The subject of Parashat Toldot is Isaac,
Abraham's heir and successor. Isaac was the child of Abraham and Sarah's old
age, the son for whom they had prayed and waited for decades and on whom they
pinned all their hopes of continuing their lifework so that their vision of
making the world into G‑d's home not come to naught. They made great sacrifices
in order to properly groom him for his future role and arrange a suitable match
for him so that he, in turn, could perpetuate their heritage and vision.
Yet, the picture the Torah presents us of Isaac seems in many ways the
antithesis of all that we know about his father Abraham. True, Isaac is no less
devoted to carrying out G‑d's will than is Abraham, and is even prepared to
sacrifice his life without hesitation at G‑d's behest. But in the Torah's
account of Isaac's life, we see no expansion of his father's great undertaking
of educating humanity, no new branches in the family enterprise. Unlike Abraham,
Isaac fights no great battles, hardly mingles in world affairs, never leaves the
confines of the Holy Land, and takes no additional wives or handmaids in order
to enlarge his immediate family beyond the two children born to him from his one
wife.
He seems content to passively let life unfold around him; he is much more
passively acted upon by events and circumstances than actively initiating them.
In fact, his life is so bereft of activity that although he lived the longest of
the patriarchs, he is the subject of only one parasha (in contrast with
Abraham and Sarah's three and Jacob's six!). The one and only active undertaking
the Torah relates regarding Isaac is that he dug wells. Is this—of all
things—the only achievement the illustrious heir to Abraham's legacy is capable
of?
Quietly, and without fanfare, he continued his father's enterprise...
On the other hand, the Torah records no hint that anyone—not Abraham, and not
even G‑d Himself—was in any way dissatisfied by Isaac's apparent passivity.
There seems to be a tacit understanding that Isaac was doing what he was
supposed to be doing. Quietly, and without fanfare, he continued his father's
enterprise, not by emulating his father's behavior but by taking it to the next,
higher level.
Isaac understood (and, in all likelihood, so did Abraham) that as revolutionary
and necessary as Abraham's work was, it was, by nature, of limited effect.
Abraham's method of disseminating Divine consciousness was to spread it to
everyone—to reach the widest—possible audience by making no prior demands on
his listeners. This was really the only way he could succeed in publicizing his
message, for since the world was not yet interested in what he had to say,
stipulating conditions would have unnecessarily limited his influence. The
disadvantage of his approach was that by not requiring any preparatory work from
his audience, Abraham did not effect any permanent change in them.
Abraham may have impressed and inspired his audiences, but since he did not
require them to do any "homework," that is, to follow up his teachings by
refining themselves further, they could not attain any levels of Divine
consciousness higher than those he could expose them to himself. They remained
essentially unchanged by his teachings. This is not meant to diminish the
tremendous impact of Abraham's efforts—he influenced thousands of people and
attracted a sizeable following. But these masses were nourished wholly by his
inspiration, charisma, and personal example. When they left his presence and
resumed their own lives, their enthusiasm for his teachings waned.
Isaac thus sensed that the very approach responsible for the outstanding success
of his father's program was, paradoxically, also the greatest threat to its
perpetuation. He understood that, in order to ensure the continued success of
his father's undertaking, his own discipline, strictness, rigorousness and a
respect for standards (gevura) would now have to complement his father's
loving-kindness (chesed), just as his mother's particularism had had to
complement his father's universalism.
He introduced into Abraham's program the ideal of self-refinement...
He introduced into Abraham's program the ideal of self-refinement, of
encouraging the disciple to assume responsibility for laying the spiritual
groundwork before hearing the master's lesson. Whereas Abraham's approach can be
conceived of as a downward vector, bringing Divinity "down" to even the lowest
rungs of humanity, Isaac's approach can be conceived of as an upward vector,
elevating people so they can integrate increasingly higher levels of Divine
consciousness into their lives.
This was precisely the message Isaac communicated to the world by digging wells.
As opposed to filling a pit with water brought from elsewhere, digging a well
reveals an already-existing source of water merely concealed beneath layers of
earth. If Abraham's message to the world was: "Come revive your jaded, insensate
minds with the refreshing water of Divine consciousness," Isaac's message was:
"Now that you have been revived, look for your own source of water. Dig away all
the dirt, rid yourself of all the filth encumbering your life, and you will
reveal within yourself a wellspring of Divine awareness that will serve to
quench your spiritual thirst your whole lifetime."
(True, Abraham also dug wells. But it is profoundly telling that all his wells
were blocked up by his enemies. The whole notion of well-digging was so
uncharacteristic of his approach that the wells he dug proved to be
short-lived.)
In this regard, Isaac was the perfect model for humanity. We find him meditating
in the field, shunning superficial conflict with his neighbors, constantly
striving to refine himself and always focusing inward. In this way, he reached a
spiritual perfection so intense that, coupled with his material success, it drew
others to him instinctively (Gen. 26:13). He had no need to seek disciples;
disciples sought him. His charismatic spirituality even won over the ruling
powers, who had previously banished him from their country out of jealousy of
his success and growing following (ibid. 26:16, 26-29).
This is why this parasha is called Toldot, which means "descendants."
Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Jacob, and even Terach, Ishmael, and Esau—all the
central personalities of Genesis—had descendants, and the Torah sees fit to
enumerate them. Yet it is only the chronicle of Isaac's lifework, as recorded in
the single parasha that focuses on him, that is entitled Toldot. For only
Isaac embodied and preached the approach that ensures lasting results, that
produces disciples—one's spiritual "children"--capable of standing on their
own.
The shortcoming in Isaac's approach was that since he made his influence totally
contingent on his disciples' preparedness, they were limited by their ability to
elevate themselves on their own. Thus, although the changes they made in their
lives under Isaac's tutelage were more long-lasting than those made by Abraham's
disciples under his, the levels of Divine consciousness they experienced were
much less lofty. Abraham showed them great heights, but could not keep them
there; Isaac kept them where he took them, but would not expose them to anything
that they themselves were not ready to internalize.
Furthermore, by insisting that his audience elevate themselves in order to
receive Divine consciousness, Isaac made it effectively impossible for Divine
consciousness to filter down to the lower strata of humanity; for Abraham, this
had not been a problem.
The lesson we must learn from Isaac's life is that while it is true that we must primarily emulate Abraham's work, spreading Divine consciousness as widely as possible, we must, at the same time, not neglect our own spiritual development. Successfully disseminating Divine consciousness depends on our own spiritual growth, for we cannot hope to inspire others if we allow our personal spiritual wellsprings to run dry. On the contrary, the more our audience senses that we take spiritual self-development seriously, the more they will be swept up by our enthusiasm, even if it is communicated to them only subliminally.
Based on Torah Ohr 17c; Likutei Sichot,
vol. 1, pp. 27-29, vol.5, pp.71-72, vol. 15, pp. 194-195,vol. 25,pp. 123-130
© 2001 Chabad of California/www.LAchumash.org
Start a Discussion