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tOldOt תֹד ְל ֹו ּ ת
£The Secret of Inter-Inclusion£The Secret of Inter-InclusionThe Secret of Inter-Inclusion tiered system of biblical interpretation, which revealed that each
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Toldot’s opening verse reads, “And these are the children of Isaac the
son of Abraham; Abraham gave birth to Isaac” (Genesis 25:19). From
time immemorial, the commentators have questioned this verse’s
redundancy: having told us that Isaac is Abraham’s son, why does the
verse go on to state that Abraham gave birth to Isaac? The Sages have
taught us that such a redundancy in the Torah must come to teach us
something we might not have realized or understood without it.
Rashi explains this redundancy in two ways. Firstly, by repeating
Abraham’s name twice, the verse is hinting that only Abraham,
and not Abram, could father a son like Isaac worthy of carrying on
the family traditions. This explanation is based on the premise that
when God added the letter heh to Abram’s name, his entire being was
qualitatively transformed. Secondly, Rashi offers a Midrashic reading
explaining why Abraham’s paternity had to be stressed. The “scoffers
of the generation” argued that Isaac was Abimelech’s son, for Sarah
only managed to conceive shortly after being taken by Abimelech
(Genesis 20:1-18). The Midrash explains that the verse stresses that
“Abraham gave birth to Isaac” to teach us that God made Isaac look
exactly like Abraham in order to dispel the notion that Isaac was only
raised as his son, but was not biologically his own.
In addition to these insights, this verse also contains deeper spiritual
and mystical allusions. Abraham was naturally an extrovert, the
epitome – or in Kabbalistic terminology, the “chariot” or vehicle –
of chesed (loving-kindness), of expansiveness, and of giving. Isaac
was just the opposite; he was the “chariot” of gevurah (strength), an
attribute manifested by introversion, contraction, and the setting of
specific boundaries.
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£Why God Took Abraham Outside Why God Took Abraham Outside Why God Took Abraham Outside Why God Took Abraham Outside Why God Took Abraham Outside Why God Took Abraham Outside
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As mentioned in the introduction, the Rabbis coined the term PaRDeS
(סדרפ) – an acronym literally meaning orchard – to refer to their four-
word, verse, story, and mitzvah in the Torah could be simultaneously
understood on four different levels. By systematically applying these
four approaches to interpreting the biblical text, many important
insights are arrived at.
Rashi is best known for his lucid and deeply insightful commentary
on the Torah, which reveals the peshat level, the straightforward
or literal meaning of the text. Yet upon closer investigation we see
that in many cases Rashi relies on Midrashic sources to arrive at his
straightforward readings. These sources approach the text from a
derash level, using allegorical and homiletical tools to decipher the
text. In addition, many times Rashi explains the peshat by searching
for meanings that are primarily alluded to (remez) in the text. It is
therefore more accurate to say that Rashi’s explanation of the text is
drawn from all strata of learning, yet he is always primarily focused
on elucidating the peshat of the text. Indeed, Rashi himself describes
his approach this way: “I am only concerned with the Torah’s
straightforward [or literal] interpretation and with those aggadot [a
form of Midrash] that explain the words of the Torah in a fitting
manner” (Rashi on Genesis 3:8).
Usually Rashi provides one explanation for each point he chooses
to elucidate. On occasion he will add another explanation or tradition,
and on rare occasions he will offer even more interpretations. In
this week’s portion we have a beautiful example of how Rashi’s
commentary employs all four levels of the PaRDeS system in
interpreting a specific verse: “And He took him [Abraham] outside
and said: ‘Look now towards the heavens and count the stars if
you are able to count them. And He said to him: So will be your
offspring!” (Genesis 15:5). This verse describes God’s reaction to
Abraham’s complaint that since he had no children, he would have
no one to inherit him.
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