Last year and the year before, Rav Ginsburgh devoted his yearly study of the Torah with a Chasidic commentary to Rebbe Levi Isaac of Berditchev. The classes he gave based on the book are now edited and complete in Hebrew and are soon to be published.
We here provide a translation of the ideas presented in that book on parashat Toldot.
On the verse “And Isaac entreated Havayah opposite [lenochach] his wife… and Havayah was entreated by him,”[1] Rebbe Levi Isaac of Berditchev expounds that to give birth, Isaac must be “opposite his wife,” meaning that he must be a man who is the opposite[2] of Rebeccah his wife and completes her. Specifically, from the power of opposition one merits true unity, “and they shall become one flesh,”[3] which is realized in the child.[4] Good and rectified opposition is specifically the experience of “nochach”—standing opposite, in direct I-you relations (and not I-he), when the man stands opposite his wife and conveys to her that “I am here for you,” I am your opposite and am meant to complete you.
The Tzaddik Reverses Himself
It is important to emphasize that Isaac did not ask that his wife reverse herself to stand “opposite” him but prayed that he reverse himself to stand “opposite his wife.” So it is proper in every rectification between people—a person must change to be fit to connect with his fellow and to give birth with him, and not to expect and pray for a change in the other. And indeed, “and Havayah was entreated by him”—God reversed him as he wished. Rashi explains, “‘and He was entreated by him,’ by him and not by her, for the prayer of a tzaddik son of a tzaddik is not like the prayer of a tzaddik son of a wicked person, therefore by him and not by her.” The “tzaddik son of a wicked person” is a ba’al teshuvah, one who has awareness of reversal in essence, whereas the “tzaddik son of a tzaddik” must learn how one reverses. It is related[5] that one of the chasidim once rebuked the Mitteler Rebbe in his youth, that being “a rebbe’s son”—a “tzaddik son of a tzaddik”—he does not understand the difficulties of the young married scholars and their capacity for Divine service. The Alter Rebbe expressed thanks to that chasid and said to him, “you have turned my Berel’e [the Mitteler Rebbe] into a chasid.”
Isaac’s reversal “opposite his wife” follows the secret of the verse: “the menorah opposite the table.”[6] He, the menorah, must illuminate for her from the side of loving-kindness-love-bestowal, all symbolized by “the menorah is in the south.” She is the Table of Showbread, meaning she must set a table for him (the woman’s duty[7]), from the side of might-fear-receiving, all symbolized by, “the table is in the north.”[8] This is the reversal of Isaac, who innately belongs to the side of might—normally the side of the table full of “tasty foods such as I love”[9]—who must turn to embody the attribute of loving-kindness of Abraham, the side of the menorah in which lies the power of “Abraham began to illuminate”[10] in relation to his wife.
To reverse his innate nature, Isaac must first give himself over entirely to Godliness, through his offering himself as an “unblemished burnt offering”[11] at the Binding of Isaac, the Akeidah. This is once again hinted to in the words, “Isaac entreated Havayah,” which the Berditchever interprets as, “Isaac turned, i.e., gave himself over completely, to the Holy blessed One.” God is known as “the Bearer of Opposites,” so when Isaac gives himself over to Him fully, he can also reverse himself in reality as needed, from might to loving-kindness and from the feminine side (the left side, the Table of Showbread) to the masculine (the right side and the Menorah).
Rebeccah’s Study Hall
Thus far we have dealt with the reversal performed by Isaac. Indeed, Rebeccah too is involved in “revolutions” per se. How so? On the verse “And the children struggled within her,”[12] Rashi cites the words of the Sages:[13] “When she passed by the entrances of the Torah of Shem and Ever, Jacob would run and struggle to come out; when she passed by the entrances of idol worship, Esau struggled to come out.” Rabbi Shmuel of Shinova, author of Ramatayim Tzofim, a Chasidic commentary on the Tana Debei Eliyahu, asks:[14] why did Rebeccah, who surely was careful with the purity of the children in her womb and strove that they always remain in the study hall of Isaac, pass by “entrances of idol worship” in the first place? Furthermore, why was there a struggle-quarrel between the sons between the study hall and the house of idol worship, when in practice, Rebeccah did not pass by both at the same time.[15] The Ramatayim Tzofim answers:
For it is known that the Patriarchs and Matriarchs converted converts, and they needed to speak with idol worshippers and prove to them that there is nothing real in idolatry nor in all types of philosophical wisdom. These are referred to as “the entrances of idol worship,” and Esau would struggle to come out since he is from the side of impurity, therefore he wanted to connect with those non-Jews. Whatever positive ideas could be heard there, Esau did not hear at all. Jacob did not hear the negative ideas and only after the idolaters converted and learned Torah and how to serve the Creator, would he struggle to connect with them, and this is referred to as “the study hall.”
At the conclusion of his exposition, he adds that the word “mefarkes,” which in this context means “struggling” is also used by the Sages to describe the departure of the soul from the body.[16] Thus, it hints at Jacob’s self-sacrifice not to cleave to Esau’s idolatrous proclivity, which served as a preparation for future generations of Jacob’s descendants who would dwell among the nations and would not be influenced by them.
But the main novelty of the Ramatayim Tzofim is that for the sake of the conversion of non-Jews, even those who were previously idolaters, one must go out from the Torah study hall to the nations. This duty is even entrusted upon a modest woman who is concerned about raising her sons in holiness and purity. This teaching was certainly said under the inspiration of the teacher of the author of Ramatayim Tzofim, the Rebbe Reb Bunim of Peshischa, who drew very distant people close through conversations on philosophes that touched their worldview.
Thus, for Isaac our forefather, as for all the Patriarchs, there was a study hall that was entirely holy—into it only the converts entered, after they had converted. But Rebeccah went out also to the study hall intended for outreach—the study hall of the Fourth Revolution, intended for non-Jews. These were known at the time as the study halls of Shem and Ever (who were not yet Jews). In particular, in the study hall of Shem, which literally means “the name,” they studied the inner dimension of the Torah that is relevant to the gentiles, and in the study hall of Ever they studied the revealed part of the Torah that is relevant to non-Jews, since Ever refers to light that shines outwards and reaches external reality.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains[17] that when a distant Jew draws near to Torah one should begin learning with him specifically the Torah’s inner dimension. The same applies to converts since they are not yet obligated in all the mitzvot—the core of the Torah’s revealed dimension (Ever),[18] but are potentially obligated to the duties of the heart (Shem). Indeed, another connection between Ever and the Torah’s revealed dimension and the mitzvot can be seen when Jacob fled to Haran, but on his way stopped to learn for 14 years,[19] as a preparation for confronting Laban, where he would observe the 613 (תַּרְיַג) prescriptive mitzvot as he himself said, “I have lived with Laban, and the value of the word “lived” (גַּרְתִּי) is 613.[20]
And from where does Rebeccah receive the power to believe that it is possible to rectify and reverse even Esau and the other idolaters she meets at the entrances of idol worship? Rebeccah herself is a ba’alat teshuvah, who certainly believes in revolutions. But the power to believe that even a wicked person who follows his eyes and his heart, without any regrets (like Esau[21]), without showing any inclination to change can still do so, this power she receives specifically from watching her husband Isaac, a tzaddik who would normally not have a reason to reverse his nature. And yet, as the Kedushat Levi said, it is Isaac that reverses his nature. When Rebeccah sees that even a “tzaddik, the son of a tzaddik” can transform his innate nature, she comes to believe that certainly a wicked person can transform himself.[22]
And to Send the Crushed Forth Free
Amazingly, the numerical value of, “The children struggled within her” (וַיִּתְרֹצְצוּ הַבָּנִים בְּקִרְבָּהּ) is 1218,[23] which also equals another expression (which appears in the context of a proper fast), “and to send the crushed forth free” (וְשַׁלַּח רְצוּצִים חָפְשִׁים)![24] By the power of Rebeccah (רִבְקָה), in whom (קִרְבָּהּ) the children struggled (that is, in her grave (קִבְרָהּ), i.e., her womb),[25] the “crushed” ones—referring to the broken and oppressed—are destined to be sent forth “free,” to be born in holiness.
In the end, even wicked Esau, one of the two struggling-crushed sons, is destined to return, or repent (just as the pig, the symbol of Esau,[26] is destined to be purified[27]) by the power of the Jewish Sage who fulfills “know what to answer to a heretic.”[28] Whereas our matriarch Sarah distanced unworthy converts,[29] our matriarch Rebeccah argues with everyone to prove the Torah’s truth. In the merit of Rebeccah’s efforts and suffering in arguing with Esau’s non-Jewish logic, we find that the Torah states that: “and the elder shall serve the younger”[30] (when he is compelled to admit his righteousness and wisdom), and in the end her educational efforts will bear fruit. Thus, Rebeccah will ultimately succeed even with her wicked son and will bear with maternal pride the title “Rebeccah, the mother of Jacob and Esau”[31] (while Isaac, who already lives in the Future to Come,[32] loves Esau specifically in the present, as he is).
[1] Genesis 25:21. “And Isaac entreated Havayah opposite his wife” (וַיֶּעְתַּר יִצְחָק לַהוי’ לְנֹכַח אִשְׁתּוֹ) equals 1765, which is 5 times (the average of each word) “joy” (שִׂמְחָה), as well as, “the secret of Havayah is for those who fear Him” (סוֹד הוי’ לִירֵאָיו), alluding to the union of Isaac and Rebeccah, “those who fear Him.” The joy here is the joy of reversal—as will be explained shortly—the secret of Simchat Torah, the joy of “turn it and turn it, for everything is in it” (Avot 5:22).
[2] “Opposite” (נֹכַח) and “reverse” (הָפַךְ) are a distinct pair of a multiple of 13 and a multiple of 7.
[3] Genesis 2:24.
[4] Sanhedrin 58a (cited in Rashi on the verse).
[5] Tales of the Chasidim (Zevin) on the Torah, story 149.
[6] Exodus 26:35.
[7] Nedarim 20b.
[8] Bava Batra 25b.
[9] Genesis 27:4.
[10] Shemot Rabbah 15:20.
[11] Bereishit Rabbah 64:3.
[12] Genesis 25:22.
[13] Bereishit Rabbah 63:6.
[14] Ramatayim Tzofim 6:7.
[15] This question applies only according to Rashi’s second interpretation, “struggling and quarreling among themselves,” but not according to the first interpretation, “a term of running,” where each one runs by himself at the time suited to him.
[16] See Chullin 37a–38a, and elsewhere.
[17] Likkutei Sichot, vol. 26, 3rd sichah on Beshalach.
[18] See Hilchot Issurei Bi’ah 14:2–5 and Likkutei Sichot, vol. 35, 1st sichah on Vayeira, sections 6–7.
[19] Megillah 17a.
[20] Rashi on Genesis 32:5 (from Pesikta Zuta, Midrash Aggadah, and Midrash Sechel Tov).
[21] See Genesis 25:34 and the Radak there.
[22] In the name of the Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk (Yemot Olam, letter 6).
[23] 1218 is the first number that is also a multiple of “grace” (חֵן) and a multiple of 42 (מב) (the two components of beauty (יֹפִי).
[24] Isaiah 58:6.
[25] This is the secret of the rising of the well toward Rebeccah—the rising of feminine waters in the secret of the name ban (בֵּן), which equals “animal” (בְּהֵמָה), which also includes the root of the evil inclination (the root of Esau), in the secret of “in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:7). The inclusion of evil in the foundation of the feminine is also the secret and the cause of the woman’s menstrual cycle, which expels the bad blood (but their reshimu/residue remains and is included in purity, in the well of Rebeccah and afterward in the well of Miriam, etc.).
[26] Bereishit Rabbah 65:1 (cited in Rashi on the verse, 26:34). And elsewhere.
[27] Shelah, Chayei Sarah, letter 10; Torah Or, Vayishlach 25a.
[28] Avot 2:14.
[29] See Or HaTorah, Bereishit, Chayei Sarah 119b. And see also Rucho shel Mashiach, the essay “Misped HaDadrimon” (and especially note 8 there).
[30] Genesis 25:23.
[31] Genesis 28:5. And Rashi wrote, “I do not know what this teaches us.” “I do not know” (אֵינִי יוֹדֵעַ) is the secret of the fiftieth gate of understanding, the mother principle (Likkutei Halachot, Sefirat HaOmer 1; Imrei Yosef, Vayeitzei 144d, and elsewhere), the revelation of the name 161 (קסא)—the name Ekyeh, the name of the mothers and of birth, with a yud filling (אלף הה יוד הה), the secret of the principle of Divine mercy (Exodus 34:7), “and He will cleanse” (וְנַקֵּה), which is the root of the light of the mother principle—its root in the Radla (the Unknowable Head), the secret of the faith of Ima specifically.
[32] See Bava Batra 17a.
