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Parashat Toledot – What do we learn from Isaac?

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“Isaac dug anew the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death; and he gave them the same names that his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants, digging in the wadi, found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” He named that well Esek, because they contended with him. And when they dug another well, they disputed over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. He moved from there and dug yet another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehovot, saying, “Now at last GOD has granted us ample space to increase in the land.” From there he went up to Beer-sheba.

וַיָּשׇׁב יִצְחָק וַיַּחְפֹּר  אֶת־בְּאֵרֹת הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר חָפְרוּ בִּימֵי אַבְרָהָם אָבִיו וַיְסַתְּמוּם פְּלִשְׁתִּים אַחֲרֵי מוֹת אַבְרָהָם וַיִּקְרָא לָהֶן שֵׁמוֹת כַּשֵּׁמֹת אֲשֶׁר־קָרָא לָהֶן אָבִיו׃

וַיַּחְפְּרוּ עַבְדֵי־יִצְחָק בַּנָּחַל וַיִּמְצְאוּ־שָׁם בְּאֵר מַיִם חַיִּים׃

וַיָּרִיבוּ רֹעֵי גְרָר עִם־רֹעֵי יִצְחָק לֵאמֹר לָנוּ הַמָּיִם וַיִּקְרָא שֵׁם־הַבְּאֵר עֵשֶׂק כִּי הִתְעַשְּׂקוּ עִמּוֹ׃

וַיַּחְפְּרוּ בְּאֵר אַחֶרֶת וַיָּרִיבוּ גַּם־עָלֶיהָ וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמָהּ שִׂטְנָה׃

וַיַּעְתֵּק מִשָּׁם וַיַּחְפֹּר בְּאֵר אַחֶרֶת וְלֹא רָבוּ עָלֶיהָ וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמָהּ רְחֹבוֹת וַיֹּאמֶר כִּי־עַתָּה הִרְחִיב יְהֹוָה לָנוּ וּפָרִינוּ בָאָרֶץ׃

וַיַּעַל מִשָּׁם בְּאֵר שָׁבַע׃

On the first reading of this text, we notice how Isaac is doggedly following in his father’s footsteps – renewing the wells that had been dug by his father, and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death.  Isaac gives them the same names that his father had given them. As soon as he is successful in getting the water, he is challenged by the herdsmen from Gerar that the water is not his, but theirs. Meekly moving on to the next place – albeit after having given another name to each well to describe the dispute and contention found there, he eventually comes to a place where there is no quarrel over the ownership, and he calls the place “Rehovot” – wide spaces.   It seems that Isaac is trying to launch himself as  heir to Abraham’s legacy, but despite his wealth and status, he struggles to establish the claim.

A closer look gives us more questions – given the huge importance of accessible fresh water in the desert, why did the Philistine stop up the wells of Abraham in the first place, choking them with dirt? Rashi comes to our aid “סתמום פלשתים THE PHILISTINES STOPPED THEM, saying, “They may become a source of danger to us because of marauding troops that may invade us” (i.e.,they may invade our country to obtain possession of the wells, or if they invade us for any other reason they will be able to find a supply of water). (Tosafot Sotah 10.)

The wells of Abraham were evidently left without an owner to care for and protect them – leaving them available to potentially hostile strangers keen to access the precious water, or worse – they could become an asset to an invading army.

The explanation makes some sense of a strange event, but surely the best approach would have been for the Philistines to annex these “ownerless” wells and keep them in good repair.

The 16th-century Italian rabbi and commentator Sforno gives us another potential reason for the Philistines’ actions – jealousy. He writes that since the king had forbidden them to harm Isaac’s person, they would harm him by attacking the source of his wealth. Yet Isaac made his own wealth from sowing grain in the fields of Gerar!

Another question that arises from this text – what were the names given by Abraham to these wells? The bible never tells us, yet it stresses that Isaac gives the wells the names his father had given them, before then changing their names to reflect the hostility of the Philistines to his settling there.

It seems that the text considers it of great importance to tell us that Isaac was following Abraham’s actions and renovating Abraham’s wells, not digging new wells for himself. But why? 

The text seems keen for us to understand that Isaac is the true heir to Abraham – for we know that Abraham had many sons.  In The Legends of the Jews, Ginzburg writes “Isaac departed from Gerar, and began to dig again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and which the Philistines had stopped. His reverence for his father was so great that he even restored the names by which Abraham had called the wells. To reward him for his filial respect, God left the name of Isaac unchanged, while his father and his son had to submit to new names.”

Filial respect as well as claiming rightful inheritance – the midrash wants us to understand that this is not the act of a greedy man, or one who wants to pile up further wealth at the expense of others – he is merely claiming what is his by right, and fulfilling the wishes of his father by honouring his father’s naming of the wells.

I particularly like the idea that God rewards Isaac for his act of filial respect when in the physical world he is repeatedly humiliated and made to leave. The reward – that he gets to keep the name he is born with – is an interesting one. Both Abraham and Jacob (and of course Sarah) have their names altered to encompass their particular encounters with God, and one can argue that God is placed within their names (the added letter “heh” for Abraham, the “el” in Yisrael for Jacob, though poor Sarah loses her “yod” giving half of it’s value to her husband….)   Isaac on the other hand is named for an event before his birth – the laughter that Sarah speaks of at the idea that such elderly parents would produce a son – it is hard to see the reward in keeping a name that echoes the expectation of mockery.

We know that Abraham named places in response to his encounters with God in these places,  – is Isaac trying to repeat history? Is he hoping for his own encounters with God by using the names his father gave? Is he simply underlining that Abraham had had such encounters, and by renewing these wells he is reminding everyone of the history which the Philistines, by stopping them up, was trying to erase?

Isaac, more than either his father Abraham, and his son Jacob, is the embodiment of dogged resilience in the face of great trauma. He is the personification of the notion of “keeping on keeping on”.  His father Abraham tried to sacrifice him to prove his blind loyalty to God and his son Jacob took advantage of his near blindness in his old age, lying  to him in order to receive the blessing that Isaac had meant to give to Esau. Even his brother Ishmael was perceived as a risk to him and sent away after Sarah saw his actions towards the young Isaac as threatening:

וַתֵּרֶא שָׂרָה אֶת־בֶּן־הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית אֲשֶׁר־יָלְדָה לְאַבְרָהָם מְצַחֵק׃

Isaac tries so hard to live up to what is expected from him. He repeats much of his father’s history – the famine that causes him to go to Abimelech, the wife/sister stratagem that could so nearly lead to disaster, yet which surprisingly provides the possibility to gain great wealth; the disputes between herdsmen – Isaac’s with the men of Gerar, Abraham’s with those of his nephew Lot….

It is the verse after Isaac has finished digging wells, after he has found his place in Rehovot that gives us a clue to the man whose persistence and dogged determination ensure not only his survival but also his own encounter with God :

“From there he went up to Beer-sheba. That night GOD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you and increase your offspring for the sake of My servant Abraham.” So he built an altar there and invoked GOD by name. Isaac pitched his tent there and his servants started digging a well.  And Abimelech came to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his councilor and Phicol chief of his troops. Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you have been hostile to me and have driven me away from you?” And they said, “We now see plainly that GOD has been with you, and we thought: Let there be a sworn treaty between our two parties, between you and us. Let us make a pact with you that you will not do us harm, just as we have not molested you but have always dealt kindly with you and sent you away in peace. From now on, be you blessed of GOD!” Then he made for them a feast, and they ate and drank.

Early in the morning, they exchanged oaths. Isaac then bade them farewell, and they departed from him in peace. That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water!” He named it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day. (Gen 26:24-33)

The city of Beersheva is named twice, once by Abraham and once by Isaac. Note the difference

In Genesis 21 we read

“At that time Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything that you do. Therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my kith and kin, but will deal with me and with the land in which you have sojourned as loyally as I have dealt with you.” And Abraham said, “I swear it.”

Then Abraham reproached Abimelech for the well of water that the servants of Abimelech had seized. But Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this; you did not tell me, nor have I heard of it until today.” Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a pact.

Abraham then set seven ewes of the flock by themselves, and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What mean these seven ewes that you have set apart?” He replied, “You are to accept these seven ewes from me as proof that I dug this well.” Hence that place was called Beer-sheba, *Beer-sheba I.e., “well of seven” or “well of oath.” for there the two of them swore an oath. When they had concluded the pact at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, departed and returned to the land of the Philistines.

Abimelech affirms that God is with him in everything he does, but then demands a treaty. Abraham confronts him with the seizure by Abimelech’s men of the well of Beersheva– and negotiates that the treaty will affirm Abraham’s right to the water there. In thetreaty it is Abraham who provides the sheep and oxen to Abimelech in order to conclude the deal. Abimelech offers nothing.

But the story of Isaac reads a little differently

“That night GOD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you and increase your offspring for the sake of My servant Abraham.”  So he built an altar there and invoked GOD by name. Isaac pitched his tent there and his servants started digging a well.  And Abimelech came to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his councilor and Phicol chief of his troops.

Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you have been hostile to me and have driven me away from you?”  And they said, “We now see plainly that GOD has been with you, and we thought: Let there be a sworn treaty between our two parties, between you and us. Let us make a pact with you  that you will not do us harm, just as we have not molested you but have always dealt kindly with you and sent you away in peace. From now on, be you blessed of GOD!”

Then he made for them a feast, and they ate and drank. Early in the morning, they exchanged oaths. Isaac then bade them farewell, and they departed from him in peace.

That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water!” He named it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day. (Genesis 26:24-33)

Unlike his father, here we meet an Isaac who has the confidence that God really is with him.  He built an altar and called upon God before beginning to look for water.   When Abimelech came with a similar affirmation to that given to Abraham,  that he can see God is with Isaac, Isaac does not behave as his father did, but instead confronts the hostility he has received at the hands of the men of Gerar. The pact is made between equals, only then is the well of Beersheva discovered, there is no doubt as to its ownership.

What are the lessons we can draw from the life of Isaac, often described as the son of a great man and the father of a great man but not himself a great man?

We can see a man for whom history matters, a man who gives respect to others, who works to ensure the past is not erased despite the efforts of those who would like to see it so. We see a man who persists, a man who despite very real trauma and betrayal of trust by both his father and his son, still loves his mother, his wife, his children.  We see a man of great – albeit quiet – resilience. Even before birth he is the object of mockery, but he keeps on going, and he achieves on his own terms. We see a man who reconciles with his brother, whom family lore may well have described as a danger to him.

All our biblical heroes are flawed human beings – Isaac no less than others. But Isaac’s flaws are not the dramatic personality traits that are damaging to others – his flaws seem to stem from his early trauma and damage only himself.

In the biblical narrative of larger than life heroes who claim our attention and our interest, this sidra is reminding us – it is ok, indeed it is more than ok, for us to be more like Isaac.

Parashat Toledot – Fighting for the space to live in safety and for important resources to be accessible to all who need them has a long history

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“and [Isaac] grew richer and richer until he was very wealthy: he acquired flocks and herds, and a large household, so that the Philistines envied him. And the Philistines stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with earth. And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us.” So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the wadi of Gerar, where he settled. Isaac dug anew the wells which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death; and he gave them the same names that his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants, digging in the wadi, found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” He named that well Esek., “contention.” because they contended with him. And when they dug another well, they disputed over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.– harassment.” He moved from there and dug yet another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehovot, saying, “Now at last the Eternal has granted us ample space(breadth)” to increase in the land.”” (Genesis 26:13ff)

The stories in the life of Isaac often parallel those of his father Abraham. There is a famine in the early story of Abraham, and a famine in the early life of Isaac. In both cases they left the land of Israel – Abraham went down to Egypt, Isaac to Gerar in Philistine controlled territory, having been explicitly told by God NOT to go to Egypt. Isaac encounters an Abimelech, King of Gerar and lies about the relationship he has with Rebecca, calling her his sister rather than his wife, (something Abraham had also done, both in Egypt and in Gerar)

Abraham also has an encounter with an Abimelech, the king of Gerar, over the issue of the ownership of wells, just as Isaac does in the narrative here. The digging and ownership of wells is of importance in both their lives. Both father and son have issues with the large size of their flocks and herds and the resources needed to sustain them, and both father and son react most of the time by removing themselves from conflict – Abraham with his nephew Lot, Isaac with the herdsmen of Gerar. Both have two sons, and have what might be called fraught relationships with them and with the passing of the legacy of covenant. Abraham sends Ishmael away from him and involves Isaac in whatever the mysterious event of the akeidah, never seeing him again afterwards. Isaac is tricked by Jacob pretending to be Esau, passes on the covenant apparently unaware the recipient is not Esau (or at least there is ambiguity in his mind), and Jacob is sent away, never to see his father again.

Yet there is more to Isaac’s life than his simply repeating the leitmotif’s of his father, and echoing the experiences of that great Ivri, crosser of boundaries.

 Isaac – often seen as the least significant of the patriarchs, the son of a famous father and the father of a famous son. Yet his is a story with much to teach us. A man who never leaves the Land despite many trials. The only one to be described as being in love with his wife. A man who has to deal with complexity and ambiguity in navigating his life, and with fewer certainties. A man who has survived the terrible trauma of his father’s apparent attempt on his life – or at least a seeming willingness to do so.

The story told above – of the re-digging of the Abrahamic wells and the negotiations that ensue – resonated particularly for me this year as we watch the COP 26 conference and the postures and positions on display.

In the Abrahamic parallel we are told: “At that time Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do; now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have resided as an alien.” And Abraham said, “I swear it.” When Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock. And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” He said, “These seven ewe lambs you shall accept from my hand, in order that you may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba; (well of seven or well of oath) because there both of them swore an oath. When they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines. [Abraham] planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Eternal, the Everlasting God. And Abraham resided as an alien many days in the land of the Philistines. (Gen 21:22-34)

In this narrative we are confronted with the need for trust between the various powers or participants to the agreement who are involved – without that trust nothing “agreed” can be said to really be agreed.  We are confronted too with the issues of ownership of resources, of the fair sharing of such resources, with the actions of the people who reside on the land and those of people who control resources but do not “belong” to the land on which they are situated. Abraham and Abimelech appear able to make a treaty with a reasonable level of success – though we are never told why the servants of Abimelech had seized Abraham’s well in the first place.

By the time of Isaac, the wells had not only been taken back but actively stopped up – a strange phenomenon given the preciousness of the resource. Does this somewhat aggressive action date from unresolved issues from the time of Abraham? Is it to prevent others coming in from outside to use the water improperly? We can only speculate. But the continuing quarrelling and harassment that Isaac faces when trying to reclaim his father’s property shows us that the matter has not only not been resolved, but that there is ongoing acrimony and anger ready to erupt into violence.

Isaac does not go to the King as his father had done, he simply moves away and tries to settle elsewhere near a “family well”, and eventually he digs and finds what may be a new watersource, one that is not contested, and understands that now he has found a place to settle down.

Yet strangely, the next verse tells us that he moves on the BeerSheba, where he encounters God and receives the covenant promise, then builds an altar and worships, then pitches his tent and only then digs a well…

Abimelech and the Philistines come to find him to make a treaty with him, and responding to his challenge about their hostility to him which has forced him to move on, tell him that they now see that God is with him. (26:28) They make their own treaty with him, and leave. Only then do Isaac’s servants come to tell him that they have found water, which he names “Sheba” (oath) and again we have a story about the naming of Beer Sheba.

What comes down to us from these narratives is how the trust and the treaties need to be ongoing, that having been made once is not enough – they must be kept in good repair. We see that was accepted once may not be acceptable going forward. We see that pressure on resources will not only not go away, but will engender resentment and anger if not addressed fairly and regularly. We see that the actions of one (or more) rich and powerful agent (s) can be hugely detrimental to others with less power but with a real stake in the issue. And this power differential cannot be allowed to continue.

If we want to have a fairer world, a world where there is access to resources by all who need them, a world where there is trust and where people work to keep that trust alive and responsive, then we need to ensure that we are part of the solution, able to see the realities and to ensure that our leadership both acknowledge and respond in a timely and appropriate manner to those realities.

Watching the COP26 and seeing the posturing, the lobbying, the arrogance of the more powerful countries and the despair of those less powerful, we can see we have a long way to go to make a fairer and more sustainable world. The time is short, but this is no reason not to continue to involve ourselves and our values. Isaac eventually finds a place where there is space for everyone to have their own needs met without treading on the needs of others. It is a goal worth aspiring to.