This Land is NOT your Land, This Land is MY Land

Parshat Toldot 

 by Rabbi Avi Billet 

 There are a number of three-word verses in the Torah. Some of them would seem to require no commentary, as only names are mentioned. See, for example, 25:14, when three of Yishmael’s children are listed, “Mishma, Duma, Masa.” 35:24 – “Rachel’s children: Yosef and Binyamin” (four Hebrew words). See also Shmot 1:2-4, when the 11 tribes who descended to Egypt are simply listed.

 Fascinatingly, some of the commentaries go off on lengthy expositions of either what to take from the verse or how to understand the three-word verse.

 Bereshit 46:23 is a great example: “And the children of Dan: Chushim.”

 Another classic is in Yaakov’s blessing to his sons, when he cries out, “I pray that God will help you” – “lishu’atkha kiviti Hashem” (49:18).

 In our parsha, we have a seemingly inconsequential verse alerting us to Yitzchak’s settling in the city of Gerar – “Vayeshev Yitzchak B’Gerar.” (26:6) The background to the verse is that Yitzchak seemed to follow his father’s footsteps in settling in Gerar on account of a famine. God affirmed for Yitzchak that the blessing bestowed upon Avraham would be transferred to Yitzchak in his father’s merit. And now he is settling in Gerar, about to use the same rouse that his parents used, declaring himself and his wife to be siblings in order to avoid being killed in anticipation of his wife being taken to King Avimelekh’s harem.



 So “Yitzchak settled in Gerar.” Simple fact. Not too much to glean from it. It moves the story along, but is not, to say the very least, profound. And yet – the commentaries have a mouthful to say even on this simple verse.

 On the one hand, it teaches us that Yitzchak was fulfilling God’s instruction (Ibn Ezra, Or haChaim), and that he lived there securely on account of God’s Divine Providence (Netziv). He settled in “Gerar” because he was told “Gur” (live) in the land (note the play on words). So he settled in the place where his father settled (Pesikta).

 It was only after being blessed that he too will inherit the land that he went there, not because Avimelekh was there – he certainly was not looking to have a similar experience to that which his parents had. He went there because the land was good and appealing, and he wanted to be in a place that was promised to his descendants. (Alshikh)

 The fact that his wife was not taken in the manner that his mother had been taken indicated that God was watching over him. (Malbim) This helps us understand how “Yitzchak settled in Gerar,” without regrets that he moved to a place which was potentially dangerous to his family.

 In perhaps the longest exposition on the verse I found, the Tiferet Yehonatan explains both the origin of the word Gerar, and why Yitzchak settled there.

“The Midrash explains that Gerar comes from the word which mens ‘drawn from’ another place. The land was not really owned by the Pelishtim. It is known that this is why Yosef and Paroh acquired all of Egypt and put the people into cities, because Avraham had been told ‘Your children will be strangers (ger) in a land that is not theirs.’”

 As “being stangers” implies they will be in a land that is not theirs, what is to be learned from those seemingly extra words is that Avraham’s descendants will be strangers in a land that does not belong to those who will be enslaving them, i.e. strangers to strangers.

 Yitzchak began the “exile” through living in Gerar, which was not even owned by the Plishtim, as Avimelekh had stolen the land from those who lived there before him.

 What a fascinating concept. The Torah tells us that all of Egypt was actually acquired by Joseph in his partnership with Pharaoh (47:20-26). This would indicate that any descendants of the Pharaoh from Joseph’s time, and any descendants of Joseph could lay equal claim to that land, and that anyone else who might claim ownership is technically on stolen land.

 But I digress.

 The lessons to be learned from this tiny verse range from seeing God’s divine hand protecting Yitzchak, Yitzchak fulfilling God’s direct command, Yitzchak seeing God’s promise begin to be fulfilled, as well as a sense that Yitzchak is following in his father’s footsteps, albeit with a more pleasant experience owing to his ability to learn from the past, as well as a security in knowledge that he is never a stranger in any part of the land promised to his father.

I guess the next time we hear that someone has settled somewhere we will be inspired to find out the many implications and ramifications of that move, and what it says about the individual’s or family’s past, present and future!