ויוסף אברהם ויקח אשה, “Avraham continued life as usual by taking a wife;” this is a reference to Hagar who now had a another name, Keturah. We find a similar formulation to the above in Isaiah 8,5: ויוסף ה' דבר אלי עוד, “the Lord continued by speaking to me again;” the Torah wished to teach us civilised norms by reporting this, i.e. that when widower’s sons have grown up but have not married yet, he should wait with remarrying until his children are married. (According to matnot kehunah in Breshit Rabbah the apparently superfluous word ויוסף, “he continued,” is to teach us that it was the same woman to whom he had been married once before, i.e. Hagar.) In order to make the point that a widower under the right conditions is to marry again is why the above line has been written immediately after the Torah had reported the marriage of Yitzchok to Rivkah.

ושמה קטורה, “whose name was Keturah; Rashi comments on this that her name now was קטורה as her good deeds were comparable to the incense, קטורת later on offered twice daily in the Holy Temple. To your question that this appears to contradict what we have read in Rashi’s own commentary on Genesis 21,14 ותלך ותתע, that Hagar had returned to the idolatrous practices she had learned in her father’s house, you will have to say that in the many years since then (over 40 years) she had become a penitent, and on account of that her name had been changed by the Torah. According to the plain meaning of the text, Keturah is not identical with Hagar. (Rash’bam).

אשורים, the name given to tent-dwelling nomads. לטושים, people who live scattered, and do not form a cohesive civilisation. The meaning is similar to the word נטושים people who have been abandoned on the fields, the letter נ having been exchanged by the letter ל.

ולבני הפילגשים, “and to the sons of the concubines;” according to Rashi this word has been spelled defectively, the letter י before the final letter ם which would indicate the plural mode, being absent, in order to teach us that there was only one concubine. Concubines refers to Hagar and Ketura. [The fact is that in our Torah scrolls nowadays that letter is not missing. Concubines did not enjoy the financial protection offered by a ketuvah. Ed]

נתן אברהם מתנות, “Avraham gave substantial gifts;” [in lieu of a share in his estate. Ed.] Our sages (in Sanhedrin 91 understand the word מתנות as referring to the names of different types of pagan deities, i.e. he taught them how to protect themselves against curses uttered in the name of such “deities.” Our author, quoting another source believes that we must understand this as what is taught in Sanhedrin 65, הלן בבית הקברות כדי שתשרה עליו רוח טומאה, “if someone spends the night in a cemetery in order to endear himself to the demon whose domain this is, he is guilty of violating the commandment no to seek advice from the dead.” (Deuteronomy 18,1) The fact that the word מתנות is spelled defectively, (without the letter ו before the final letter) lends support to this interpretation, as the way it is written the numerical value of the word 890) מתנת) is equal to the numerical value of the combined words למדם להשביע השדים, “he taught them how to swear by the demons in order to neutralise their power.”[According to this editor’s arithmetic the numerical value of למדם להשביע השדים totals only 854. The whole subject is wrapped in mystery. The interested reader is referred to the Torah Shleymah by Rabbi Menachem Kasher of blessed memory, who on page 996 of his commentary on this parshah has a great deal more to say about it. Ed.]

וישלחם מעל יצחק בנו בעודנו חי, “he sent them far away from his son Yitzchok while he was still alive. He wanted to prevent them from staking a claim to part of Yitzchok’s inheritance.

אל ארץ קדם, to a country further east to which he had ancestral claims dating back to his father Terach. The region of Aram is east of the land of Canaan. These were the “gifts” he bestowed upon the sons of the concubine(s). (Compare Isaiah 9,11) We have also read in Genesis 22,21 about Utz being one of the sons of Milkah; Job is also known to have originated in the land of Utz, presumably the same land inhabited by Nachor, Avraham’s brother. Job is described there as the most outstanding personality in the whole ארץ קדם, the land given (in part) to the sons of Avraham’s concubine(s). We are entitled therefore to consider the land of Utz as identical with the region of Aram.

ויגוע, “he expired; according to Rashi thisexpression denoting someone’s passing is reserved for use with the righteous. [This Rashi is not found in our editions of Rashi at this point at all. Ed.] This raises the question of why this term has been applied to the death of almost all of mankind during the deluge, the people who had perished there having been clearly described as everything but “righteous.” (Compare Genesis 7,21) [There the Rashi is not found either. Ed.] The answer is that what Rashi meant was the combination of the term גויעה and אסיפה, “i.e.simultaneous death and transfer of the soul to the domain where the ancestors enjoy the benign radiance of G-d’s spirit.” [afterlife, in plain English.] Even though the combination of these two terms also occurs where the Torah records the death of Yishmael (25,17), our sages see in this proof that the latter had become a penitent prior to his death.

יצחק וישמעאל , “both Yitzchok and Yishmael;” even though Yishmael was the senior son of Avraham, in fact his firstborn, Yitzchok is mentioned first as he was born by Avraham’s principal wife. Yishmael, after all was the son of a slavewoman.

ויהי אחרי מות אברהם, “it came to pass after the death of Avraham that G-d blessed Yitzchok.” Rashi explains that although G-d had bestowed the power to bestow blessings on Avraham, in fact had given him a free hand on whom to bestow his blessing, he had not made use of the power to bless Yitzchok. Rabbi Nechemyah claims that although Avraham had passed on that power to distribute blessings to Yitzchok, he himself had not conferred a blessing on his son, so that G-d had now made up for this omission on the part of Avraham. (According to some sources he had not done so as he foresaw the birth of Esau; according to others, he did not want to provoke the anger of Yishmael his first born.)

ואלה תולדות יצחק, “and these were the descendants of Yitzchok;” previously the Torah had listed the descendants of Yishmael after the descendants of Keturah; now the Torah goes into details of Yitzchok’s descendants.

אברהם הוליד את יצחק, “Avraham sired Yitzchok.” The Torah appears to repeat itself here because it did not refer again to Yitzchok’s mother as opposed to 25,12 where it stressed that Yishmael’s mother was Hagar, stressing that she was of Egyptian origin. Were it not for this detail, I might have said that the reason why the Torah repeated the line that Avraham was Yitzchok’s father was another way of saying that Yitzchok was raised in his father’s house, similar to Moses, of whom the Torah reported that as soon as Pharaoh’s daughter had brought him to Pharaoh’s palace he was raised as if he had been her son. (Exodus 2,10) The repetition is meant to stress that of all the (eight) sons that Avraham fathered, Yitzchok was by far the most important one (for the Jewish people) An alternate explanation: Yitzchok’s father was not Avram but Avraham. As long as Avram’s name had not been changed he had not been able to sire Yitzchok. A third explanation: if you were to ask why the Torah repeated this information, as if Avraham had numerous sons? The Torah wished to stress that ultimately Avraham’s historical stature was assured only by his son Yitzchok. The Torah hints at a famous line by King Solomon in Proverbs 17,6: עטרת זקנים בני בנים, “the crown of the elders are their grandchildren, but the glory of their children are their parents.”

ויהי יצחק בן ארבעים שנה, Rashi’s comment on this apparently historically irrelevant detail, is that the Torah informed us that Yitzchok, after marrying Rivkah, waited for three years until she was old enough to engage in intercourse and become pregnant. (14 years old) [In his commentary on Genesis 24,16, item 91 Rabbi Kasher in his Torah Shleymah, deals at length with the conflicting opinions about Rivkah’s age at marriage. Sifri on Deuteronomy 34,7 claims that Rivkah lived to the age of 133 years, same age as that of Kehat, son of Levi. Our author calculates that if Rivkah had only been 3 years at the time when she was married that calculation would be wrong by eleven years. He proceeds to give details tracing the various ages of our patriarchs and matriarchs down to the birth of Kehat. He also understands the Midrash according to which Avraham heard about the fact that Betuel had fathered Rivkah as not meaning that this had occurred at the same time as the akeydah, but that Avraham had belatedly heard about this. As proof that Rivkah could not have been only 3 years old when Eliezrer met her, he cites the fact that her brother and mother refer to her as a נערה, a term never applied to someone younger than 12 and a half years of age. The well known traditional historic text known as seder olam in its first chapter, also writes that when Avraham returned from the Akeydah he was told that Rivkah had been born. The meaning of that Midrash was that she had been born some time ago. Another proof that she was of age is that we have an iron clad rule that parents must not marry off a girl who has already reached puberty unless she has been asked and given her consent.] The fact that in our chapter Rivkah’s family proceeds to ask for her consent proves that without it the parents could not have married her off.

מפדן ארם, according to Rashi, this is identical with the region elsewhere described as שדה ארם, (Hoseah 12,13 also sometimes described as שדה פדן. In Arabic it appears as פדן שדה. Yaakov is described in Hoseah 12,13 has having fled from .שדה ארם

אחות לבן הארמי, the sister of Lavan from Aram. It is the custom of the Torah to describe the elder brother of a girl/woman as someone’s ancestry. Compare: מרים אחות אהרן, “Miriam, Aaron’s sister” (Exodus 15,12) or מחלת אחות נביות, “Machalat, Nevayot’s sister.” (Genesis 28,15)

ויעתר יצחק, “Yitzchok prayed;” Rashi continues with: this word when used for prayer always describes an intense prayer, one reflecting the urgent need of the petitioner. He describes this as the meaning wherever we encounter this root in this mode. He proceeds to quote three verses from Scripture as proof. Then he adds that this rule applies to this word generally.

לנוכח אשתו, “in order to enable his wife to conceive;” the expression נכח occurs in a similar sense in Judges 18,6 'נכח ה דרככם, “which the Targum renders as: “G-d will ensure that your mission will be successful,” i.e. אתקין ה' ארחכין. He did not pray on his own behalf as he was aware that he was not sterile. The reason that he knew this was so was that G-d had told Avraham his father that his name would be carried on through his son Yitzchok. (Genesis 21,12)

כי עקרה היא, ‘for she was barren;” what was the reason why Rivkah up to that point had been barren? G-d did not want the gentiles to be able to credit her fertility to the blessings that her family had bestowed on her when they said: “may you become the mother of thousands and tens of thousands.”(Genesis 24,60). She therefore could not conceive until G-d responded to her husband’s prayer on her behalf.

ויתרוצצו, “they quarreled;” the word means that something is about to be broken. Compare Chronicles II16,10.

אם כן, “if there is so much pain involved in pregnancy, why do I have to remain alive?” I prefer to die immediately and avoid suffering the pains of pregnancy and birth.

ותלך לדרוש את ה, “she went to obtain an answer to her problem from one of the prophets in her time.” (Rash’bam) The answer she sought was why the fetuses inside her were engaged in a fight. She was well aware that her term of pregnancy had not yet been completed. She was afraid that after all these pains she might miscarry.

ויאמר ה' לה, “the Lord said to her:” by using a prophet to inform her; some commentators say that seeing that Avraham was still alive. [She had turned to him and that he answered her; others say that the reason she had not told her husband about her problem was that she did not want to cause him pain when hearing about her problem, and about the fact that G-d had not revealed the answer to him.] The reason why Avraham answered her instead of her husband was why Yitzchok could not believe that Esau was a wicked person[, as she never told him about all her problems and the answer she had received].

שני גויים בבטנך, Do not worry that you are experiencing so much pain because you are carrying two nations in your womb and it is common knowledge that the birth pains for two are so much greater than for one.

Even though the word for “nations” is spelled in our texts as גיים, it is to be read as if it had been spelled גוים in the regular way.

ממעיך יפרדו, “they are fighting for separation from one another already in your womb. Rashi, on this expression, comments: “one wishes wickedness to prevail on earth, the other righteousness.” G-d implied that at this point in time the outcome of who would prevail in this struggle was not yet known. It would only become clear when the two children’s vocational choices had been made, one a hunter, the other a philosopher, making study his primary occupation.

ורב יעבוד צעיר, “and the older will become subservient to the younger.” This is where the Torah decreed that Yaakov, though the younger, will eventually wind up as the senior one of the twins to be born. Rav Hunna (Bereshit Rabbah 63,6) is quoted as having said that it means if Yaakov merits it he will become the senior, if not, Esau will become senior to him. [Not found in the editions of Bereshit Rabbah at my disposal. Ed.] An alternate exegesis: the word רב does not mean: “the senior one,” but simply means “הרבה,” a great deal,” or “for a long time.” The word occurs when Esau first declined Yaakov’s gift by saying: יש לי רב, “I have lots.” (Genesis 33,9).

והנה תומם, “and behold there were twins.” The word for “twins,” i.e. תומים, has been spelled defectively, the letter י being missing. The reason is to draw our attention to the fact that although, generally speaking, twins resemble each other greatly, in this instance the one was covered with body hair, while the other was smoothskinned. Also, Esau was born with a foreskin, whereas Yaakov was born without. One, Esau, had reddish skin not resembling human skin, whereas Yaakov’s skin was goodlooking. According to Psalms 80,14, the conquerors of Jerusalem are viewed as resembling wild boars, whereas in Jeremiah 50,17 Israel, i.e. Yaakov is described as a lamb. If they were all that different the question arises: “why were they born as twins?” After all, as the proverb says: “where there is straw there must also have been a harvest first.” To quote Ovadiah 1,18, ובית עשו לקש, “the house of Esau will be turned to straw.” We also have a verse: קדש ישראל לה' ראשית תבואתו, “Israel is sacred for G-d, the first of His harvest;” (Jeremiah 2,3). The reference to Yaakov in Rivkah’s womb [the Torah describes him as the only one of the two twins who is worthwhile]; hence the word is in the singular mode.

ויצא הראשון “the first one emerged;” why was he born first? In order that he together with any afterbirth, i.e. something dispensable and at the same time despicable content of the womb, would be discarded with the emergence of Esau. Rabbi Abahu illustrated this by means of a parable in Pessikta Zutrata: when entering a bathtub or public bath, the servant always precedes his master in order to clear away any offensive residue left behind by the previous user. An alternate exegesis: the reason why Esau was born first is that he would inherit the material physical parts of the earth, which had been created before the world to come. Another version: he was born first as he was the product of the last drop of Yitzchok’s seminal ejaculation. We owe this insight to Rabbi Yossi, recorded from a conversation he had with a well educated lady, quoted in the above mentioned midrash. He explained to her that if someone puts two pearls inside a tube sealed at one end, and he wants to access the first one he inserted, he first has to remove the ones he inserted at a later stage. In our story also, in order for the world to be able to enjoy the benefits Yaakov contributed to Judaism and thereby to mankind, Esau had to be born first, as he had blocked Yaakov’s way. Yaakov was conceived from Yitzchok’s first drop of semen so that he was innermost in Rivkah’s womb.

אדמוני, from the word אדם, a complete human being. He is also described as hairy like a fur coat. Some commentators view the verse as reflecting abbreviations, the word אדרת not being understood as in a construct mode to the word שער, hair. The meaning that results would be: “he was covered with hair as if wearing a mantle.” (Ibn Ezra)

וידו אוחזת, “with his hand grabbing;” the younger baby’s had is portrayed as holding on to the older twin’s heel already while still inside Rivkah’s womb. The author cites as proof for this Hoseah 12,4: בבטן עקב את אחיו, “in the womb he tried to overtake his brother.” The word עקב is understood to mean: “heel, hoof.” Yaakov is presumed to have tried to prevent Esau from becoming the firstborn. He wanted to become the firstborn as he had developed from his father’s first drop of semen as quoted by Rabbi Yossi’s response to the lady’s question in Pessikta Zutrata. This would enable Yaakov to claim the status of being the legal firstborn. His failure to prevent Esau from emerging from Rivkah’s womb first, prompted him years later to acquire that status through buying the birthright from his brother.

בן ששים שנה, “sixty years old.” Rashi comments on this that during the first ten years of their marriage Rivkah had not been old enough to conceive, and that during the ten years following he had waited before praying to have children as had his father Avraham during the first ten years in the land of Canaan. When she had failed to conceive during these years, he realised that she was barren and prayed on her behalf. He did not want to sleep with a Canaanite concubine, as his status of having been a burnt offering on the altar on Mount Moriah made this inappropriate. All Canaanites are viewed as “slaves,” both males and females. [The author’s quoting this Rashi at this point is interesting as he had previously gone to some length to prove that Rivkah could not have been so young when she got married. Ed.]

ויגדלו הנערים, “the lads grew up;” Rashi comments on this statement that they had attained the age of 13 at this point. During the years prior to this they did not show signs of developing radically different from one another. Until that age they had both been tutored by their father and been trained in how to become wholesome personalities, as pointed out in Bereshit Rabbah 63,10. It is pointed out there that as of that age the father may thank the Lord that he has been relieved of the burden of raising his children. [Every father nowadays recites this blessing at his son’s bar mitzvah. Ed.] The deeper meaning of this is that from that day on a father is no longer held accountable for sins committed by his children. You might object by arguing that at the time of the sale of the birthright the children must have been at least 15 years old, seeing that our sages interpret the dish of lentils that Yaakov had cooked as having been the meal offered on the occasion of their grandfather Avraham being buried at the age of one hundred and seventy five, and they added that the reason that Avraham did not live to be one hundred and eighty, was to spare him the anguish of seeing his grandson Esau going astray spiritually. We know from the Torah that Avraham had been one hundred years of age when Yitzchok was born, so that at his death the children of Yitzchok must have been 15 years of age. The answer given by the midrash to this argument is that Esau had succeeded in keeping his wicked deeds secret or misrepresenting them as good deeds for two years.

איש יודע ציד, “his vocation was to use trickery to achieve his ends.” Trapping and hunting wild beasts cannot be done successfully without first deceiving those beasts[, as man is physically weaker than they are]. The expression is also used by the Torah as Yitzchok, in due course, would ask Esau: הביאה לי ציד, “bring me some venison.” The Torah therefore had to tell us first that Esau had become a hunter of venison by profession.

יושב אהלים, “according to the plain meaning this means that Yaakov tended sheep i.e. slept in tents as the sheep graze where they find meadows. Compare Genesis 4,20, אבי יושב אוהל ומקנה, “the founder of nomads tending sheep and cattle.” Another reason for describing Yaakov in such terms is that he was going to make his livelihood as a shepherd while at Lavan for 20 years.

ויאהב יצחק את עשו, “Yitzchok loved Esau;” in connection with Esau the Torah uses the past tense, i.e. ויאהב, to show that Yitzchok did not love Esau all the time, butonly at times when he provided him with venison. When describing Rivkah’s feelings for Yaakov, the Torah uses the present tense, אוהבת, as her feelings for him were constant. Furthermore, it is the nature of women to love those who look after her domestic animals.

והוא עיף, “and he was worn out;” it is usual for hunters to be worn out after chasing their prey. Moreover, sometimes they lose sight of their prey in the forest and get lost and it takes them a long time to find their way home. They may remain lost for a day or two, and when they finally get home they are totally worn out, hungry and thirsty.

מן האדום האדום “from this reddish looking stuff.” Every time we encounter the adjective “red,” it always appears to be repeated. The author quotes as examples: אדמדם, ירקרק in Leviticus 13,19 and 49 .(Rash’bam). When someone requests something urgently, he is always in the habit of repeating the key words in such a request. Esau, on that occasion, was extremely in need of food and drink.

מכרה כיום, “Sell me effective immediately!” when the Talmud in B’rachot 32 states that a priest who has killed a person must not perform the priestly service in the Temple, the same applied during Avraham’s time when the priestly services were performed by the respective firstborn males of each family. The priests from the tribe of Levi were appointed only after the sin of the golden calf. An alternate exegesis: while it is true that a person is obligated to give honour to his older brother, the firstborn, no such rule exists when that firstborn is a wicked person. Yaakov no longer considered his brother Esau as worthy of being honoured. כיום, effective as of today;” Yaakov referred to the extent that the rules for the privileges of the firstborns exist now. He knew that in the future the “birthright” would not be subject to being “sold” by the one who had been born to it. An alternate exegesis: the word כיום refers to the monetary value of such a birthright at that time. Clearly it had very little value as so much could happen before the present owner of it could ever make use of it. [Esau’s reference to his impending death in a hunting accident being a distinct possibility makes sense then. Ed.]

הנה אנכי הולך למות, “here I am going to die;” (prematurely) the inheritance of the land of Israel promised by G-d to Avraham is linked to the birthright. Seeing that it will not be realised until after 400 years as G-d had told Avraham, (15,13) and seeing that Esau did not expect to live that long, of what benefit was the status of being the firstborn to him personally? What could he possibly lose by trading that status for a hot meal at this time? ולמה זה לי הבכורה, “what good is this birthright for me?” Esau means that if he could be assured that he would live that long he would not entertain the thought of selling his birthright, but since G-d Himself had told his grandfather that this would come true only in the fourth generation [and Avraham had therefore been able to make a pact of non aggression with Avimelech covering the next three generations, Ed.] he could sell such an entitlement for next to nothing. His own life was in danger daily due to his vocation as a hunter. In the very best set of circumstances his claim to the Land of Israel could only become of interest after their father Yitzchok had died. [Yitzchok was only 175 years old when this conversation took place. Ed.]

השבעה לי כיום “swear it to me as of this day. Yaakov requested an oath that Esau would not change his mind about this deal at some time in the future. This was the only way that the sale would have meaning for him. He did so because the Talmud teaches that if someone announces: “I will sell you whatever I will inherit from my father,” such a statement is legally meaningless. (Baba Metzia 16).

ויעקב נתן לעשו וגו, meanwhile Yaakov had already given to Esau, etc.;” at the same time when Esau had paid him money for the birthright, Yaakov had already fed him bread and a dish of lentils as proof that the sale had taken place. This was a normal procedure when commercial transactions took place in those days. We find an additional example of this in Genesis 31,46, when Yaakov and Lavan conclude a peace treaty by the stone monument.

ויבז עשו את הבכורה, “at that point Esau had shown that he despised the birthright;” until Aaron was appointed priest, the Temple service used to be performed by the firstborns of each family, regardless of which tribe they belonged to. In practice what Esau had done was as if he had said: “why should I dirty my hands with the blood of sacrificial animals,” as per Ezekiel 35,6: as I live, declares G-d: “I will doom you with blood, blood shall pursue you;” the reference is to the blood of circumcision as well as to that of sacrificial animals. [Esau is presumed to have poked fun at the need of circumcision also.] An alternate explanation of the line: “Esau despised the birthright;” seeing that Esau did not want people to point at him as the fool who had sold his birthright, he made it plain that he despised the birthright and what it stood for. In the end, we know that he came to regret this as he accused Yaakov of having tricked him out of it. (27,36).