36 | NOVEMBER 4 • 2021 

T

he Netziv (Naftali Zvi Yehuda 
Berlin, 1816–1893, dean of 
the yeshiva in Volozhin) made 
the astute observation that Isaac and 
Rebecca seem to suffer from a lack of 
communication. He noted 
that Rebecca’s “relationship 
with Isaac was not the 
same as that between Sarah 
and Abraham or Rachel 
and Jacob. When they 
had a problem, they were 
not afraid to speak about 
it. Not so with Rebecca.” 
(Ha’amek Davar to Gen. 24:64)
The Netziv senses this distance from 
the very first moment Rebecca sees 
Isaac, as he is “meditating in the field” 
(Gen. 24:63), at which point she fell off 
her camel and “covered herself with a 
veil” (Gen. 24:65). He comments, “She 
covered herself out of awe and a sense 
of inadequacy, as if she felt she was 
unworthy to be his wife, and from then 
on this trepidation was fixed in her 
mind.”
Their relationship, suggests the 

Netziv, was never casual, candid and 
communicative. The result was, at a 
series of critical moments, a failure of 
communication. 

A SECRET KEPT
For instance, it seems likely that 
Rebecca never informed Isaac of 
the oracle she had before the twins, 
Esau and Jacob, were born, in which 
God told her “the elder will serve the 
younger” (Gen. 25:23). That, apparently, 
is one reason she loved Jacob rather 
than Esau, knowing that he was the one 
chosen by God. If Isaac had known this 
foretelling of their sons’ futures, would 
he still have favored Esau? He probably 
did not know because Rebecca had not 
told him. 
That is why, many years later, when 
she hears that Isaac was about to 
bless Esau, she is forced into a plan of 
deception: She tells Jacob to pretend 
he is Esau. Why does she not simply 
tell Isaac that it is Jacob who shall be 
blessed? Because that would force her 
to admit that she has kept her husband 

in ignorance about the prophecy all the 
years the children were growing up.
Had she spoken to Isaac on the day 
of the blessing, Isaac might have said 
something that would have changed the 
entire course of their, and their children’s, 
lives. I imagine Isaac saying this: “Of 
course I know that it will be Jacob and 
not Esau who will continue the covenant. 
But I have two quite different blessings in 
mind, one for each of our sons. I will give 
Esau a blessing of wealth and power: ‘May 
God give you the dew of heaven and the 
richness of the earth … May nations serve 
you and peoples bow down to you.’ (Gen. 
27:28-29) I will give Jacob the blessing 
God gave Abraham and me, the blessing 
of children and the promised land: ‘May 
God Almighty bless you and make you 
fruitful and increase your numbers until 
you become a community of peoples. May 
He give you and your descendants the 
blessing given to Abraham, so that you 
may take possession of the land where 
you now reside as a foreigner, the land 
God gave to Abraham.’” (Gen. 28:3-4).
Isaac never intended to give the 

Communication Matters

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

