TORAH PORTION
Torah Generations
Are Matriarchal
Saturday, November 9, 1991
8:30 p.m. — 12:30 a.m.
DANIEL F. POLISH
CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM
Special to The Jewish News
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his week's sedra,
Toledot, underscores
the humanity of the
Torah. It purports to tell
about the descendents or the
genealogy of Isaac. But very
quickly it focuses on the per-
son of our mother Rebekah.
The sedra reminds us of how
her marriage to Isaac was ar-
ranged and how she was
brought to him from her
home — and his ancestral
home — in Paddan-Aram. We
soon learn that like her
mother-in-law Sarah before
her, Rebekah was barren.
Isaac intercedes on her
behalf, entreating God for off-
spring, and God is persuaded.
But soon we learn that this
pregnancy will not be a con-
ventional one, nor an easy
one. Rebekah knows great
pain, and she is driven to ask,
"If this is how it will be for
me, why do I go on living?"
Now something remarkable
happens, something for which
we find no precedent in the
Torah, nor in the religious
histories of other people.
Rebekah does not go to Isaac
to ask him to intercede. In-
stead she goes to God herself
and brings this question
before God. And more
remarkable still — in the con-
text of the social attitudes of
the ancient world — God
responds directly to Rebekah.
This exchange between our
mother Rebekah and God is a
significant moment and is
worthy of our attention.
In our age, we have, all of us
— men and women alike —
become more sensitive to the
gender issues raised by social
structures — including
religion. Some would tell us
that our Torah is an ex-
clusively male-oriented text,
that it depicts a hierarchical
and patriarchal society. Some
even claim that the Torah ig-
nores the existence of women
and is indifferent to the
human situation of women.
Many sections of the Torah
support these claims. Often
women are relegated to in-
visibility: We do not know the
name of Noah's wife. Some
Torah injunctions do seem to
discriminate against women.
Sections of the Torah do, in-
deed, reflect a patriarchal
society. But what is more
striking is not the extent to
which the Torah reflects the
social milieu out of which it
Rabbi Polish is senior rabbi
of Temple Beth El.
arose, but the frequency with
which it deviates from those
patterns.
This sedra is certainly one
of those portions that reflects
a higher sensitivity to
women's realities. Rebekah's
anguish and her outcry before
God betray a deep sensitivity
to the human reality of carry-
ing children. At those
moments when I think of the
Torah being set down by
human beings inspired by
God — as originating in the
Divine, but still bearing
human fingerprints — it
seems to me that this section
could only have been written
by a woman. The author
knows the pain of carrying
children. The Torah is, in so
many ways a book filled with
humanity. This section
radiates a woman's humanity.
Shabbat Toledot
Genesis 25:19-28:9
Malachi 1:1-27
Toledot also takes the
religious role of women
seriously. We are accustomed
to thinking of the ancient
Near East as a place where
women are relegated to secon-
dary positions. When they
have questions to bring to the
attention of the authorities,
they would be represented by
the man in their family.
When they wished for Divine
assistance, they would turn to
a husband, brother, or father
to intercede in their behalf.
Not so in Toledot. Rebekah
goes directly to God. God
responds directly to
Rebekah's plea with an ex-
planation about the special
circumstances of her situa-
tion and a promise: "Two na-
tions are within you. Two peo-
ple will be separated from
your inner places. One people
shall be stronger than the
other, and the elder shall
serve the younger."
Something even more
remarkable happens; Rebe-
kah and God become part-
ners. Rebekah undertakes,
herself, to bring God's pro-
phecy to fulfillment. She sees
to it that the younger of the
twins, Jacob, will indeed
prevail over the older.
Rather than playing a
secondary . role, the
matriarchs in the Torah play
the dominant role in deter-
mining the line of the in-
heritance of the Jewish peo-
ple. Rebekah plays the
decisive role in deciding
Jacob's primacy. Her mother-
in-law Sarah determined that