Surprisingly Similar

Rav Azriel Rosner (arosner@tiferetcenter.com)

Parashat Toldot

At the beginning of the parasha, Rivka goes to find out what is the reason for the unusual difficulty she was having in her pregnancy. She is told, "שני גויים בבטנך ושני לאמים ממעיך

יפרדו" , "Two peoples are in your stomach, and two nations from your womb shall separate…" (Bereishit 25:23). Clearly, Rivkah understood from this prophecy that she would be having twins, and that they would, over the course of time, have two very separate destinies.

In the very next pasuk, the Torah describes the birth of these twins, saying, "וימלאו ימיה

ללדת והנה תומים בבטנה" , "And her days to give birth were completed, and behold, there were twins in her stomach." Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch focuses on one word in that pasuk, "והנה" , and behold. Rav Hirsch writes that this word indicates that something unexpected happened. But Rivkah already knew that she was having twins! Why is the birth of Yaakov and Esav marked by the word "והנה" , as if she could not have predicted it?

Rav Hirsch answers that, knowing the prophecy, Rivkah expected her two sons to be totally dissimilar in appearance. She knew that they were destined to go in very separate ways, and she expected that the difference between them would be obvious. She was surprised by the fact that, for the most part, they appeared quite similar, הנה תומים

בבטנה" , "and behold, there were twins in her stomach." Although Esav was more advanced developmentally than Yaakov, Rav Hirsch explains that essentially, they looked like "twins," in other words, the same.

This is already the beginning of an explanation of how and why Yitzchak favored Esav over Yaakov, and chose, at first to give him his bracha. We are under the impression that the spiritual differences between the brothers were clear from the start, and if so, we are always surprised that their father did not realize them over the course of the years. But according to Rav Hirsch, the differences were not apparent from the beginning – only as time passed and the two brothers developed their own "spiritual personalities" did their paths diverge.

We are quick sometimes to make judgments about people based on their external appearance, and we expect that, for better or worse, we can gauge their "spiritual value" according to their appearance. Rav Hirsch is telling us that we should not be so quick to judge others based on a first impression. But as Hakadosh Baruch Hu told Shmuel, when choosing which of Yishai's sons would be the next king of Israel,

"אַל תַּבֵּט אֶּל מַּרְאֵּהוּ וְאֶּל גְבהַֹּּ קוֹמָּתוֹ ... כִּי הָּאָדָּם יִּרְאֶּה

לַּעֵּינַּיִּם וַּיקוָֹּּק יִּרְאֶּה לַּלֵּבָּב."

"Do not look at his appearance or at his height… for man looks with his eyes, and G-d looks towards the heart." (Shmuel Alef 16:7) May we too have the wisdom to look beyond the surface and appreciate the beauty within!

Shabbat Shalom!