by RABBI CHAIM FINK | November 10, 2026 2:37 pm
Overview of the Parsha
Twins are born after a long wait
At the end of last week’s Torah portion, Isaac marries Rivka and they are determined to continue building the Jewish nation. Twenty years go by before Rivka finally conceives. She feels that something isn’t right with the baby inside her, so she seeks out the prophet for guidance. He tells her that there are twin boys in her womb, who are diametrically opposed to one another. After a full pregnancy she gives birth. The first boy emerges with a reddish complexion and fully covered in hair. He is named Eisav, or Esau. The younger boy comes out while holding onto his older brother’s heel. He is called Yaakov, or Jacob.
Each parent has a favorite
Eisav presented himself to his father as a righteous, morally upstanding person. He asked his father questions about tithing which misled him to believe that Eisav was meticulous in following the Jewish customs and laws. It was an act. Eisav was the opposite of righteous. But Isaac was deceived, and he loved Eisav. Rivka, on the other hand, saw through Eisav’s outward displays of piety. She knew that Jacob was the good one, and she loved her younger son.
Sale of the firstborn rite
The twins are now 15 years old. Their grandfather Abraham dies. While Jacob cooks a pot of red lentil stew to feed his father when he returns from the burial, Esau is out in the field hunting. That was how Esau marked the passing of not only the greatest spiritual leader of the generation, but also his very own grandfather. Esau gets back to the house famished and asks Jacob for the red stew. Jacob offers to sell it to him in exchange for the special rite and blessing slotted for the firstborn. Esau agrees and sells off his firstborn privileges.
A local famine drives them west
A shortage of food forces Isaac and Rivka to travel to the land of the Philistines, on the west coast of Israel. The Philistine king, Avimelech, welcomes them to the land and offers them his protection. Isaac engages in agriculture and becomes incredibly successful. Then the Philistines become jealous. They retaliate by vandalizing all the wells that Isaac’s father Abraham had dug when he lived in the Philistine lands. They filled the wells with dirt rendering them useless. Isaac redigs those wells and names them with the same names used by his father. At this point, Avimelech sees that things aren’t working out, so he asks Isaac and Rivka to leave. Isaac resettles some distance away in the valley. There, his shepherds dig a well, but the outlying shepherds of Avimelech quarrel with Isaac over it, claiming the water is theirs. When Isaac digs a second well, the same quarrel occurs. By the time he digs a third well, there are no disputes over it. Eventually, Avimelech, together with his general, visits Isaac and asks for a treaty with him. They promise each other no harm and part ways in peace.
Outwitting his brother to get what’s rightfully his
The twin brothers are now 63 years old. Isaac is 123 years old. His eyes no longer see properly, and he begins thinking that he may soon leave this world. He instructs Eisav to prepare him a meal, so that he may give him the firstborn blessing in a proper frame of mind. Eisav heads out to the fields to hunt for something to make for his father. Rivka overhears all this and calls in Jacob. She tells him that she will make a great meal for Isaac and that he should go in, impersonate his brother, and get the firstborn blessing that he bought 48 years earlier. Armed with his mother’s delicious food, and hairy goatskins covering his smooth arms and neck, Jacob presents himself to his father as his older brother Esau. After some initial suspicion, Issac bestows the blessing to Jacob. Moments later, Esau returns with the food he prepared. When he realizes that Jacob got the blessings, he cries loud and bitter tears. He pleads with his father for his own blessing, and Isaac acquiesces and blesses him with a secondary blessing. Esau hates Jacob for this and wants to kill him. Rivka learns of her older son’s intentions and sends Jacob away to the home of her brother Lavan.
4 Questions: (Questions and answers are based on הגיוני הפרשה על ידי יצחק מירסקי)
Isaac’s name never changes
Avraham and Yaakov got their original names from their families. Human beings gave Avraham his original name Avram, which signified that he’d be an Av- a father and leader to the city of Aram, the place where he was born. God then changes his name to Avraham, implying that he will no longer serve as a leader only to the limited location in which he was born, but now he will influence many nations, all across the world.
Yaakov received his name because his hand held onto the heel of his brother Esau as they emerged from their mother’s womb. The name implies that Yaakov would need to come from below, in an underhanded manner to procure the firstborn blessings from his father, just as the heel is at the bottom of a person. Eventually, the angel with whom Jacob wrestled, and God changed Yaakov’s name to Yisrael- signifying that the blessings came to him rightfully and above board.
With regard to Yitzchak, the name was chosen by Hashem. In Genesis 17: 19, we read the following: “And G-d said, Indeed your wife Sara will bear you a son, and you should call his name Yitzchak”. The name Yitzchak was chosen because when Abraham first heard that he would have a son with Sara, he rejoiced with laughter. The Hebrew root word צחק means laughter. Since this name was chosen by G-d Himself, it was destined to remain his only name forever and not change. (Yerushalmi Brachos 81)
Eisav tricks his father
In our Talmudic literature, Eisav is compared to the pick- the quintessential non-kosher animal. A pig is unique in the world of non-kosher animals. For an animal to be considered kosher, it must have two physical characteristics: Split hooves, and be a ruminant- an animal that chews its cud. Think about this: it always seems like a cow, goat or sheep is chewing. Even long after it has eaten, it is still chewing. That’s because these kosher animals chew their cud. They swallow their food, and then bring it back up to chew it some more. There are several animals that chew their cud but lack split hooves. These are the camel, rabbit and hyrax. They are not kosher because they have only one of the characteristics. But there is only one kind of animal that has a split hoof, but doesn’t chew its cud, and that is the pig. Chewing its cud is an internal characteristic, while a split hoof is external, on the outside of the animal for everyone to see. When a pig lies down on its side, it prominently displays its split hooves, trying to demonstrate to the world that it is kosher. But it’s not kosher, because it lacks the internal component needed to be kosher; it doesn’t chew its cud.
Eisav was just like the pig. On the inside he was rotten. Unbeknownst to his father, he was a murderer and a thief. He had no problem stealing married women away from their husbands. But he was careful to never show this part of himself to his father. He portrayed himself to Isaac as a righteous person. The Talmud teaches that he would ask his father how one can properly give tithes from salt and straw, two items that are completely exempt from tithing. Esau gave his father the impression that he was meticulous in following all of the family’s traditions and customs, and was even looking to go beyond what was required of him. The question is how did he manage to convince his father, who was a smart man. His mother knew who he really was, yet Isaac truly believed in the goodness of Esau. Why?
Maimonides, known in Hebrew by the acronym of his name, The Rambam, tells us in his masterpiece of Jewish law, the Mishna Torah (Melachim 9:1), that there were six mitzvahs that G-d commanded Adam, the very first man. These 6 were, not to murder, not to steal, not to engage in sexual immorality (such as adultery or incest), not to worship idols, not to curse G-d’s name, and an obligation to set up a fair and just court system. God then commanded Noah a seventh mitzvah; not to eat a limb that was detached from an animal while the animal was alive. These 7 commandments are the Noahide Code, which all of humanity is meant to follow.
Then, says Maimonides, Abraham was commanded with the mitzvah of circumcision, and Abraham also established the morning prayer. Isaac enacted the concept of tithing one’s produce and he instituted the afternoon/evening prayer. Jacob was commanded not to eat the sciatic nerve of an animal and he instituted the night time prayer.
(The place in the Torah where we find Isaac instituting the concept of tithes is in this week’s portion, when Isaac farmed in the land of the Philistines. The Torah tells us that his field produced 100 times what it had initially been estimated to produce. The purpose of that estimation was for the tithes that would be given after harvesting the crop.)
Like most truly wicked people, Esau was a master manipulator. He knew that it was his father, Isaac, who first instituted the concept of tithing one’s produce. (Even though we find that Abraham, after his battle against the four Kingdoms, gave Malkitzedek 1/10 of his gains in the war (Genesis 14:20), that is explained by the commentators as a unique gift from the spoils of war. It was given to Malkitzedek in appreciation for the food he offered Abraham, and was not the standard practice of tithing one’s crop) With great cunning, Esau specifically asked his father about tithing, because he knew it would endear him to Isaac. Think of a college professor who proposes a novel theory. If you are looking to ingratiate yourself with that professor, you will study the theory, and be sure to show great interest in it, asking the professor for clarifications and exact parameters of the theory. By Esau asking about tithes, it was almost like he was giving a bribe to his father. A bribe has the ability to cloud one’s judgment, and blur our perspective of the true reality we face. That is why Isaac could be tricked by Esau, and couldn’t see with clarity who his older son truly was. (צדה לדרך בראשית כה)
Why all the talk about wells?
Here is a quote from this week’s Torah portion: (Genesis 26:13-18)
The man (Isaac) became great, and he went on to become even greater, until he became exceedingly great. And he acquired flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle, and many enterprises, and the Philistines grew jealous of him. And all of the wells dug by the servants of Abraham, his father, during the lifetime of his father, the Philistines stuffed up, and they filled them with dirt. And Avimelech (King of the Philistines) said to Isaac, go from among us, for you have become far greater than us. So Isaac travelled from there, and he encamped in the valley of Gerar, and he lived there. Isaac had (before he departed for the valley) redug the wells that were dug during the days of his father Abraham, which had been stuffed up by the Philistines, after Abraham’s death, and he called the wells by the same names that his father had called them.
What lesson is the Torah trying to teach us through the story of these wells? And, what is the significance of Abraham naming the wells, and Isaac restoring the names given by his father to the wells? Abraham’s mission in life was to spread an awareness of Hashem. He would invite people into his tent, which was open on all four sides- welcoming travellers approaching from any direction, and give them a nourishing meal. After they had eaten, they began to thank Abraham. But Abraham stopped them, and explained that it was not only he who provided them with sustenance. They must also thank the Creator of the world, who causes food to grow from the earth. Abraham used his hospitality as a means to teach people that there is a Creator of the world, a living G-d who wants a relationship with us.
The many wells dug by Abraham and his servants were intended to serve the same function as the hospitality of his tent. In the times of Abraham, the well was a truly significant meeting place. Everyone in the city needed water from the well, and went there very regularly. When Jacob goes to his uncle’s city and looks to find his Uncle Lavan, he goes straight to the well, and asks the townspeople gathered there, how he might find his uncle. The well was a place to meet people. Abraham knew this and that’s why he very deliberately gave the wells names that reflected his belief in G-d. We see earlier in the Torah (Genesis 16:14) when Hagar encounters an angel at a well, the well is named, “The Well of the Living One Appearing to Me”. The well is named for the One and Only Living G-d, who appeared to Hagar. When other people will later reference the well, they will make mention of a Creator of the world. Every single well that Abraham dug, and offered to the public, he named for his belief in One God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. The exact names are unknown to us, but they all had names declaring a faith and belief in Hashem. If two townsfolk were looking to meet up, they’d say to one another something along the lines of, “Hey, meet me at the well called Hashem is King of the World”. By mentioning these declarations of faith in daily conversation, it slowly began to sink into people’s minds that there is a Creator of the world.
Using a place as a landmark has significance. It demonstrates that we hold that place in high regard. For this reason, there is a Jewish law, that we shouldn’t use a church or other places of idol worship as a landmark. One is not allowed to tell his friend that he’d like to meet him by the church at the end of the block. It was for this very reason that Abraham named these wells, an important landmark of the time, with names that taught people the belief in God.
Now, all of this didn’t sit well with the Philistines. They were a pagan nation, and worshipped many forms of idolatry. The wells were a thorn in their side, but there was little they could do during the lifetime of Abraham. He was too prominent. But after Abraham had passed, they used their jealousy of Isaac as a pretext to destroy those wells. They were willing to deprive themselves of these much needed water sources, just to put an end to people using them and referring to them by the names given to them by Abraham.
Isaac knew that he had to continue the legacy of his father. Abraham started the mission of teaching monotheism to the world, and Isaac would further spread that belief. He made a point to redig the wells and give them the exact names that his father had used.
( הכתב והקבלה)
Avimelech seeks a treaty with Isaac
The verses read as follows (Genesis 26:26-28)
Avimelech went to him from Gerar with a group of his friends, and Pichol, general of his legion. Isaac said to him, “Why have you come to me? You hate me and drove me away from you!” And they said, “We have indeed seen that Hashem has been with you, so we said, ‘Let the oath between ourselves now be between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you.”
Here is the question: If the Philistines were jealous of Isaac, to the extent that they chased him out of town, why now do they reach out to him and ask for a treaty? The language they had used when asking him to leave them is very telling. They say, “Go from among us, for you have become much mightier than we.” This is the simple translation of the Hebrew words עצמת ממנו. They ask him to go because he has become much more successful than them. But these words can also be translated as, You have become mighty from us. They claim that all the wealth that Isaac amassed in their land was taken from them. He got rich on “their backs”. They saw his success as Isaac having taken what rightfully should have been theirs.
Avimelech had initially welcomed Isaac to his land, and offered him protection. But then Isaac begins to prosper. Through his hard work, and divine blessing, he outshines everyone around him. As a result of jealousy, the locals feel that he has taken something from them and they chase him out. But once Isaac leaves the city of Gerar, all of the Philistines begin to experience a decline in their success. No one’s field is producing as much as when Isaac lived among them. The Targum Yonasan says that the rivers ran dry and trees stopped giving abundant fruit. Now, Avimelech realizes the truth: Isaac wasn’t getting rich at their expense. To the contrary! It was through Isaac’s presence that everyone was doing better than usual (albeit, not as successful as Isaac). Once they realize their mistake, they travel to Isaac and ask for a treaty.
If this story sounds familiar, it’s because this has always been the story of the Jewish people. A country realizes that there is what to be gained from inviting in the Jews. An invitation is sent, and a Jewish migration begins. But once the Jewish people begin to prosper, the host country grows jealous. They claim that the Jew has taken all their wealth. They begin oppressing the Jews and eventually expel them from the land. But not long after the Jews are driven out, that country begins to decline. And only then do they realize their error. It wasn’t the Jew who had taken their wealth. But rather, it was the Jew who was the secret of their success!
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