Middle School Parashat haShavua Handout - The Heschel School

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Middle School 

Parashat haShavua Handout 

by Rabbi Dov Lerea, Dean of Judaic Studies 

Shabbat Toledot 

4 Kislev 5770/November 21, 2009 

* 

Torah Reading: 

Bereshit/Genesis 25:19-28:9 

Haftarah: Malakhi 1:1-2:7 

“The Family that Studies Torah Together, Grows 

Together” 

Place this handout on the Shabbat table, Holiday 

table, or dinner table for your edification and pleasure 

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English: 13 And Isaac become wealthy, and grew more and more. 14 He had flocks, herds, and a great household; 

and the Philistines envied him. 15 Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his 

father, the Philistines had stopped and filled them with earth. 16 And Avimelech said to Isaac: 'Go from us; you are 

much mightier than we.' 17 So Isaac left, and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18 And Isaac dug again 

the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the 

death of Abraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 19 And Isaac's 

servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of fresh water. 20 And the shepherds of Gerar fought with Isaac's 

shepherds, saying: 'The water is ours.' And he called the name of the well Esek(ie., fight); because they fought with him. 

21 And they dug another well, and they fought for that also. And he called the name of it Sitnah (contention). 22 And 

he left there, and dug another well; but there they did not fight. So he called the name of it Rehovoth (wide, open place); 

and he said: 'For now God has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.' 23 And he went up from there to 

Beer-sheba. 24 And God appeared to him the same night, and said: 'I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I 

am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for My servant Abraham's sake.' 25 And he built an altar there, 

and called God’s name, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well. 26 Then Avimelech went to 

him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. 27 And Isaac said to them: 'Why have you 

come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?' 28 And they said: 'We saw plainly that God was 

with you, so we said: Let there now be an oath between us, between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you; 

29 that you will not injure us, as we will have injure you, and as we have done nothing but good for you, and have sent 

you away in peace; now are you now the blessed of God.' 30 And he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 And 

they arose early in the morning, and vowed to each other; then Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in 

peace. 32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they 

had dug and said to him: 'We have found water.' 33 And he called it Shivah (Oath, vow). Therefore the name of the city 

is Beer-sheva (The Well of the Covenantal Oath) to this very day. 

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Introductory remarks: The structure of this parasha evokes the power of its central theme: the tension and 

struggle at the heart of living in covenant with God. The parasha opens and closes with altercations, competition, 

opportunism and deceit between brothers Esau and Jacob. As young men, the hearty, dedicated, technically skilled 

hunter Esau returns from the hunt exhausted, only to be extorted from his privileged status of the bechora, the birth-rite, 

by Jacob in exchange for food. The parasha closes with the narrative of Isaac’s blessing at the end of his life—the 

blessing which would confer upon the blessed son the major portion of the clan’s inheritance, and carry with that the 

mantle of covenantal leadership into the next generation. In order to secure his position, Jacob and Rivka conspire 

against Esau, take advantage of the aging patriarch’s failing eyesight, and deceive Isaac into blessing Jacob before Esau. 

The Torah is clear about both acts by Jacob; there is little evidence in a plain reading of the text to indicate Esau’s 

moral, intellectual or intuitive inferiority or incapacity to lead. Quite the contrary; it is Jacob whose moral character the 

text calls into question by describing the boldness of his chicanery. Interestingly, chapter 26 bridges these two 

momentous events in the narrative history of our ancestors. That chapter conveys the only two other moments in 

Isaac’s life which the Torah transmits to us. Isaac travels to the land of Gerar, where his father Abraham had been 

before him. There, Isaac repeats the same mis-judgment that his father had made: when the people of Gerar see Rivka, 

they desire her for themselves, and Isaac tells them that she is his sister rather than his wife. This is followed by the one 

activity the Torah records of Isaac’s life-work: he travels throughout the territory re-digs his father’s wells which had 

been filled in by local residents. This results in a competition for water between the shepherds of Gerar and the 

shepherds of Isaac’s clan, which is resolved by Isaac entering into an alliance with the people of Gerar. In other words, 

sandwiched between two moments of un-resolvable tension and conflict between his own two sons, Isaac spends his 

days re-claiming his father’s wells and resolving his political conflicts with his neighbors by entering into a covenantal 

treaty with them. 

Questions for thought and discussion on the Torah reading: 

1. Perhaps Esau was limited in his capacity to grow into a leadership role, while Jacob had 

the potential which the future generation would need. Still—do any means justify the 

ends? 

2. It is striking that Isaac could enter successfully into a covenant with the King of Gerar in 

the land of the Philistines, and not control the contention and strife between his own sons. 

3. Note the importance of land, boundaries, and water in entering into covenant between our 

patriarch Isaac and the nations of Gerar. Who controls water today in the middle east? 

Perhaps we make the mistake of thinking the conflicts are all about religion, and not 

enough about natural resources. Note in the map below how the water-sources must be a 

source of conflict between Israel, Syria and Jordan, at the very least. 

The Future of Middle East Water Facing historical, psychological and 

political barriers that have impeded cooperation and deadlocked diplomacy, 

nations in the region are sliding toward conflict over water. Water’s growing 

role in the emerging hydropolitics of the region has stressed the need for a 

new approach to safeguard this diminishing resource. The integration of 

water into developing strategic cooperation frameworks becoming visible 

among regional states could facilitate the protection and preservation of 

water resources. This interaction could eventually pave the way for the longterm 

security of Middle East water. In light of the formidable barriers that 

have prevented agreement to date, such an approach may represent the only 

method by which to turn back the tide of the new water politics of the 

Middle East. (from, “The New Water Politics in the Middle East,” by Ilan 

Berman & Paul Michael Wihbey, in, Strategic Review, Summer, 1999) 

From the classic commentaries (Ramban; Spain, 12 th century:) 

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English: They named the well, Eseq. The Torah spills so much ink on the story of the wells! On the face 

of it, this story certainly does not cast Isaac in a very dignified light, nor does this story advance the 

narrative significantly! However, its meaning is found in its mystical interpretation, foretelling future 

events. The phrase, they found fresh water, the waters of life! alludes to the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, for 

God is the well-spring of all life. They called this first well, Eseq/conflict, just as there were multiple 

conflicts surrounding the first Temple until it was destroyed. They called the next well, Sitna/contention, 

since the contentiousness and fractiousness surrounding the second Temple were worse than the first, 

resulting in harsh exile. The third well was called, Rehovoth/Openness. This refers to the third Temple, may 

it be built speedily in our days, which will constructed free of contention and conflict. At that time, God 

will enlarge the boundaries of our land—a promise by God for the future. This is the meaning of the 

prophet Ezekiel’s statement about the future Temple: It will be a place of openness, wide, accommodating 

and ever-high, allowing us to populate the land. This means that in that time, all the nations of the world 

will worship together, “shoulder to shoulder,” i.e., with a shared vision and common purpose for God’s 

world. 

Questions for thought and discussion based on this comment by the Ramban: 

1. The Ramban reads this narrative of the wells symbolically and mystically, providing a paradigm 

for understanding future historical events. The wells represent the well-spring of human 

spirituality, the Temple, God’s place on earth. The conflicts represent the exiles and destructions 

of that Temple. What is the future message of this section according to his reading? I suggest that 

the Ramban believes that the future Temple will be constructed when all nations share a common 

vision and purpose for the world. This is represented by resolving the conflicts over water. The 

third well was called, Rehovoth. The competing nations found a way to share and re-direct the 

water such that there would be enough to nourish everyone. 

a. Is this message inspiring to you, or naieve? 

b. Do you believe that all the competing nations in the Middle East can share a common 

vision which values each other, including a vision of sound boundaries and borders for a 

strong State of Israel? 

c. Were the world that our patriarch Isaac had to negotiate, and the conflicts he had to 

resolve, less complex than today’s? Is technology what makes our conflicts more 

complex, or does the hope for conflict resolution depend ultimately on will and mind-set? 

d. Do you read the Ramban as meaning the Temple will be re-built literally, a building 

made of stone and wood, or do you read the Ramban to mean that the spiritual attitude of 

sharing a common problem and finding a solution, so that all nations join forces to 

protect and develop God’s world together is itself the substance of that Temple? 

e. Is saying that the Ramban did not literally hope for the literal re-building of the Temple 

just making the Ramban into a modern, American, Jewish New Yorker who like to think 

about symbols only? Is there anything in the Ramban’s wording which helps us figure out 

if we are supposed to read him literally or metaphorically? 

Mitzvoth in the Parashah according to the Sefer haHinuch*: There are no mitzvoth in 

parahshat toledot 

* Sefer ha-Chinuch ( Hebrew: "Book of Education") is a work which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of 

the Torah. It was published anonymously in 13th Century Spain. The work enumerates the commandments (Hebrew: Mitzvot; sing. 

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mitzvah) according to their appearance in the Weekly Torah portion. Some scholars ascribe the authorship of Sefer ha-Chinuch to 

Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona (1235-c. 1290), a Talmudic scholar and halakhist but others disagree, as the views of the Chinuch 

contradict opinions held by HaLevi in other works. This has led to the conclusion that the true author to Sefer HaChinuch was a 

different Reb Aharon Halevi, a student of the Rashba, rather than his colleague. 

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Middle School Parashat haShavua Handout - The Heschel School

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