A

round the gaps, silences
and seeming repetitions of
the biblical text, Midrash
weaves its interpretations, enriching
the written word with oral elabora-
tion, giving the text new resonances
of meaning. Often, to the untutored
ear, Midrash sounds fanciful, far
removed from the plain sense of
the verse. But once we
have learned the lan-
guage and sensibility
of Midrash, we begin
to realize how deep are
its spiritual and moral
insights.
One example was
prompted by the open-
ing verse of today’s sedra: “
And these
are the generations of Isaac, son of
Abraham: Abraham begat Isaac.”
The problem is obvious. The first
half of the sentence tells us that
Isaac was the son of Abraham. Why
does the text repeat, “
Abraham begat
Isaac?” Listening to apparent redun-
dancy of the text in the context of the
whole Abraham-Isaac narrative, the
Sages offered the following interpre-
tation:
The cynics of the time were saying,
“Sarah became pregnant through

Abimelech. See how many years she
lived with Abraham without being
able to have a child by him.” What
did the Holy One blessed be He
do? He made Isaac’s facial features
exactly resemble those of Abraham,
so that everyone had to admit that
Abraham beget Isaac. This is what is
meant by the words, ‘“
Abraham begat
Isaac,” namely that there was clear
evidence that Abraham was Isaac’s
father. (Rashi to Gen. 25: 1, on the
basis of Baba Metzia 87a)
This is an ingenious reading. The
opening of Genesis 21 speaks of the
birth of Isaac to Sarah. Immediately
prior to this — in Genesis 20 — we
read of how Sarah was taken into
the harem of Abimelech, king of
Gerar. Hence the speculation of the
Sages, that gossips were suggesting
that Abraham was infertile, and
Abimelech was Isaac’s father. Thus,
the double emphasis: not only in
fact was Abraham Isaac’s father, but
also everyone could see this because
father and son looked exactly alike.
But there is a deeper point at stake.
To understand it we need to turn to
another Midrash, this time on the
opening verse of Genesis 24:
And Abraham was old, well

advanced in years: and the Lord had
blessed Abraham in all things.
Again, there is a problem of
an apparent superfluous phrase.
If Abraham was old, why does
the verse need to add that he was
well advanced in years? The rab-
bis noticed something else, that
Abraham (and Sarah) are the first
people in the Torah described as
being old — despite the fact that
many previously mentioned biblical
characters lived to a much greater
age. Putting these two facts together
with the tradition that Abraham and
Isaac looked identical, they arrived at
the following interpretation: “Until
Abraham, people did not grow old.
However [because Abraham and
Isaac looked alike] people who saw
Abraham said, ‘That is Isaac,’ and
people who saw Isaac said, ‘That is
Abraham.’ Abraham then prayed to
grow old, and this is the meaning [of
the phrase] “
And Abraham was old.”
Sanhedrin 103b

DIFFERENCE IS ESSENTIAL
The close physical resemblance
between Abraham and Isaac created
unexpected difficulties. Both father
and son suffered a loss of individ-

uality. Nor is this pure speculation.
Examine Genesis carefully, and we
see that Isaac is the least individu-
ated of the patriarchs. His life reads
like a replay of his father’s. He too is
forced by famine to go to the land
of the Philistines. He too encounters
Abimelech. He too feels impelled to
say that his wife is his sister (Gen.
26). He re-digs the wells his father
dug. Isaac seems to do little that is
distinctively his own.
Sensitive to this, the rabbis told a
profound psychological story. Parents
are not their children. Children are
not replicas of their parents. We are
each unique and have a unique pur-
pose. That is why Abraham prayed
to God that there be some clear and
recognizable difference between
father and son.
Does this have any contemporary
relevance? I think it does: in relation
to a new medical technology, eugenic
or reproductive cloning. Cloning —
the method of nuclear cell transfer
pioneered by Dr. Ian Wilmut in the
experiment that created Dolly the
sheep in 1997 — raises profound
issues of medical ethics, especially in
relation to humans.
It is far from certain that it ever

Kinship and Difference

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

50 | NOVEMBER 28 • 2024
J
N

Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks