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