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Parshat Toldot

By: SFW Students & Alumna
Ilana Frankel, SFW 5766

We all know that this week’s Parsha leaves us with many questions. But, the question that bothers me most is how could our forefather Yitzchak “love Esav” (Bereshit 25:28)? How did he not see that his son was a killer, a hunter, and a ruthless person?  We all know that Avraham’s trait was Chesed, Yaakov had Tiferet, which leaves Gevura to Yitzchak. To have that trait means having an inner strength that is maximized not in the Beit Midrash, but in daily confrontation of the hetzer hara in the “real world”. Yitzchak, the ba’al Gevura, looked at his eldest son Esav and saw a man of the fields, a man who was similar to himself in this respect. And so Yitzchak saw himself in Esav and looked past his imperfections. Yitzchak believed that Esav would use his potential for good.

Ultimately, Esav was not meant to be the bearer of Avraham’s flag. That task was passed from Yitzchak to Yaakov and down to us. However, as children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, it behooves us all to learn the lesson of Gvurah. Wherever we are, wherever we go, we will all face situations that are going to challenge us. As ba’alei Gvurah, we need to push ourselves in each and every environment. Many of these situations will be struggles, and often these struggles will remain difficult, but as long as we begin and end each day with the same determination to fight our yetzer hara, we have the ability to succeed. We need to take our strengths out into the world and make a difference just as Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov did. May we all be zocheh to succeed.

Shabbat Shalom.