How Tensions Resolve Themselves

Parshat Toldot

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Our parsha shares with us 3 stories. The first is the background of the birth of Eisav and Yaakov and the sale of the Bechora, the second is the one chapter dedicated to the life of Yitzchak, and the final tale concerns the blessings seemingly designated for Eisav which Yaakov received based on his mother’s intervention and instruction.

If I could summarize each of these stories with their aftermath objectively, based on the text we have, it would sound like this:

Shidduch Criteria - Bigotry or Common Sense?

Parshat Chayei Sarah

by Rabbi Avi Billet

When it came time to find a wife for Yitzchak, Avraham was very clear in his instructions to his servant. Swear “that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live. Instead, you must go to my native land, to my birthplace, and obtain a wife for my son Yitzchak.“ (24:3-4)

Was Avraham instructing his servant to specifically find Rivkah, about whose existence he learned of in the end of Chapter 22? Was he generally instructing his servant to find a wife for Yitzchak specifically from his family? Or was he being discriminatory against his neighbors, while remembering fondly or wistfully the Haranite, Aramite, or Casdean women?

Avimelekh, The King Who Plays the Blame Game

Parshat Vayera

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Avimelekh, king of Gerar, is a tragic figure. He’s a king, but he is very insecure. He thinks his position allows him to do things no civilian could get away with, but every time he gets called on his behavior, he lays the blame on others and never takes responsibility.

After having taken Sarah to his palace, against her will, God appears to Avimelekh and tells him, you’re a dead man because you stole a man’s wife. His response? “Didn't [her husband] tell me that she was his sister? She also claimed that he was her brother. If I did something, it was with an innocent heart and clean hands.'” (Chapter 20:5)

Was it really? Did you have to take her at all? Did she come to your home of her own accord? Did she consent? Isn’t taking a woman against her will a problematic behavior?

Avraham's Relationships and Sarai's "Chamas" (חמסי עליך)

Parshat Lekh Lekha

by Rabbi Avi Billet

The first comment Rashi shares in the Torah is that the law book begins with narrative in order that the nation of God should be able to demonstrate why the land of Israel belongs to them. With this sentiment, it could be easily argued that the narrative could have simply begun with Avraham. We had no need for the accounts of Creation (Ch. 1 – “6 days” and Ch. 2 – “Garden of Eden”), and we had no need for the flood and the dispersion.

The Torah could have simply stated that God created the world, and after 1656 years He felt the need to recreate the world through a flood. A few hundred years later, Avraham discovered God in a way others had not before him, and then God sent him on a journey to “a land that I will show you.”