Toldot, a Tale as Old as Time (thanks to @Disney)
Sometimes we find inspiration in telling our Torah through means beyond our traditional commentators. And sometimes that even means turning to popular media for some guideposts, some music, to keep our story alive. This is a parasha, told through the music of @Disney, with attribution to them in the BOLD font.
Parashat Toldot, the history of our generations, the telling of our shared fairy tale, a tale as Old as Time1.
To recap, because Genesis is a long story about the emergence of Am Yisrael, our Jewish family, and because we want to really savor all the details, and we believe Family Means Nobody Gets Forgotten, let’s remind ourselves of the storyline: the story started when God and Abraham were musing about the future, and Abraham was told, Lech Lecha, wander from your country to the Land I will show you, in Genesis 12:1.
And Abraham’s answer, that set our people on our path was, of course I will pick up and go, I want Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere. I will go find my way to Israel.
We also know that Abraham’s days were not always easy ones. He, like all of us, needed inspiration and affirmations. Like all of us, Abraham faced challenges and hard times and was always seeking reminder that everything would end Happily Ever After.
That is our human instinct – even when bad things happen, we look for the good, we hope for a better day, we dream of new ideas. Abraham was reminded by God in Genesis 15:5, Look up at the sky, because When You Wish Upon a Star, your dreams of creating a new people, an Am Yisrael, will not feel so daunting, your children will number as many as the stars in the sky.
We know where his story ends – Abraham dreamed, and Abraham trusted, and eventually Abraham brought forth Isaac, the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham to be the father of a large people, promising in Issac that Ohana Means Family, and family means continuity.
Isaac used to Whistle While he Worked, as he sowed and prospered the land, according to Genesis 26:12, he worked hard during the day, and sowing and reaping all good things. His attitude was: Hakuna Matata, he had no worries, as Genesis 26:24 points out, for God was with him.
Isaac was quiet, very quite. In fact, this parasha is about all we know about him, sandwiched as he is between his Father, Abraham, and his Son, Jacob. Nonetheless, what we do know is that he was a soft soul, a gentle heart and that he was very diligent. In the first part of this week’s parasha we learn that some of his work was digging wells for water, not quite the same glory as when someone is building and building and building, because you do not see the results unfold above you and become something large and stable for all to enjoy. In fact, dig a well and it will keep filling itself up with soil, dirt or sand. And you need to go back and keep digging. But if you dig the wells correctly, you will have enough water to just keep swimming.
This special well of water in our parasha, was a Be’er Mayim Chayim, a well that is best described as one where The Water is Alive, or as Rashi might phrase it, where the water continues to keep us alive. Living waters, like our Torah, keep our people alive, quenching our thirst.
Isaac – a quiet hero of our parasha, and like all heroes, there is also drama in his life. He encounters difficult times – especially family trouble. We see in this week’s parasha, Isaac had two sons: one who would brag: I’m the best shot in the whole kingdom , who was Essau, and the other, Jacob, who was A true hero not measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart. Still this family drama is overcome by the twins’ final reconciliation Between Two Worlds, a reconciliation that will come in just a few weeks of Torah readings.
And so it is, that Isacc in our parasha and beyond, is often viewed by commentators as a bridge – he is the son of Abraham, and he will become the father of Jacob. Perhaps this seemingly passive bridge – this person whose greatest two gifts to Am Yisrael are a well of living waters and a son – has more value than our stories give him credit. Yes, he is the passive one, the mild one, the one who lives off the land and works hard to stay in one place. He is a Bridge between his father and his son, between the promise of the past and promise of the future.
After all, a bridge is an invitation to go to Places Where No-One Has Gone Before. Isaac in many ways, certainly more than his father Abraham, is counted on in our parasha, to dream of a new life, to dream of A Whole New World, A Dazzling Place we Never Knew, When We Are Way Up Here, It’s Crystal Clear, That Now We Are In A Whole New World With God, creating a new people in a new place.
Adonai knows how hard it is to dig deep, inspire and quench a thirst for love of Torah – and he rewards Issac, like his does all our ancestors, with the promise of strong continuity in the land.
That is where our parasha leaves us: with God promising Isaac, I will be with you and bless your offspring –
וְיִֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ אֶת־בִּרְכַּ֣ת אַבְרָהָ֔ם לְךָ֖ וּלְזַרְעֲךָ֣ אִתָּ֑ךְ לְרִשְׁתְּךָ֙ אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ מְגֻרֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥ן אֱלֹהִ֖ים לְאַבְרָהָֽם׃
May you and your offspring be granted the blessing of Abraham, that you may possess the land where you are sojourning, which God assigned to Abraham. (Genesis 27)
Issac, our quiet ancestor, not known according to our commentators for any significant accomplishments, us our waters go deep hero of the story,
He bridges past and future; He brings dreams to life fortifying them with living waters; He inspires new Dreams to Come True –
May we all be like our ancestors Isaac and Rebekkah – may we be blessed to Wish Upon a Star and May our Dreams, of peace in our land, of living waters that nourish Am Yisrael, with important Torah, All come true.
