T
here is a strange passage
in the life of Isaac, omi-
nous in its foreshadowing
of Jewish history. Like Abraham,
Isaac finds himself forced by
famine to go to Gerar, in the
land of the Philistines. There,
like Abraham, he senses that his
life may be in
danger because
he is married to a
beautiful woman.
He fears that he
will be killed so
that Rebecca can
be taken into the
harem of King
Avimelech. The couple pass
themselves off as brother and sis-
ter. The deception is discovered,
Avimelech is indignant, explana-
tions are made, and the moment
passes. Genesis 26 reads almost
like a replay of Genesis 20, a gen-
eration later.
In both cases, Avimelech
promises the patriarchs’ security.
To Abraham, he said, “My land
is before you; live wherever you
like” (Gen. 20:15). About Isaac, he
commands, “
Anyone who molests
this man or his wife shall surely
be put to death” (Gen. 26:11). Yet
in both cases, there is a troubled
aftermath. In Genesis 21 we read
about an argument that arose
over a well that Abraham had
dug: “Then Abraham complained
to Avimelech about a well of
water that Avimelech’s servants
had seized” (Gen. 21:25). The
two men make a treaty. Yet, as
we now discover, this was not
sufficient to prevent further diffi-
culties in the days of Isaac: Isaac
planted crops in that land and the
same year reaped a hundredfold
because the Lord blessed him.
The man became rich, and his
wealth continued to grow until
he became very wealthy.
He had so many flocks and
herds and servants that the
Philistines envied him. So all the
wells that his father’s servants
had dug in the time of his father
Abraham, the Philistines stopped
up, filling them with earth.
Then Avimelech said to Isaac,
“Move away from us; you have
become too powerful for us.
”
So, Isaac moved away from
there and encamped in the Valley
of Gerar and settled there. Isaac
reopened the wells that had been
dug in the time of his father
Abraham, which the Philistines
had stopped up after Abraham
died, and he gave them the same
names his father had given them.
“Isaac’s servants dug in the val-
ley and discovered a well of fresh
water there. But the herdsmen
of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s
herdsmen and said, ‘The water is
ours!’ So he named the well Esek,
because they disputed with him.
Then they dug another well, but
they quarreled over that one also;
so he named it Sitnah. He moved
on from there and dug another
well, and no one quarreled over
it. He named it Rechovot, saying,
‘Now the Lord has given us room
and we will flourish in the land.
’”
Gen. 26:12–22
THE BIRTH OF
ANTISEMITISM
There are three aspects of this
passage worthy of careful atten-
tion. The first is the intimation it
gives us of what will later be the
turning point of the fate of the
Israelites in Egypt. Avimelech
says, “You have become too
powerful for us.
” Centuries later,
Pharaoh says, at the beginning
of the book of Exodus, “Behold,
the people of the children of
Israel are greater in number
and power than we are. Come on,
let us deal wisely with them, lest
they multiply and it come to pass,
when there befall any war, that
they join also with our enemies
and fight against us, and so get
them up out of the land” (Ex.
1:9–10).
The same word, atzum, “power/
powerful,
” appears in both. Our
passage signals the birth of one of
the deadliest of human phenom-
ena, antisemitism.
Antisemitism is in some
respects unique. It is, in Robert
Wistrich’s phrase, the world’s
longest hatred. No other preju-
dice has lasted so long, mutated
so persistently, attracted such
demonic myths or had such
devastating effects. But in other
respects, it is not unique, and we
must try to understand it as best
we can.
One of the best books about
antisemitism is, in fact, not about
antisemitism at all, but about
similar phenomena in other
contexts, Amy Chua’s World on
Fire. Her thesis is that any con-
spicuously successful minority
will attract envy that may deepen
into hate and provoke violence.
All three conditions are essential.
The hated group must be conspic-
uous, for otherwise it would not
be singled out. It must be success-
ful for otherwise it would not be
envied. And it must be a minority,
for otherwise it would not be
attacked.
All three conditions were
present in the case of Isaac. He
was conspicuous: He was not a
Philistine, he was different from
the local population as an out-
sider, a stranger, someone with a
different faith. He was successful:
His crops had succeeded a hun-
dredfold, his flocks and herds
were large, and the people envied
him. And he was a minority: a
single family in the midst of the
local population. All the ingredi-
ents were present for the distilla-
tion of hostility and hate.
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks
Persistence Amid
Vast Antisemitism
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
46 | NOVEMBER 16 • 2023
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