Chayei Sarah - 7th Portion

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for the city of Charan, in Aram. On the way, Jacob spent the night on Mount Moriah (known today as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem), and in his dream saw a vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven. When he awoke, realizing the intrinsic holiness of this site, he vowed that if G-d would protect him, provide for him throughout his stay in Aram, and enable him to return both physically and spiritually unharmed, he would consecrate this place as the site of the future Temple. G-d blessed him to have many descendants.

When Esav saw that his parents disapproved of Kena’anite wives, he married one of the daughters of his uncle Yishmael.

Yitzchak blesses Ya’akov. When Esav later returned in order to receive the blessings, Yitzchak realized what had happened, and acknowledged that Ya’akov was in fact the more appropriate choice. Esav, in contrast, hated Ya’akov for receiving Yitzchak’s blessings instead of him, and resolved to murder him as soon as Yitzchak would die. Prophetically sensing this, Rivkah convinced Yitzchak to send Ya’akov to Aram in order to find a wife.

When Esav turned 40, he married two Kena’anite women. Sometime after this, Yitzchak, who by then had gone blind, felt that it was time to officially pass on the mantle of leadership, so he told Esav to prepare to receive his blessings. Rivkah immediately disguised Ya’akov as Esav and had him impersonate Esav before Yitzchak in order that Ya’akov be given the blessings. Believing that Esav was in front of him, Yitzchak blessed Ya’akov.

Eventually, Yitzchak settled in Be’er Sheva. The king of the Plishtim then asked Yitzchak to forge an alliance with him, acknowledging that Yitzchak was blessed with Divine favor and success.

The king of the Land of Plishtim, fearful of Yitzchak’s growing economic influence, asked him to leave. Yitzchak settled nearby, and then began his life project: digging wells to provide sources of water for new towns and villages. He began by uncovering his father Avraham’s wells, which the Plishtim had blocked up.

Rivkah was almost abducted by the Plishti king. Yitzchak’srighteousness was made evident to everyone when the yield of his crop was miraculously out of proportion to the amount he planted.

Yitzchak and Rivkah had no children for the first 20 years of theirmarriage. When their prayers were finally answered and Rivkah conceived, she suffered intense pregnancy pain. G-d informed her that she was pregnant with twins who would be opposite—not only physically, but morally, as well—and that each one’s success in pursuing his path in life would be at the expense of the other’s. When Rivkah gave birth, the first twin to emerge was Esav, although Ya’akov was actually conceived first. Already as young boys, Esav was drawn toward sensual thrills while Ya’akov was drawn toward absorbing the wisdom and traditions transmitted by Avraham and Yitzchak. Understanding that he would be the more faithful steward of the family’s ideals, Ya’akov offered to trade the right of leadership from Esav for a hot meal, to which Esav readily agreed. After this, when Kena’an was plagued by famine, Yitzchak relocated his family to the Land of Plishtim.

After chronicling Avraham’s death, the Torah lists the descendants of Yishmael before continuing with the chronicle of Yitzchak in the next section.

Hagar had adopted monotheism when she first became Sarah’s bondwoman, but after she and her son Yishmael were banished from Avraham’s household, she lapsed back into her former practice of idolatry. Shortly after Yitzchak married Rivkah, Avraham remarried Hagar (who had by then permanently renounced idolatry), and had six more sons through her. Years later, when he was 175 years old, Avraham died.