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November 20, 1998/ 1 Kislev 5759, Vol. 51, No. 9
God brings about plan even amid sinfulness
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Toldot/Genesis 25:19 - 28:9
This week's Torah portion is a treasure house of family intrigues and conspiracies.
Rebecca orchestrates a subterfuge in which her younger son, Jacob, dons the garb and character of his brother, Esau, in order to fool his blind father, Isaac, into giving him the birthright and blessing.
When Jacob pleads that his father will certainly end up cursing him because his smooth skin will give him away, Rebecca brushes aside that objection by offering to take the curse upon herself. In the end, Jacob receives the blessing under false pretenses, and his act of deceit unfavorably colors his entire life - although it saves the Jewish destiny from being aborted almost before it begins to unfold.
How can we possibly justify a wife deceiving her husband and a son deceiving his father? Rationalizations for Jacob's behavior exist, of course. Esau is clearly unworthy of the birthright; he committed the sin of marrying Hittite wives and he sold the blessing for some bread and lentil stew. Nonetheless, when all is said and done, the fact remains that a deception took place; Rebecca orchestrated it and Jacob perpetrated it.
Jacob ends up working seven years for his beloved Rachel, only to be deceived by Laban who substitutes the elder sister for the younger under the marriage canopy. When the son-in-law takes his father-in-law to task, Laban responds: "It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the older" - a clear denigration of Jacob's previous act of usurping his elder brother's place.
Years later, Jacob's own sons will deceive him, claiming that his beloved Joseph was torn to death by a wild animal, and Joseph's exile in Egypt will correspond to the number of years that Jacob spent away from his own father. Moreover, just as Jacob posed as someone else before his father, Isaac, so does Joseph pose as the Grand Vizier of Egypt before his father, Jacob.
Professor Nechama Leibowitz, one of the foremost Torah commentators of our generation, postulates a "double track" theory of Jewish theology, suggesting that the Bible speaks on two separate tracks or planes, the human and the divine. On the human level, there is absolutely no justification whatsoever for deception. On the divine plane, while Jacob may be condemned for lying and Rebecca may even be cursed for orchestrating the deception, we recognize that it was as a result of these actions that the Jewish people emerged as the children of Israel, dedicated to God and morality.
A parallel situation occurs in the story of Joseph. One of the most heinous crimes in the Bible is Joseph being sold as a slave into Egypt by his brothers.
Nevertheless, in the climactic scene, Joseph declares: "I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be distressed or reproach yourselves (since) it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you" (Genesis 45:4-5).
Joseph understands that in addition to the apparent sequence of events in the world below which resulted in his near-murder and eventual exile to Egypt, another invisible supernal design was transpiring simultaneously from above. He goes on to say: "So, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt" (Genesis 45:8).
What the brothers perpetrated against Joseph was a heinous crime; from the moral perspective of human actions, the brothers were guilty, and they had to be punished. But on the divine plane, the tragic sale of Joseph eventually brought the Jews to Egypt, and not only saved the house of Jacob from death by starvation, but also set the stage for the pattern of persecution and redemption that was to become the hallmark of our national destiny.
There is a Yiddish saying: "A human being proposes and God disposes." The Bible teaches that even when human beings err, the Almighty utilizes the transgression to bring about the divine plan of ultimate redemption.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Efrat, Israel.
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