Toldot: Passing and Standing

Rav Johnny's original thoughts on the weekly parsha

Occasionally, rabbinic texts are erroneously amended by scribes and printers, and when this occurs, harm can be done not only to a text, but also to its meaning.

A possible case in point is Rashi’s commentary to Bereishit 25:22 which describes the struggle felt by Rivka when she was pregnant with Yaakov and Esav. There, Rashi explains (while supposedly quoting Midrash Bereishit Rabbah 63:6), that: ‘When she passed (‘overet’) by the entrances of [the] Torah [academies] of Shem and Ever, Yaakov would run and struggle to come out, whereas when she passed (‘overet’) the entrance of [a temple of] idolatry, Esau would run and struggle to come out.’ This describes equal and opposing forces reflecting our Sages ideological associations with Yaakov and Esav.

However, the actual Midrash Bereishit Rabbah 63:6 (at least as we have it) states: ‘When she stood (‘omedet’) by the synagogues and study halls, Yaakov would struggle to come out…and when she passed (‘overet’) the [temples of] idolatry, Esau would run and struggle to come out.’

As should be clear, these two texts differ in a number of ways. However, the two most substantial differences are that in Rashi’s version, Rivka is passing (‘overet’) by the Torah academies while the Midrash states that she actually stood (‘omedet’) by those academies (nb. it is likely that, at some stage, a scribe accidentally wrote ‘overet’ rather than ‘omedet’ given that this word is also used with reference to Esav). Beyond this, in Rashi’s version both Yaakov and Esav wish to run and struggle to come out at least respective destination, whereas the Midrash states that Yaakov would simply ‘struggle’ to come out, while Esav would ‘run and struggle’ to come out. Of course, the question then is: what difference do these differences make?

Rav Zalman Sorotzkin answers this question in his Oznayim LaTorah commentary where he explains that while Rivka stood in places of Torah study, we should not think that our matriarch Rivka stood around places of idol worship. Instead, she just ‘passed by’ those locations. This is why Esav would wish to ‘run and struggle to come out’ to the place of idolatry, because Rivka was merely passing those places. In contrast, there is no mention of Yaakov ‘running’ in the Midrash. Instead, he simply struggled to come out - because Rivka was already standing by places of Torah study.

In light of this distinction Rabbi Sorotzkin explains that the ‘running’ of Esav teaches us how the forces of impurity (kochot hatum’ah) are often stronger than those of the forces of holiness (kochot hakedusha), and as a result, we need to do whatever we can to strengthen our association with the forces of holiness.

Shabbat Shalom!

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