Toldot: Learning from Everyone

This week’s parasha is centred around a turning point in Tanach. Esav and Ya’akov are born, the Torah specifically telling us how Ya’akov enters this world holding onto his brother’s ankle, desperate to be the one who enters the world first and fulfils the role of next in line in Jewish genealogy. As his father’s eyesight and health weakens, we see Ya’akov follow his mother’s instructions to trick his ailing father into believing him to be Esav and stealing his brother’s birthright. He lies his way through, the only reason for his actions being that he and his mother believe that he should be the one to take on the family line, not his unwieldy, wild brother. It is a strong, almost arrogant assumption to make, and Ya’akov knows that the methods he has used for his ends are wrong. His reaction to Esav’s arrival after stealing his birthright is visceral, Torah stating ויחרד יצחק חרדה גדולה, ‘and Ya’akov trembled a great trembling’ (Gen. 27:33). The repetition of חרד as both verb (‘to tremble’) and noun (‘a trembling’) creates an emotive emphasis in the text. His fears are justified – soon after Esav decides that he will kill him as soon as their father has died (Gen. 27:41). With this on his head, Ya’akov flees. In the way of biblical action, it is quite a dense parasha, chronicling in detail the twists and turns, the sibling rivalry which begins in the womb, the curses and blessings which embroider the continuing path of the Jewish people. It is no wonder that this week’s parasha is named Toldot; it begins, with a classic leitmotif of Tanach, with the words אלה תולדות יצחק בן-אברהם, ‘these are the generations of Yitzchak, son of Abraham’ (Gen.25:19).

Though the majority of the parasha details Ya’akov’s deceptive pursuit of the birthright, it is a much simpler characterisation in the early verses of Toldot which tells us more about his character. When the Torah describes what sort of men these brothers grow up to be, it describes Esav as איש ידע ציד איש שדה, ‘a man who knows hunting, a man of the field’ (Gen. 25:27). Ya’akov, on the other hand, is described as איש תם ישב אהלים, ‘a wholesome man, dwelling in tents’ (Gen. 25:27), the translation of תם as ‘wholesome’ used by Artscroll editions suggesting that he is a man of good nature, intellectual rather than materialistic. Curiously, in his commentary on this verse, Rashi describes Ya’akov as ‘not [being an] expert in these things [of Esav’s]’, saying that ‘his heart was his mouth’, i.e. that ‘his thoughts and his words tallied’.[1] He is not talented at deception in the same way that is required to trick an animal into capture for hunting. The Ibn Ezra concurs with this idea, writing that ‘Esav was constantly practicing deception, for most animals are trapped through trickery’, seeing Ya’akov’s characterisation here as depicting him to be his brother’s ‘antithesis, because he was a man of integrity’.[2] Clearly these men, though sharing the same parents, even the same space in the womb (though unhappily), are completely contrasting characters, as siblings often can be. As they grow in maturity – as suggested by the verse’s use of the word איש as opposed to ילד, (‘boy’) – their true characters are revealed, and their paths in life become clearer.

The concept of Ya’akov dwelling in tents is a fascinating one, with many of the Sages choosing to read it as proof of Ya’akov’s intellect and his pursuit of higher spirituality and knowledge. It is a commonly held belief in rabbinic literature that his father Yitzchak’s middah is of teaching, something which is reflected in Midrash Tanchuma Shemot 1:10, which states that Ya’akov learnt from his father, who ‘taught him the law and reprimanded him (as he studies) in the classroom’.[3] Yitzchak teaches and Ya’akov listens and learns, absorbing knowledge of G-d and of the path towards the practicalities of Judaism we see in later books of Tanach. Though the midrash begins with Ya’akov learning in his father’s house, it expands his field of study, stating that he leaves his father’s home for the tents of Ever and Shem, a reading which is reiterated by Rashi in his commentary. It is curious that Ya’akov would leave his home, the only people who truly know the spiritual way of life that he has been brought up in, to go in search of other knowledge in other peoples’ homes. If he was learning G-d’s word, His law in whatever form it may have been in that period of Tanach, what could Ya’akov stand to gain from venturing outward, beyond his family home, his community?

The answer comes from Radak’s commentary on this verse. Commenting on the phrase ויגדלו הנערים, ‘the lads grew up’, he writes that as soon as they were old enough ‘their activities diverged completely from one another, one concentrating on mundane activities […] which showed immediate profitable results’, whilst ‘the other concentrate[ed] on the acquisition of knowledge, wisdom, i.e. abstract matters’.[4] This reading of the verse situates Ya’akov in an intellectual framework, cementing this idea of his existence being centred on a pursuit of knowledge – something which, perhaps, he felt he would be able to attain with the birthright. Reading on, Radak writes of the pluralisation of אהלים(‘tents’) that it shows that ‘Ya’akov studied with any wise man he came across’, being ‘indescriminat[e] in this regard [… and] wanting only to amass knowledge’.

This idea, alongside the other commentaries’ suggestion that he sought to study in different tents with many teachers beyond his own father, is indicative of Ya’akov’s drive to learn from all people, whatever their way of life or their origins. Rather than staying secluded in his own family community, he expands his world, learning from all those that he meets. In this pursuit, unlike his brother, Ya’akov amasses many characteristics, many ways in which to approach the world, something we see him pass on to his many children in later parashiot. Each of the twelve tribes have different aspects to their identity; some are strong-headed, others jealous or timid. Yosef famously has arrogance as his dreams set him apart from his brothers. Each brother is different from the other, yet they all play a role in the continuation of the Jewish people. Each tribe has a different a symbol, representing something unique about them, characteristics they surely learnt from their father’s teaching and knowledge. By learning from each person, Ya’akov was able to absorb so many kinds of knowledge, imbuing it into the Jewish people. If we follow the Sages’ reading, Ya’akov was the key proponent of תורה עם דרך ארץ, ‘Torah in the way of the land’. Though strong in his family’s belief system – so much so that he goes against his own character to ensure that he is the one who will hold the mantel of the Jewish people going forward – he is able to go out into the world and gain knowledge from ‘any wise man he came across’.[5] As he takes on the dominant role within תולדות יהודים, the genealogy or generations of the Jewish people, Ya’akov brings to our nation the beautiful ability to live amongst others and learn from all kinds of wise people. It is a diversity of knowledge, spiritual and intellectual, which is grounded in the unifying knowledge that, as long as you remain strong in your foundation, you can strive to learn from every person, incorporating the good into your life in a way which allows you to pass it on to the generations that come after you.

This week’s article is dedicated to אריאלה בתיה בת שרה צפורה ויוהשע אברהם בן משה אהרן הלבי, two people who have always strived to learn from every person they come across, on the occasion of their wedding.

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[1] Rashi on Genesis 25:27

[2] Ibn Ezra on Genesis 25:27

[3] Midrash Tanchuma Shemot 1:10

[4] Radak on Genesis 25:27

[5] Radak on Genesis 25:27