TOLDOS 1991

In the Torah portion Toldos we learn how Yitzchak wants to give the blessing to Esau and how Rifka when she hears about this is upset and decides that Esau should not get the blessing and convinces Yaacov to come with cunning and trickery and to receive the blessing instead.  From the text it is not sure whether Yitzchak intended to give the blessing to Esau, and, in fact, he did not.  The blessing he gave to Yaacov when he pretended he was Esau was not the blessing of Abraham.  This blessing he gave to Yaacov when he left for Mesopotamia ostensibly to get a wife, but it is interesting to look at what preceded these events.  What does the Torah write about before these events?  After all, why would Yitzchak want to give Esau a blessing?  Didn't he recognize Esau's bad qualities?  Didn't he realize that Esau was not the student Yaacov was?  Why would he want to give the blessing the Esau at all?
If we look at what immediately precedes the story of the blessing we learn how Yitzchak is forced, because of famine, to leave the main part of Eretz Yisroel.  He, it seems, was contemplating leaving for Egypt as his father had during a time of famine, but G-d told him not to do that but instead to go into the land of the Philistines and to Gror because he was a holy man.  His neck, so to speak, had been on the altar and he, so to speak, suffered a holocaust.  He was a Jew who could not leave the land of Israel. He was a holy man and, therefore, he had other restrictions that neither his father, Abraham, had nor his son, Yaacov, had, and G-d told him to stay in the land of Israel, so he went to the land of the Philistines and there he became prosperous.  It says that "Yitzchak sowed in the land and he found in that year a hundredfold."  In fact, Avimelech even had commanded all his people to say that anybody who touches this man and his wife, he will surely die, but because he was so successful he excited envy in the people around him.  In fact, this whole section is really a treatise on
anti-Semitism and how the nations of the world have always invited the Jew in to help them develop their countries and then when the Jews have developed their countries and the Jews, themselves, are prosperous, the native population becomes very envious of the Jew, although their own wealth has been caused because of the Jew, and, therefore, they want to get rid of us.  They want to expel us.  They want to confiscate our wealth.  The same thing happened in Philistia.  The Philistines saw that Yitzchak had great amounts of sheep and cattle and servants and they became jealous of him, and, not only that, but they plugged up all the wells that he had dug.  These were the same wells that his father Abraham had dug.  In other words, they were so intent upon getting rid of the Jew that they did not mind lessening the productivity of their own country.  Avimelech, himself, joined into this and after telling his servants that anybody who touches Yitzchak would be harmed, he does not back this up.  He even tells Yitzchak, Go from us because you are mightier than we are.  You Jews have made all your money off us.  We do not want you anymore."  So Yitzchak left and he went to the outskirts of that country.  Once again he dug some wells, the same wells that his father had dug, and once again the Philistines followed him and they plugged up the well.  What did he do?  He dug another well.  There the Philistine shepherds came again and they fought with him over the well.  He called the name of the well "contention".  Then he proceeded to dig another well, and they quarreled again with him.  He called the name of that well "hatred".  Then he moved again and he made another well. Only this time they did not fight over the well because they realized that their country was blessed because of Yitzchak, and this well he called "Rechovod".  That is, of course, why the modern city of Rechovod is called Rechovod.  We hope and pray that the Arabs will now see that they will greatly benefit from having Israel in their midst.  Israel does not lessen
their prosperity; it increases their prosperity.  Then what did Avimelech do?  He came and he wanted to make a treaty with him.  First he wanted to kick him out and then he wanted to make a treaty with him.  Yitzchak said, "Why do you hate me?  Why do you want to make a treaty with me? You hate me.  You sent me away from you." Yitzchak, by this time, had gone all the way back to Beersheba.  Here we see that it is the backdrop for the whole story of the blessing, that perhaps Yitzchak wanted to give the blessing to Esau because Yitzchak knew that in order to confront the anti-Semites of the world you needed to have perhaps martial skills.  You also
had to have a knowledge of the world.  You have to know how to negotiate with your enemies.  You had to know how to relate to them, and when he looked at Yaacov he saw a man who was only immersed in study, who did not possess any knowledge of martial skills, who did not know the ways of the world.  How could he cope with the anti-Semites of the world?  Yitzchak also knew that he was a mystical man, Yitzchak, himself, and that when he was confronted with these anti-Semites he just withdrew.  He did not confront them.  It was not that he was not a brave man because later when Avimelech wanted to make a treaty with him, he told him to the face the truth.  He said, "You hated me.  Now you want to make a treaty with me?"
Yet, he bowed his head, acted a little obsequiously, and then moved.  Anytime they challenged him, even though he was now drilling wells outside their
territory, he did not really put up much of a fight.  He just went to another place.  Yitzchak knew that perhaps this is not the way his family could face the anti-Semites, that if his family had to face the anti-Semites they would not have his same mystical qualities.  Perhaps his way was not actually correct.  Perhaps you had to stand up to the anti-Semites more. Esau was a man who would be able to do it because he possessed worldly skills.  He knew martial arts.  He understood the peoples of the region much better than Yaacov.  Rifka, though, knew that Yitzchak was really
wrong because Rifka came from the home of Laban, the master negotiator, the man who could raise an army, but the man who had no sense of the inner worth of Judaism.  In fact, he, himself, was blatantly an idol worshipper, not just to impress the people outside but because actually at the end he believed in it himself.  Rifka knew that the most important thing was the inner will, that unless you believed that it was so important to be a  Jew, unless you believe that Judaism gives so much to your life, so much beauty, so much depth, so much joy that you would want to defend it.  It is true that Esau had all these skills, but she also knew that Esau really did not appreciate what he had.  Oh, yes, when he came home he loved to sit at the table with his father and discuss the words of the Torah and he loved his parents and he loved certain traditions, but he really did not believe in them, and when he left the home he did not act in accordance with them at all.  It is not enough just to have the skills to combat anti-Semitism; you also have to have the will and the will can only come if you believe in your religion deeply.
We see that in the United States where there are so many people who stand
up for Judaism but then they turn around and intermarry, and I am not talking
about marrying men or women who convert because these people are Jews.  They
marry people who retain their non-Jewish faith and their own children become
baptized and inducted into other faiths.  These people may stand up for the
Jewish people and even give big money to the ADL, but they really do not have
the inner strength and courage to defend Judaism.  If they can run away from
it, they will.  If the gentiles will brand you a Jew no matter what you do
then they will have to stand up and fight for it, but they really, even though
they possess the knowledge and education and public relations skills to fight
anti-Semitism, they really do not have the inner heart to do so.  If the surrounding
nations will accept them and they can merge with them even biologically, fine; they will disappear.
Rifka saw that in her own family in Mesopotamia so she knew that Yaacov was
the one to keep the Jewish message even if he did not have the requisite skills.
Yes, it is important to have these other skills to confront anti-Semitism
but it is more important to know that Judaism is beautiful, Judaism is wonderful,
Judaism is worth fighting for, Judaism gives you a sense of joy and happiness
in your life and gives you the strength to overcome your problems.  That he
saw in Yaacov.
And that, of course, my friends, is why NCSY is so important.  Yes, it is important that our children go to college.  It is important that our children learn things in school so that they can have the necessary skills in order to confront the anti-Semites that surround us.  In the United States, too, there are anti-Semites.  All we have to do is look at our neighboring state and at David Duke.  Look at the pogrom in Crown Heights.  We have to look even at the book of Oliver North who mentioned that subtle anti-Semitism is rife in the State Department and Defense Department and in the upper classes of society, but unless you have the inner will you will not be able to really effectively fight it.  You will instead want to give in to it and disappear if they will let you disappear.  Rifka knew something that Yitzchak did not know and, therefore, she wanted Yaacov to have the blessing.  It is important that our children have the right education so they know how to answer the anti-Semites but it is more important that they, themselves, experience the joy and happiness of Judaism.  That's why NCSY is so important because it gives this joy to our children.  It teaches them that Judaism is a source of happiness, not a source of doom and gloom.  They sing and they dance and they see the beauty of Judaism and they will be willing to fight for it and keep it whether they have the skills or not.  The skills are secondary.  The most important thing is inner will.  Let us all hope that all our children will have this inner will so Judaism will survive.  Amen.