Never Forget the Word ‘Et’

The second of this week’s double parshiyot, Parshat Behukotai, reads treatise on the blessings of right belief and behavior and, the opposite, the alienation from God prompted by wrong behavior and belief. The latter section, known as the Tokhekha or reproof, ends rather oddly with a verse which would seem better placed with the blessings:

And I will remember My covenant (et briti) with Yaakov (Jacob) and also My covenant (et briti) with Yitzhak (Isaac) and also My covenant (et briti) with Avraham (Abraham) I will remember, and the land I will remember. (Leviticus 26:42)

This verse obviously comes as a reassurance that despite any adverse punishment brought about by the nation’s sins, the nation’s bond with God’s covenant would remain unbroken due to the loyalty of the nation’s founders. This concept is known in the rabbinic tradition as “zekhut avot – the merit of the forefathers”.

An early midrash, from the period of the Mishnah apparently found this expression lacking, since to failed to mention the “other half” of those who formed the foundation of this faith nation:

[From this verse,] we only learn of the patriarchs, from where do we learn of the matriarchs? Scripture states [the word] “et” [three times]. And the “et”s must necessarily refer to the matriarchs… (Sifra Behukotai Parshata 10, Perek 8:8)

As is well known, the word “et” (alef tav) in Hebrew is a place holder stationed before proper nouns with no inherent meaning in and of itself. For the sages, especially the school of Rabbi Akiva, it was impossible that a scriptural word would be without meaning and for the author of this midrash, since the word “et” preceded the mention of each of the patriarchs, it was obvious that they must refer to the matriarchs!

Now, it is obvious to anyone who opens Sefer Bereishit (Genesis) that the matriarchs (Sarah, Rivka, Rahel and Leah) played an oversized role in shaping the family lives of Judaism’s founding family, often even larger than that of the patriarchs, so, then, what message are we to take from the fact that this midrash needed to find a “backdoor” to remind us that we exist, at least in part, on account of their merit?

All too often, credit for important achievements is portioned out to those seen by society as “more” significant, without crediting those who deserved credit. Sometimes, if not often, credit is deserved by those “et”s who made things happen. This midrash reminds us of this. We don’t bank just on the credit just of the patriarchs; the matriarchs, too, founded our people!

Beyond this particular message, though, this midrash comes to remind us never to forget the “et”s in our lives.