Toldot

In this parsha

Rebecca, long barren, conceives twins who struggle within her; Esau is born first, then Jacob grasping his heel. Esau, a hunter, sells his birthright to Jacob for a pot of lentils. Amid famine, Isaac settles in Gerar, reopens the wells his father dug, and contends with the Philistines over new ones. Grown old and blind, Isaac prepares to bless Esau, but Rebecca has Jacob disguise himself and receive the blessing meant for his brother. Enraged, Esau vows revenge, and Jacob flees toward the house of Laban.

Themes

• Digging wells for hidden light
• The voice of Yaakov, hands of Esav
• Love and awe united
• Judgment rooted in chesed
• Finding Hashem in the material
• Yaakov's enduring truth

Must-read teachings

1. 1Wells of hidden Torah opened by the AvosConcerning the wells, about which the Zohar writes that now, through the mitzvos, one can find living waters. The Zohar teaches that the wells Yitzchak dug allude to a spiritual reality: through performing mitzvos, a person can reach the "l…תר"נ
2. 2Each tzaddik digs his own path"And all the wells which his father's servants had dug… the Pelishtim stopped them up… and Yitzchak returned and dug again…" The Torah recounts that the wells dug in Avraham's time were filled in, and Yitzchak had to dig them anew — a hint …תרל"ו
3. 3Digging the well of hidden soul-vitalityConcerning the wells, as it is written: "The Philistines stopped them up and filled them with earth…" (Bereishis 26:15) — "Esek" and "Sitnah" (Bereishis 26:20-21). The Sefas Emes takes up the episode of Yitzchak's wells, which the Pelishtim…תרנ"ה
4. 4Voice of Yaakov, Hands of EsavConcerning the brachos that Yaakov had to take through cunning. The Sefas Emes asks why the brachos could be obtained by Yaakov only through subterfuge, dressed as Esav. As it is written, "The voice is the voice of Yaakov, but the hands are…תרנ"ב
5. 5Din born from the power of chesedOn the pasuk, "And these are the offspring of Yitzchak, son of Avraham; Avraham fathered Yitzchak" (Bereishis 25:19). The Sefas Emes opens with the verse's seemingly redundant phrasing — "Avraham fathered Yitzchak" — which he will read as a…תרמ"ד
6. 6Yitzchak's Three Wells and the Middos of the AvosThe hint of the wells — Eisek, Sitnah, and Rechovos — can be said to allude to the aspect of the three Avos (forefathers), for the aspect of love and chesed (kindness) belongs to Avraham. The Sefas Emes opens by reading Yitzchak's three wel…תרנ"ד
7. 7Yitzchak's wells and the soul's three levelsRegarding the wells, concerning which the Zohar HaKadosh writes that through the mitzvos we rectify what the Avos rectified through the wells. The Sefas Emes opens with the Zohar's teaching that the wells Yitzchak dug accomplished a rectifi…תרנ"ג
8. 8Yaakov's truth transcends nature, an endless inheritanceRegarding the three wells, I wrote elsewhere that they are the aspect of the three Avos. The three wells that Yitzchak dug correspond to the three Avos — Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov — each well embodying the spiritual trait (middah) of on…תרנ"ט