Parshat Toldot

Rebecca, hitherto infertile, became pregnant. Suffering acute pain, she went to inquire of the Lord (Bereishit 25:22). The explanation she received was that she was carrying twins who were contending in her womb. They were destined to do so long into the future: Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. (Bereishit 25: 23) Eventually the twins are born first Esau, then, his hand grasping his brothers heel, Jacob. Mindful of the prophecy she has received, Rebecca favors the younger son, Jacob. Years later, she persuades him to dress in Esaus clothes and take the blessing Isaac intended to give his elder son. One verse of that blessing was May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. (Bereishit 26:29) The prediction has been fulfilled. Isaacs blessing can surely mean nothing less than what was disclosed to Rebecca before either child was born, namely that the older will serve the

November 17, 2012 3 Kislev, 5773

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Parshat Toldot

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younger. The story has apparently reached closure, or so, at this stage, it seems. But biblical narrative is not what it seems. Two events follow which subvert all that we had been led to expect. The first happens when Esau arrives and discovers that Jacob has cheated him out of his blessing. Moved by his anguish, Isaac gives him a benediction, one of whose clauses is: You will live by your sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck. (Bereishit 27: 40) This is not what we had anticipated. The older will not serve the younger in perpetuity. The second scene, many years later, occurs when the brothers meet after a long estrangement. Jacob is terrified of the encounter. He had fled from home years earlier because Esau had vowed to kill him. Only after a long series of preparations and a lonely wrestling match at night is he able to face Esau with some composure. He bows down to him seven times. Seven times he calls him my lord. Five times he refers to himself as your servant. The roles have been reversed. Esau does not become the servant of Jacob. Instead, Jacob speaks of himself as the servant of Esau. But this cannot be. The words heard by Rebecca when she went to inquire of the Lord suggested precisely the opposite, that the older will serve the younger. We are faced with cognitive dissonance. More precisely, we have here an example of one of the most remarkable of all the Torahs narrative devices the power of the future to transform our understanding of the past. This is the essence of Midrash. New situations retrospectively disclose new meanings in the text. The present is never fully determined by the present. Sometimes it is only later that we understand now. This is the significance of the great revelation of G-d to Moses in Shemot 33:33, where G-d says that only His back may be seen meaning, His presence can be seen only when we look back at the past; it can never be known or predicted in advance. The indeterminacy of meaning at any given moment is what gives the biblical text its openness to ongoing interpretation. We now see that this was not an idea invented by the sages. It already exists in the Torah itself. The words Rebecca heard as will now become clear seemed to mean one thing at the time. It later transpires that they meant something else. The words ve-rav yaavod tsair seem simple: the older will serve the younger. Returning to them in the light of subsequent events, though, we discover that they are anything but clear. They

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contain multiple ambiguities. The first (noted by Radak and R. Yosef ibn Kaspi) is that the word et, signaling the object of the verb, is missing. Normally in biblical Hebrew the subject precedes, and the object follows, the verb, but not always. In Job 14:19 for example, the words avanim shachaku mayim mean water wears away stones, not stones wear away water. Thus the phrase might mean the older shall serve the younger but it might also mean the younger shall serve the older. To be sure, the latter would be poetic Hebrew rather than conventional prose style, but that is what this utterance is: a poem.

missed: that the words Rebecca heard may mean the older will serve the younger or the younger will serve the older. A number of things now become clear. The first is that this is a rare example in the Torah of an oracle as opposed to a prophecy (this is the probable meaning of the word chidot in Bamidbar 12: 8, speaking about Moses: With him I speak mouth to mouth, openly and not in chidot usually translated as dark speeches or riddles). Oracles a familiar form of supernatural communication in the ancient world were normally obscure and cryptic, unlike the normal form of Israelite prophecy. This may well be the technical meaning of the phrase she went to inquire of the Lord which puzzled the The second is that rav and tsair are not opposites, a fact medieval commentators. The second and this is fundamental disguised by the English translation of rav as older. The to an understanding of Bereishit is that the future is never as opposite of tsair (younger) is bechir (older or straightforward as we are led to believe. Abraham is promised firstborn). Rav does not mean older. It means great many children but has to wait years before Isaac is born. The or possibly chief. This linking together of two terms as if patriarchs are promised a land but do not acquire it in their they were polar opposites, which they are not the lifetimes. The Jewish journey, though it has a destination, is opposites would have been bechir/tsair or rav/meat long and has many digressions and setbacks. Will Jacob serve further destabilizes the meaning. Who was the rav? The or be served? We do not know. Only after a long, enigmatic elder? The leader? The chief? The more numerous? The struggle alone at night does Jacob receive the name Israel word might mean any of these things. meaning, he who struggles with G-d and with men and prevails. The most important message of this text is both The third not part of the text but of later tradition is literary and theological. The future affects our understanding of the musical notation. The normal way of notating these the past. We are part of a story whose last chapter has not yet three words would be mercha-tipcha-sof pasuk. This would been written. That rests with us, as it rested with Jacob. support the reading, the older shall serve the younger. In fact, however, they are notated tipcha-mercha-sof pasuk suggesting, the older, shall the younger serve; in other words, the younger shall serve the older. A later episode adds a yet another retrospective element of doubt. There is a second instance in Bereishit of the birth of twins, to Tamar (Bereishit 38:27-30). The passage is clearly reminiscent of the story of Esau and Jacob: When her time was come, there were twins in her womb, and while she was in labor one of them put out a hand. The midwife took a scarlet thread and fastened it round the wrist, saying, This one appeared first. No sooner had he drawn back his hand, than his brother came out, and the midwife said, What! You have broken out first! So he was named Perez. Soon afterwards his brother was born with the scarlet thread on his wrist, and he was named Zerah. Who then was the elder? And what does this imply in the case of Esau and Jacob? (See Rashi to 25: 26 who suggests that Jacob was in fact the elder.) These multiple ambiguities are not accidental but integral to the text. The subtlety is such, that we do not notice them at first. Only later, when the narrative does not turn out as expected, are we forced to go back and notice what at first we

This year for Thanksgiving You can really give thanks and be giving! Buy a Thanksgiving Dinner for a resident at Arrandale Senior Housing and make your parents proud of you. $18 can sponsor a dinner in honor of/in memory of your parents

Great Neck Synagogue Shabbat Activities Program

Dale Polakoff, Rabbi Ian Lichter, Assistant Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Wolf ,zl, Rabbi Emeritus Zeev Kron, Cantor Eleazer Schulman, zl, Cantor Emeritus Rabbi Sholom Jensen, Youth Director Zehava & Michael Atlas, Youth Directors Mark Twersky, Executive Director Rabbi Avraham Bronstein, Program Director Dr. Scott Danoff, President Harold Domnitch, Chairman of the Board

Name:__________________________________________ Phone #_________________________________________ Email:__________________________________________ Meals purchased in memory/ in honor of:______________ ________________________________________________ Amount enclosed:______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ We are also looking for a limited number of volunteers (ALL AGES) to help serve the dinner, clean up, play music, sing & talk to the residents I would like to volunteer on Thursday, Nov 22nd 11:30 -2 pm Food Server:_______________ Other Talent:__________ Volunteer Names & Kids Ages:

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Co-Sponsored by: GNS Hunger Initiative, Sisterhood & Womens Tefila For more info: call Nechama at 516-773-3572 or email lisslev@verizon.net Please return to: GNS, 26 Old Mill Road ,Great Neck, NY 11023

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ANNOUNCEMENTS
GNS UPCOMING EVENTS
CHIEF RABBI LORD SACKS The dinner with Rabbi Sacks has been changed from Friday, Nov. 23 to Friday, Nov. 30. If you already made reservations, please reconfirm that the new date is good. We have limited space left. Please send in your reservations ASAP.

WITHIN OUR FAMILY Mazal Tov to Shira Blank Mizrahi on passing the NY State Bar Exam. Mazal Tov to Anida & Edwin Rosman on the engagement of their son Michael to Lauren Wagner, daughter of Phyllis & Jonathan Wagner of Manhattan. Mazal Tov also to grandparents Roz & David Wagner. COMMUNITY UPCOMING EVENTS
RAISING MONEY FOR ALYN HOSPITAL Team GN will once again cycle in Israel to help raise money for the Alyn Hospital, which specializes in rehabilitating children who are the victims of terrorist attacks, congenital diseases, developmental defects and other debilitating disorders. This year a group of 11 from GN, including Milt Mitzner and Drs. Laura and Scott Danoff from GNS, will either volunteer to help or ride over 300 miles in the Negev to show their support for this most worthy cause. If you would like to help by making a contribution, please send a check made out to Friends of Alyn Hospital to Dr. Scott Danoff at 49-33 Little Neck Pkwy, Little Neck, NY 11362." CHAI LIFELINE GNS member Donny Steinberg, will be running in the in the ING Miami half Marathon on Jan., 27, 2013, to raise money for Chai Lifeline. Chai lifeline is an international organization that provides year-round emotional, social, and financial support to more than 3,000 children with cancer and their families every year. Donny will be raising money and dedicating his run in memory of his grandfather, Philip Steinberg, who died of cancer. Donations can be made online a www.Donny4TeamLifeline.tk or by sending a check made payable to Chai Lifeline and sent to Donny Steinberg, 2 Sands Court, Great Neck, N.Y. 11023. Lets show our support for Donny's efforts as he represents the Great Neck Community in this worthwhile cause. NYC HALF MARATHON-TEAM SHAARE ZEDEK-MARCH 17, 2013 Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem would like to thank their 2012 ING NYC Marathon Runners from Great Neck: Greg Kramer, Lizzy Luxenberg, Amnon Moneta and Aviva Tobin-Hess, for their hard work and dedication to support Shaare Zedeks new Generation Childrens Facility. If you would like to join the Shaare Zedek Team for the NYC Half- Marathon on Sun., March 17th please contact Sharon Goldwyn (sgoldwyn@acsz.org) to reserve a spot as soon as possible! NORTH SHORE HEBREW ACADEMY BOOK FAIR The book fair has been postponed. NORTH SHORE HEBREW ACADEMY OPEN HOUSE The North Shore Hebrew Academy open house has been postponed until Nov., 19 at 7:30. Thank you! SNOW BIRDS Please let the synagoge know when you are leaving asap.
Saturday, 3 Kislev Anita Aharonoff for Samuel Aharonoff Anthony Berkowitz for Barney Berkowitz Evelyn Henis for A. Richard Henis Cindy Ludwig for Frank Gelber Monday, 5 Kislev Lili Weiss for David Buch Tuesday, 6 Kislev Asher Davoudpour for Aharon Dovid Davoudpour Elliot Diamond for Molly Diamond Shaim Evelyn Henis for Albert Noah Thursday, 8 Kislev David Goddard for Leila Goldberg Michael Hoenig for Edward Hoenig Abraham Krieger for Nathan Krieger Magda Yehaskel for Mendel Wohl Friday, 9 Kislev Jerrald Weinstein for Lillian Greenberg

GNS MENS CLUB UPCOMING EVENTS: On Mon., Nov. 26, 2012 at 7:30 PM, Barry Fox, a College Financial Aid Consultant, will be speaking on "Financial Aid and Grants available to College Students". Wed., Dec. 5 at 7:30 PM: Dr. Mildred Pollner, president of Cinema Verite International, will present a 30 minute documentary which she directed, Brave Children of Israel, and will speak on Global Jihad. Dr. Pollner is an accomplished filmmaker, former professor at Columbia University and has lectured worldwide. The documentary has been acclaimed at film festivals in Europe and Israel.

RAFFLE PRIZES WANTED We are now collecting raffle prizes for the GNS Annual Dinner scheduled for Sun., Dec. 16. We strongly encourage you to donate credit card points for prizes that can include airline tickets and hotel accommodations. We are also looking for prizes such as timeshare vacation places, beautiful jewelry, fur, electronics, judaica, gift certificates, internship opportunities, theatre and sports tickets, camp discounts, as well as other prize donations that you might have that will make our dinner extra special! Please submit your raffle prize donations to Mark Twersky at mtwersky@gns.org.Thank you very much!

HAVE YOUR PIE AND EAT IT TOO!! QUESTION: What do you do when a storm and a blizzard arrive when you are trying to sell pies to help families with ovarian cancer? ANSWER: COME UP WITH NEW IDEAS 1) You can still buy PIES for Thanksgiving OR 2) DONATE $20 and a pie will be delivered on your behalf to a family in need OR 3) Let your friends know about buying PIES. To act on options 1, 2, or 3, contact TOVAH MARMER twerber@gmail.com or 516- 314-7135 ALL SALES WILL SUPPORT SHARSHERETS PROGRAM HELPING YOUNG JEWISH WOMEN DEALING WITH OVARIAN CANCER. Pies can be picked up on Wed. Nov 21st 6-9 pm At 13 Church Street, Great Neck.

THANKSGIVING IS COMING. You can show your THANKS and be GIVING by buying a Thanksgiving dinner for a resident of Arrandale Senior Housing. $18 buys a dinner and you can sponsor it in honor or in memory of someone you love. Volunteers are also being recruited to help serve the dinner or to PERFORM in our talent show at Arrandale House on Thur., Nov. 22, from 11:30 2:00 pm. Contact Mark to sponsor a dinner and contact Nechama to become a volunteer. (lisslev@verizon.net) Thanks.

TWO VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO CLEAN TORAH SILVER Ira Lubin would like the opportunity to teach two volunteer members how to polish and clean the Torah silver. The Torah silver needs to be cleaned twice a year before Pesach and Rosh Hashanah. If you would like to volunteer for this special mitzvah, please contact Mark Twersky at mtwersky@gns.org.

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