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Vol 15.30 - Toledot 5                 Spanish French Audio  Video

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Chumash-Toldot

 

Summary:

(5737) (Gen. 28:7): "And Jacob listened"  

 

Translation:

1. On the verse (Gen. 28:7):

“And Yaakov listened to his father and his mother, and he went to Padan Aram. “

Rashi explains:

And Yaakov listened: This is connected to the aforementioned topic:

  • When Esau saw that Yitzchak had blessed (Yaakov) and that he had sent him off to Padan-Aram,
  • and that Yaakov listened to his father and went to Padan-Aram,
  • and that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing (to his father),
  • then he, too, went to Ishmael. “

Learning this simply, Rashi is forewarning here that we cannot say that with the words “And Yaakov listened etc.”, the Torah is informing us of the occurrences, namely that Yaakov Avinu obeyed his father and went to Padan Aram – for this was already told to us previously in the Parsha (“And Yitzchak sent Yaakov, and he went etc. “). In addition, the verses that are stated before “And Yaakov listened etc.” speak solely regarding Esau. Therefore, Rashi explains that “And Yaakov listened etc.” comes in continuation to “And Esau saw” which is stated in the previous verse. For that verse (v6) recounts another detail that Esau saw.

One must understand:

  1. This innovation namely that “And Yaakov listened etc.” is “connected“ to “And Esau saw” would have been also understood if Rashi would have stated concisely “And Yaakov listened: This is connected to the aforementioned topic: When Esau saw “.Why does Rashi specify all the details that Esau saw and which are expressly stated in the verse?
  2. The verse tells us another thing that Esau saw “he commanded him, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. “. Why does Rashi omit this detail?
  3. Among the details in the “the aforementioned topic“ (ענין של מעלה) which “And Yaakov listened etc.” is connected to, there is seemingly a place to account (אויסצורעכענען) only those which are stated before “And Yaakov listened”, However not the detail of “And Yaakov listened etc.” itself. And certainly not the detail of “the daughters of Canaan were displeasing “ which is stated after “And Yaakov listened”
  4. An even greater wonder is why Rashi concludes with the words “he, too, went to Ishmael “, which is not related to the details that Esau saw. Rather this is an actual outcome of the “And Esau saw”. In other words, when he saw that “the daughters of Canaan were displeasing “, he went to Yishmael.

One cannot say that with the conclusion “he, too, went to Ishmael “, Rashi is explaining that all the details that “Esau saw”- caused him to “go to Ishmael“,

(and that is why Rashi accounts for all the details which are stated in the verse, also the “that Yaakov listened .. and went . ., and that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing . . then he, too, went etc.“

for this aspect, namely that “And Esau saw” is a preface and the cause of “And Esau went etc.“, is self-understood. Even without Rashi’s explanation that “And Yaakov listened etc.” is “connected to the aforementioned topic”, we would have understood that all the details which are stated in the verse (besides the “And Yaakov listened”) are a preface to the conclusion “And Esau went etc. “.

Since Rashi states in his comment “connected to the aforementioned topic”, it is understood that this comes in connection with the explanation. For specifically after Rashi’s innovation that “And Yaakov listened etc.” is “connected to the aforementioned topic” (and all the details which Rashi delineates) is the verse “And Esau went to Ishmael” understood. Therefore, Rashi concludes, “he, too, went to Ishmael“.

2. One can understand this by prefacing a certain aspect:

Since after that which the verse already states one time:

And Esau saw” (“that Yitzchak had blessed Yaakov and sent him away and he commanded him“) (in verse 6)

Scripture again repeats:

And Esau saw” (“that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing to his father Yitzchak “). (in verse 8),

it is understood from this that the things that Esau saw are comprised of two categories. Moreover, each category is different from the other (manner of) “And Esau saw”, which is why it states “And Esau saw” twice.

The difference between the two verses that state, “And Esau saw” is like Rashi’s comment beforehand (in the beginning of Parsha Vayeira):

“Why is “Vayeira” written twice? The first is as it seems (literal), whereas, the second means "understanding:" he saw them remain standing . .and he understood etc.”

In other words,

  • The first “And Esau saw” means that he literally saw (“as it seems“) things that occurred (פארגעקומען) to others – such as between Yitzchak and Yaakov (“He blessed Yaakov and sent him away and he commanded him etc. “).
  • Whereas the second “And Esau saw” is “an expression of understanding“ – he “recognized“ (איבערצייגט)

(as Rashi states “he saw them. .and he understood etc. “).

that “the daughters of Canaan were displeasing in the eyes of his father Yitzchak” This “seeing” is an aspect which is related to him and obligates him to (like the continuation of the verses that this "And Esau saw" influenced him to ) go to Yishmael.

One must however understand:

The purpose of the entire story of “And Esau saw” is to clarify the reason that caused Esau to “go to Ishmael, and he take” (Ishmael’s daughter as a wife). For this purpose it would have been sufficient just the detail of the second “And Esau saw” – namely (v8: “And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing to his father Yitzchak “ which is why “Esau went to Ishmael“ (v9).

Why does the Torah tell us this whole elaboration regarding what Esau saw at the first (verse 6), “And Esau saw”?

(At the very least it would have been sufficient to tell the detail of “he commanded him, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan “ in verse 6. For from this he "saw" – meaning that he understood that “the daughters of Canaan were displeasing “ and therefore, “Esau went etc.” Yet Rashi specifically omits this detail, as aforementioned.)

3. The explanation of this is:

The reason that the Torah elaborates at length in this matter is to answer a question in the aspect of “So Esau went to Ishmael”:

The reason that Esau went to Yishmael to marry Yishmael‘s daughter and he did not marry the Canaanite women who were his neighbors, was in order to publicize that he (is not different (שטייט ניט אפ) from Yaakov and that he also) fulfils Yitzchak’s will.

It is not understood:

Yitzchak told Yaakov not just that “you shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan “ but he also “sent him away to Padan Aram, to take himself a wife from there “. And Yaakov fulfilled both the negative as well as the positive -he did not marry a Canaanite woman and he went to Padan Aram to take himself a wife”.

Therefore, why did Esau just fulfill the part of not marrying a Canaanite woman? Whereas, he did not fulfill the part of going to Padan Aram in order to marry a woman from there?

In order to answer this puzzlement in Esau’s conduct, the Torah tells us twice “And Esau saw”: For in the things that Esau saw, there were, as aforementioned, two categories. Each one of them comes to explain a different detail in “Esau went to Ishmael”:

  • The first “And Esau saw” explains why Esau decided that he should not go to Padan Aram.
  • The second “And Esau saw” answers why Esau – went to marry a wife from Yishmael’s family.

4. The explanation is:

The mission that Yitzchak sent Yaakov on, namely to go to Padan Aram in order to “to marry a woman from there“, according to Esau’s understanding was

(Not because Yitzchak believed that a proper marriage could only ensue from there, but) that it was a medium (מיטל) and receptacle to receive the blessings that Yitzchak blessed him (Yaakov). This conforms to what the verse emphasizes:

“(And Esau saw that Yitzchak had blessed Yaakov) . . when he blessed him etc.,“

Therefore he maintained that the aspect of (“And Yaakov listened etc.”) going to Padan Aram only applied to Yaakov. However, it had no relation to him (Esau). Therefore, he did not go to Padan Aram.

However, with regard to Yitzchak‘s command “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan“, “Esau saw” (he understood) that this is because “the daughters of Canaan were displeasing to his father Yitzchak”. Therefore, it also had a relation to him and therefore “Esau went to Ishmael etc.”

5. According to all this, Rashi’s elaboration is understood:

After Rashi states that “And Yaakov listened” is (not a side statement but rather) “connected to the aforementioned topic” and a detail in “And Esau saw”, Rashi comes to forewarn why it states in the first “And Esau saw”

(in verse 6 -before the words “And Yaakov listened”(verse 7))

 that “He commanded him, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.".“

For seemingly:

According to the above explanation, that the first “And Esau saw” comes to explain why Esau did not go to Padan Aram,

(Since he saw that these details have no relation to him)

it comes out that “he commanded him, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan “ indeed has a connection to the second “And Esau saw” which comes to explains why Esau did not take a wife from the Canaanite women.

Therefore, Rashi explains that “And Yaakov listened” is “connected to the aforementioned topic”. And explains the details in which they are connected

(“that Yitzchak had blessed Yaakov and sent him away to Padan Aram“)

and skips over and omits the detail of “he commanded him, saying, "You shall not take etc.”.

With this he emphasizes that the “he commanded him etc.” is (in Esau’s thinking)

not related to “And Yaakov listened . . and he went to Padan Aram” (the result of the first “And Esau saw”)

but rather

related to the second “And Esau saw” “that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing“ (which is why ) “he, too, went to Ishmael”.

6. With this the precise wording of Rashi, is understood. Namely, that he cites the detail of “that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing” only after stating, “and he went to Padan Aram”:

The reason that “he commanded” is stated in Scripture by the first “And Esau saw” (v 6) is

(Because in actuality it happened before “he went to Padan Aram” – and)

because even Yaakov effected (גע׳פועל׳ט) the “listened . .and he went to Padan Aram”.

However with regard to Esau, the reason that the verse (according to Rashi’s explanation) wants to explain the two details in Esau‘s conduct (as aforementioned par 3-4) is related to the second “And Esau saw”.

7. According to this, it is also understood why Rashi cites (not just the details of which “Yaakov listened etc.” is connected to, but also) “Yaakov listened to his father, and he went to Padan Aram and that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing etc.”

With this Rashi is intending (אויסן) to explain why “And Yaakov listened etc.” is

(Connected just to “he blessed Yaakov and sent him away“ and )

not connected to, “he commanded him“.

For the place of this detail, “he commanded him“

(which he stresses (in his reason) in the words “that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing”)

 is (according to Esau ) only after the entire order of “And Yaakov listened . .and he went to Padan Aram”. it applies to the “he saw” which influenced the traveling of Esau to Ishmael.

Therefore, Rashi also cites the conclusion “he, too, went to Ishmael” in order to clarify that “he commanded him” is

(According to the context (אינהאלט) - “the daughters of Canaan were displeasing”)

not an aspect which is “connected” to “And Yaakov listened. . and he went to Padan Aram”, but – a part of the second “And Esau saw” which influenced Esau to go to Yishmael, as aforementioned.

8. The reason that Rashi omits the “he commanded him“ in accounting the details which “Yaakov listened etc.” is connected to, is because it is not just due to that which Esau saw in the “he commanded him“, an aspect that did not have a connection to the other details.

(As mentioned above, that he saw in the “he commanded him“ that it also has a connection to him),

but also due to that which “And Yaakov listened etc.” had (in Esau ’s view) no connection to the “he commanded him“ .

For according to Esau‘s reasoning, the entire reason for Yaakov’s going to Padan Aram was just (following Yitzchak‘s mission) in order to receive the blessings. However, he did not do this because of the command “You shall not take”.

Even this aspect is a preface to “Esau went to Ishmael” which Rashi cites in the conclusion of his comment – “he, too, went to Ishmael”.

Through Esau‘s going to Yishmael, he just wanted to publicize (not just that he is fulfilling Yitzchak’s will, but also) that he is not less than Yaakov. On the contrary, he is finer than him (Yaakov). For he – Esau – wants to fulfill Yitzchak‘s will, even though he was not commanded to do so.

MSichas Shabbat Parshat Toldot 5727

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