does wrong and always claims innocence. He took Sarah and said he did not know she was a wife. He came to Avraham after seeing his success and proposed a treaty, saying nothing of his servants who had seized Avraham's wells. He took Rivkah, again pleading ignorance, and now, after watching Yitzchak prosper, he wants another covenant. Chazal teach that though covenants were made for three generations, the Plishtim never kept them; even after the agreements, Avimelech's servants went on stopping wells and making strife.
When the nations come seeking
Yitzchak asks, "Why have you come to me, when you hated me and sent me away?" They answer that they now see Hashem is with him and want a pact. In Jewish history we have usually been the ones rejected or forced to seek favor. Here the nations come to Yitzchak and seek him out. This is a hint of the days of Moshiach, when, as the prophets describe, all the nations will stream to the mountain of Hashem and recognize the unique role of the Jewish people.
The Rebbe put tremendous emphasis on preparing for Moshiach, both kindling excitement and answering hesitation. Someone once told the Rebbe he needed no blessing; he had family, a livelihood and happiness. The Rebbe said that in that case he would bless him with the coming of Moshiach, so we could all leave golus for Eretz Yisrael. The man wanted to ask his mother first, and came back to report that she was content as things were and did not know what would be in Eretz Yisrael. The Rebbe pointed out that things may seem fine now, but history shows how suddenly antisemitism and upheaval come in golus; it is never truly secure for Jews. Our part is to strengthen our Torah and mitzvos, deepen our bond with Hashem, and truly yearn.
Feeling another Jew's pain
In Tachanun we say ashamnu, bagadnu, and own our failings. When tragedy strikes our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisrael, we cannot change the channel and go on with the day; we must let it affect us. A man on a boat began drilling a hole under his own seat, and when the others protested, he said it was his seat. They told him the water would drown them all. We are all in this boat together.
Tragedy should not shake our emunah or depress us, but move us to ask how we can do better. Some rush to explain why it happened or blame others, as if they knew Hashem's reasons. That is not our place. We do not tell a suffering person it is because of his sins, and we do not demand teshuvah from others. Each of us must take it as a message to search his own ways. Sometimes there are no words, and the hole torn in our people can only be healed by supporting one another.
The cruelty of murder for its own sake goes beyond what even animals do: v'hayadayim yedei Eisav, "the hands are the hands of Esav" (Bereishis 27:22). Our answer is not violence but more ahavas Yisrael and more friendship within our communities. Through that unity may Hashem send peace to Eretz Yisrael and to Am Yisrael, and Moshiach speedily in our days.
Chamishi (Bereishis 26:30 – 27:27)
Why Yitzchak's eyes dimmed
Esav married Hittite women, "a bitterness of spirit to Yitzchak and Rivkah" (Bereishis 26:34–35). Right after, the Torah says: "When Yitzchak grew old, his eyes dimmed and he could not see," and he called Esav. The verse seems to explain itself: he was old. Yet Rashi gives three other reasons:
Esav's wives burned incense to their idols, and the smoke damaged Yitzchak's eyes.
At the Akeidah, the angels wept, and their tears fell into Yitzchak's eyes.
Hashem dimmed his eyes so that Yaakov could receive the blessings.
Each raises a question. If it was the smoke, why was Rivkah, in the same house, unharmed? The angels' tears seem far from pshat. And if Hashem blinded him for the blessings, why him in particular, after Hashem Himself had blessed him when Avraham passed away? A direct blessing from Hashem should have protected him.
The Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos vol. 15) explains that Rashi is answering more than old age. The story of Esav's wives stands right before the blindness, and the closeness tells us they are connected. Yitzchak was then 123, not extremely old by the measure of Tanach, and Avraham and Sarah, after their blessings, kept their faculties in old age. So blindness from age alone does not fit someone Hashem had blessed. Even with such a blessing, there can be a reason particular to the moment: here, so that Yaakov could receive the brachos.
One of the Rebbeim taught [CHECK ATTRIBUTION] that a person should do teshuvah before he dies; since no one knows his last day, every day should be lived as if it is the last chance. The shluchim I heard at the convention, some serving under terrible conditions in Ukraine, are not talking about Jewish continuity; they are doing something about it every day. Every day is precious.
Why Yitzchak wanted to bless Esav
Esav misbehaved, yet Yitzchak wanted to bless him and praised him. Esav fooled him with questions that made him look meticulous. But when Yaakov came, Yitzchak said, "The voice is the voice of Yaakov," for Yaakov spoke gently and mentioned Hashem's name, which Esav did not do. So did Yitzchak know who was holy?
The Rebbe explains that a child can behave badly outside and be truly good inside, his pnimiyus pure. That is how Yitzchak saw Esav. He hoped that by blessing him directly, pouring spiritual energy into him, he would bring out the good. The blessing was meant as more than wealth; it was sharing his spiritual heritage and his bond with Hashem.
But Yitzchak could not purify Esav directly. The blessings had to go through Yaakov first. Yaakov is pure holiness and Esav is bound up with kelipah, concealment; only once the blessings reach Yaakov can he work with Esav from within and, in the end, refine him.
Rivkah's plan: truth against deception
Rivkah overheard Yitzchak tell Esav to hunt game and bring it so he could bless him. Knowing Esav's nature and Yaakov's goodness, she had Yaakov bring two kids of the goats, dressed him in Esav's clothes and covered his smooth hands and neck with the skins.
How could such blessings be taken by trickery? Rivkah drives the plan, and even when Yaakov hesitates she insists, because she knows a deeper truth. From the start the Torah has shown us Esav, who despised the birthright and acted on impulse, and Yaakov, the ish tam. Esav was already deceiving his father, posing as righteous with words, "game in his mouth." Rivkah's disguise answered a deception already in place.
Compare a family where one sibling manipulates an elderly parent into signing over everything unjustly. Another sibling may have to use a stratagem simply to protect what is rightfully his. When open confrontation is impossible, working within the constraints, even with a disguise, may be the only way to justice. It is not deceit for gain.
The theme returns throughout Yaakov's life. With Lavan he needs cunning just to survive for twenty-two years against someone always trying to outwit him. Esav was open opposition, easier to recognize and confront; Lavan was hidden, smiling deceit that clouds judgment. Chazal note that earlier generations faced open challenges and later ones face hidden ones, the harder test.
Appearances deceive, as advertising today makes the fake look authentic. The same goes for Torah itself. The Torah we have is Torah min hashamayim, given at Sinai and passed down faithfully. When people "humanize" it and remove its Divine origin, it loses its power. If everyone resets the town clock to match his own watch, there is no time left at all. So we must look past chitzoniyus to pnimiyus. Someone who looks pious may not be so inside, and someone who struggles openly may have great good beneath his faults. When falsehood and slander are spread, against a person or a nation, standing up for truth, even with strategy and boldness, is not only permitted but required.
"Your curse be upon me, my son"
Yaakov was afraid: "What if my father feels me? I will seem a deceiver and bring a curse on myself and not a blessing." His fear shows his innocence; the ish tam was not used to trickery, and he feared above all to wrong his father. Rivkah answered, Alai kilelascha b'ni, "Your curse be upon me, my son" (Bereishis 27:13).
At first this seems poor comfort. A son who loves his mother would no more want her cursed than himself. The Rebbe explains that Rivkah was teaching Yaakov what a parent's blessing is worth: worth risk and sacrifice to obtain. Honoring parents sometimes takes real effort.
It does not end with their lives. Rabbi Yochanan lost both parents before he could know them, and once he learned how demanding kibbud av va'eim is, he thanked Hashem that he was spared the risk of failing in it. We often let distance, busyness and silence keep us from honoring our parents while they live. After they pass we can still honor them, through Kaddish, davening and learning in their merit. Kaddish brings many to shul who would not otherwise come, and once there they learn more, join the community and grow closer to Hashem than they expected, raising both the departed and themselves. May all those we remember be melitzei yosher for their families, and may we soon see Moshiach and techiyas hameisim.
"The voice is the voice of Yaakov"
Yaakov came in. Yitzchak felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Yaakov, but the hands are the hands of Esav" (Bereishis 27:22). He ate and drank, kissed him, and smelled his garments: "See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that Hashem has blessed." Chazal say the scent of Gan Eden entered with Yaakov, a scent Yitzchak knew from his own time there.
Shishi (Bereishis 27:28 – 28:4)
"Give and give again"
V'yiten l'cha ha'Elokim mital hashamayim umishmanei ha'aretz, "May G-d give you of the dew of the heavens and the fat of the earth" (Bereishis 27:28): material plenty and spiritual success. Rashi explains v'yiten as yiten v'yachzor v'yiten, "He will give, and give again." Two questions. Why must Hashem give twice? A person can give only so much at once, but Hashem is infinite. And why the Name Elokim, the Name of judgment, rather than Havayah, the Name of kindness?
Pirkei Avos describes two kinds of students: the sealed cistern that loses not a drop of what the teacher gave, and the overflowing spring that carries the teaching further. Each has its virtue: one preserves the tradition perfectly, the other builds on it. The power to go beyond what you received comes from a teacher who empowers you. Rabbi Sacks related that after meeting great leaders he usually came away feeling smaller, except with the Rebbe, who made him feel he could lead himself.
There are two modes in serving Hashem. The tzaddik who never strayed receives from above. The baal teshuvah turns his failures into new strength and makes light from the darkness itself. So Yitzchak says "give and give again" in the Name of judgment. Sometimes the blessing comes straight through kindness; sometimes it comes through overcoming a limitation, through din. Even if we stumbled and missed our chance, Hashem promises another: He gives again. The Rebbe lived this, reaching Jews whom others had written off and showing them there is always another chance. We must always try to do right, and know that if we fall, there is still hope.
"Father, have you only one blessing?"
Esav came back from the hunt, and Yitzchak trembled. Esav cried out that Yaakov had cheated him twice, the birthright and now the blessing, and Yitzchak said, "He too shall be blessed." Esav wept: "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father." Toldos is not a simple story of good and bad; it is full of nuance. Even Esav feels pain here, and though we judge his deeds harshly, we must see the connection that remains.
Rivkah's role should be noticed. She acted with chesed, and also with gevurah, strength. She understood what was at stake for Jewish destiny if it were left in Esav's hands, and she ensured continuity through Yaakov even when it meant hard choices against her own son.
Esav's head in Yitzchak's lap
The Gemara tells what happened at Yaakov's burial. Yaakov told his sons to bury him in Me'aras HaMachpelah, where Adam and Chava, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivkah, and Leah already lay; one place remained. When they arrived, Esav came and claimed it as his inheritance. They said Yaakov had bought it from him along with the birthright, and Esav demanded the deed, which had been left in Egypt. While Naftali ran back for it, Chushim son of Dan, who could not hear and did not understand the delay, struck Esav with a stick. Esav fell dead, and the Gemara says his eyes fell out. The Targum Yonasan adds that his head rolled into the cave, into the lap of his father Yitzchak.
But halachah forbids burying a rasha beside a tzaddik. In Navi, a dead man thrown into Elisha's grave came back to life so as not to lie beside the prophet. How could Esav's head rest with Yitzchak?
The Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos vol. 15) explains that Esav's head, his intellect and his root, had kedushah. From above, milmaalah l'matah, there was something holy in him; below, in his deeds, he stayed wicked. Once his head was separated from his body, from his actions, it was no longer defined by them, and it could rest with his father. The sparks were real: great converts came from Esav, and the Gemara says Rabbi Meir descended from Nero.
Compare Yishmael. He did teshuvah: when Avraham was buried, the Torah names Yitzchak before Yishmael, and Rashi learns that Yishmael gave his younger brother precedence. Yet Sarah said, "The son of this maidservant shall not inherit with my son," and Yishmael is not Avraham's true seed. Esav never did teshuvah, and still his head belonged with Yitzchak. Why?
It is not only that Yishmael's mother Hagar was a maidservant; Bilhah and Zilpah were maidservants too, and Dan, Naftali, Gad and Asher are among the shevatim. Some suggest that Yishmael was born before Avraham's bris, before Avraham fully entered the covenant, and only a child born after it is his heir [CHECK: discussion in class 022]. Esav, on the other hand, was born to Rivkah and was Jewish by birth; even a mumar who leaves the faith remains a Jew at his core.
The Rebbe explains the deeper difference by what each father gave. Avraham's chesed shone outward without demanding inner change. Like a teacher whose presence alone keeps the class quiet though the students have not learned discipline, it moved Yishmael to do right where he stood, even to do teshuvah, but did not transform his essence. When Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah opened the beis midrash to everyone, unlike Rabban Gamliel who admitted only those whose inside matched their outside, many more came, but not all were changed within. Yitzchak's gevurah reached deeper and gave Esav an essential bond that stayed in him whatever he did. But for the same reason Yitzchak's way needed a receptive vessel. He never left Eretz Yisrael, and he did not take a maidservant when Rivkah was barren. He saw Esav's "head" and loved him, yet could not refine him while Esav would not let go of his deeds, the "body." Only when they were separated could the spark be saved.
Yaakov sent away with the blessing of Avraham
Rivkah heard that Esav planned to kill Yaakov and told him to flee to Lavan. Yitzchak called Yaakov, commanded him not to marry a Canaanite woman, and blessed him with birkas Avraham, the blessing of Avraham, "to inherit the land of your sojourning" (Bereishis 28:4). When Hashem told Avraham "I will make you a great nation," Rashi explains, it meant others would look at his children and wish theirs were like them. That blessing passed to Yaakov alone, not Esav.
Why give the blessing of inheriting the land at the moment Yaakov was being sent out of it? Inheriting the land means carrying Avraham's mission even beyond its borders. Leaving Eretz Yisrael can feel like a spiritual loss, but the Rebbe explains it can bring greater growth. Yaakov became the father of all twelve shevatim not at home in comfort but in Lavan's house, in Charan, in struggle. Stepping out of one's comfort zone, in place or in spirit, is often what real growth requires. We hesitate to step away from our own learning or comfort for fear of losing, but the Rebbe often wrote that helping others brings Divine help far beyond what we could reach alone; our minds grow clearer and our efforts more successful.
We pray for peace in Eretz Yisrael, that all may lie down with none to make them afraid. A shliach recently gave his life on shlichus; may his sacrifice move us to greater dedication, and may we have no more suffering, only good news.
Shevi'i (Bereishis 28:5–9)
Esav's gesture
Yaakov set out for Padan Aram. Esav saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father, so he went to Yishmael and took Machalas, Yishmael's daughter, "in addition to his wives" (Bereishis 28:9). He did not divorce the wives who had grieved his parents. It is the same pattern as the tithing of salt and straw: an image with no substance and no real change.
The three Avos and their way in every generation
Avraham is chesed, spreading Godliness outward to whoever stands before him. Yitzchak is gevurah, working inward, uncovering and refining. Yaakov is tiferes, the harmony of both, reaching out broadly like Avraham and refining deeply like Yitzchak. That is why all of Yaakov's children were righteous.
The same three appear in the history of Chassidus. The Baal Shem Tov reached everyone, everywhere, like chesed. The Maggid concentrated on raising a circle of refined disciples, like gevurah. The Alter Rebbe joined the two, making the deepest teachings accessible to the mind of every Jew. In our generation some say certain Jews are too far gone. The Rebbe insisted on reaching even the "Esavs" and "Yishmaels," finding their spark and raising it.
Never give up on anyone
This is the lesson of the whole parsha. Avraham and Yitzchak loved their wayward sons and bent over backwards to bring them close rather than push them away, even when they did not succeed. No soul is beyond reach; every Jew keeps a "head" worth reclaiming. We think we are being hypocrites when we do a mitzvah without full sincerity, but often it is the soul itself speaking through us before we realize it. Like Yitzchak hoping for Esav, we must believe that every person can return.
A story told at the convention: a young rabbi, engaged to be married, was offered a position in Siberia. He told his fiancée he would go anywhere but Russia, with its cold and its history of persecution. The chief rabbi suggested they just visit before deciding. They arrived in bitter cold to find one broken-down shul without basic facilities, and soon after, a pogrom: swastikas on the walls and sifrei Torah desecrated. The media came, and since he was there as "the rabbi," he was thrust into leadership. Later, over tea at home with his wife and young daughter, they realized everyone already saw them as shluchim except themselves, and they accepted the mission. The community has flourished, and they recently married off that daughter there.
Rosh Chodesh Kislev
Parshas Toldos usually comes near Rosh Chodesh Kislev. After the holidays of Tishrei and the quiet of Cheshvan, Kislev brings Chanukah and the great days of the Chassidic calendar. For Chabad, Rosh Chodesh Kislev marks the Rebbe's recovery after his heart attack on Shemini Atzeres 5738. Against medical advice to go to the hospital, the Rebbe stayed in his room, saying whatever could be done there could be done here. On Rosh Chodesh Kislev he went home for the first time, and the chassidim sang and danced; it has been a day of thanksgiving and joy ever since. Since our Rebbe's time no Rebbe has been imprisoned or persecuted in America, yet this was a day of liberation too.
Nothing happens below without meaning above. When the Alter Rebbe was imprisoned, it was understood as a heavenly accusation that he had revealed too much, and after his release he was told to continue with even more vigor. So too the Rebbe broke down barriers between Jews and reached everyone; perhaps there was an accusation above that he was revealing and doing too much, and his recovery was a sign to go on even more strongly. The Rebbe would stand for hours giving out dollars or wine to thousands without tiring. Asked how, he said: "When you're counting diamonds, you don't get tired." Every Jew was precious to him, and each encounter gave him strength. When people tried to limit visitors so he could rest, he insisted these meetings were what strengthened him.
Let us take the inspiration into action: more Torah and mitzvos, with joy and vitality, until we greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu, speedily in our days.