Post Code… Red
There is a tremendous amount of banter and barter in the portion of Chayei Sarah. From the haggling between Abraham and Ephron and the Hittites, to procure a burial plot for Sarah, his wife, or the extensive interchange between Eliezer and Betuel and Laban to attain the hand and heart of Rebecca as the wife for Isaac. They conjure the marketplaces of the Middle East,- the noise is almost overwhelming. Yet paradoxically, the most poignant and consequential events recorded in the parsha, occur in silence.
After missing (in action) for a number of chapters, Isaac reappears. It is an extremely understated advent. The iconic verse 24:43, informs us that…;
וַיֵּצֵ֥א יִצְחָ֛ק לָשׂ֥וּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶ֖ה לִפְנ֣וֹת עָ֑רֶב וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּ֥ה גְמַלִּ֖ים בָּאִֽים׃
…Isaac went out walking in the field toward evening and, looking up, he saw camels approaching.
In a striking observation Chizkuni, the French Biblical scholar of the thirteenth century, takes us back to the closing scenes of the Akeida, the potential sacrificing of Isaac. We are there informed 22:19 that;
וַיָּ֤שׇׁב אַבְרָהָם֙ אֶל־נְעָרָ֔יו וַיָּקֻ֛מוּ וַיֵּלְכ֥וּ יַחְדָּ֖ו אֶל־בְּאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע וַיֵּ֥שֶׁב אַבְרָהָ֖ם בִּבְאֵ֥ר שָֽׁבַע׃
Abraham then returned to his servants, and they departed together for Beer-sheba; and Abraham stayed in Beer-sheba.
But there is no record of what happened to Isaac, his son. Where did he go following that traumatic experience?
When the verse reintroduces us with Vayetze Yitzchak, Isaac went out, Chizkuni, quoting Bereishit Rabbah, offers; From where did he come forth? Gan Eden! The Garden of Eden where he had spent the last three years after undergoing the akeydah on Mount Moriah. This astonishing idea is developed through the Midrash in a mythical account, more accord arrived at between Abraham and God, following his final tenth test, the potential sacrifice of his son.
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from the heavens” (Genesis 22:15). – What was there for this second oath? He [Abraham] said to Him: ‘Take an oath to me that you will not test me again from now on, nor Isaac my son. A sentiment that too many can identify with, – Enough!
The protection and guardianship of Isaac occurred in the Garden of Eden, where no more harm would occur, and perhaps in this place he could heal. And this healing, from his post traumatic stress disorder, is addressed directly in the verse through an ingenious reading of the enchanting phrase Lasuach Basadeh, to converse or pray in the field.
Chizkuni brings other associations from the term Lasuach Basadeh, – to the shrubs in the field. He explains that we are already familiar, by the relatedness of the shrub from the creation story in Bereishit 2:5; שיח השדה, Siach Hasadeh “vegetation of the field,” but perhaps in a far more jarring manner from Bereishit 21:15; תחת אחת השיחים, “under one of the bushes” where Hagar abandoned or placed her son Yishmael who was about to die. She, being “tested” in the sacrifice of her son, tries to distance herself from him “Mineged” and cries “Let me not look on as the child dies.” And sitting thus afar, she burst into tears. – Isaac is revisiting this and his anguish, perhaps in an effort to overcome it.
HaKtav VeHaKabalah brings an additional staggering insight. Lasuach evokes the phrase Hesech Hada’at – distraction of the mind. Lasuach Basedeh – to circumvent and evade his reality, his trauma. Isaac is doing everything possible to distract his mind, to attempt to change the subject, and his reality. Isaac was still in a post traumatic state, and his walks in the field were an on-going attempt to find tranquility perhaps through and with prayer. Abraham’s tenacious efforts, as must be ours, were surely motivated by his concern that Isaac, and all those suffering, should not be doing so alone.
