Toledot, תּוֹלְדֹת "Generations"  Genesis 25:19-28:9

Toldot / The Generations of Isaac 5783

Poetic notes on the parashat Toldot*

Why did the generations of Isaac unfold

on a blue and white planet hurling 

through such a vast and seemingly voiceless universe?

Why did the generations of Isaac unfold

among prayers rising from the earth,

many like swamp grass ascending upward haphazardly

towards the hosts of heaven,

with but a few prayers,

like straight stalks of wheat,

ascending to the ear of the Creator?

Why did the generations of Isaac unfold

in a spacetime of mystery

where an eon can pass in a moment,

and where the end is the foundation of the beginning?

Why did the generations of Isaac unfold

in Jacob and Esau,

one whose reflection in the mirror

is like the brilliance of spiritual stars,

and the other whose reflection in the mirror

is like the ghost of himself?

It wasn’t God’s intention to throw Adam into a black hole

It wasn’t what he had in mind when he said,

“In the day you eat thereof you will surely die”

When he chastised Adam,

He might have said much more

There was so much more 

that could have been said about the sinner

But who would have God shamed Adam before?

Would have God gossiped to the angels?

It wasn’t God’s desire to shame them to death

Therefore God made Adam into Edom, as it were

He made Adam into Jacob’s twin,

even into his older brother, Esau

And as such, Isaac wanted to bless Esau,

as the natural firstborn from the family tree of Adam

But Jacob was the firstborn of promise,

from the family tree of Abraham 

There are some moments in time 

that are especially precious and eternal to God

The generations of Isaac

are not self-appointed,

but are those rolled down by God

in the gravity well of Mashiach

The moments of Isaac are most precious to God

These are the moments that rolled down from heaven

to build up Jerusalem with her Holy Crown Jewel,

and to make the place of Isaac,

the setting for Jerusalem’s Holy Jewel

This is righteous Jerusalem which falls and rises up

and falls and rises up,

and falls again seven times

and rises up again

The generations of Isaac,

are a voice crying in the wilderness,

in the wilderness of Judea,

in the wilderness of endless stars and planets,

in the wilderness of time and space,

crying, "Prepare the way of Hashem!"

From the Red Sea to the Jordan River there was a sea of wilderness

Into this sea and out of it, under the wings of the Shechinah,

the generations of Issac emerge with Moses

For it is the generations of Isaac

who hear the speech of the terrestrial heavens

and understand their testimony

The terrestrial heavens do not wonder so much

about six days thousands of years ago

They contemplate instead how the six days

are contained in each and every passing moment

Six days of God speaking 

And then the seventh when He is finished

and is silent and resting

The moment of the terrestrial universe is passing

Then when God is silent

only the generations of Isaac will remain

Hear the heavens declaring the glory of Hashem!

Hear the generations of Isaac explaining

that the heavens cannot contain Him!

How unworthy are the earth and skies of His majesty?

This is the secret of the seventh day

But Esau did not know it

Esau said to Jacob, You have a lovely bowl of red lentils there!

Jacob said, What will you give me for them?

Esau said, Our grandfather, Abraham, was made heir of the world

This inheritance is mine since I am Isaac’s firstborn 

Yet God has decreed that soon I will be no more than dust and ashes

Therefore, to me, the world is not worth a bowl of beans

Jacob said, in the resurrection of the dead, 

God will surely preserve one bone 

that is worth more than a bowl of beans

Esau said, the dead know nothing at all

Jacob said, bind yourself to the Torah anyway 

Bind yourself to God and to me with an oath 

that you will sell me your birthright for this bowl of deep red lentils 

Esau did so, and he was standing in the place of Adam

Therefore the generations of Isaac

build up Jerusalem

with the Holy Jewel of her Crown

in order that the glory of HaShem

might be at home in His creation forever

But the two children of Isaac are still crushing each other

and wrestling at Rebecca's core,

inside her heart and inside her womb

If this is so, she cried to God,

Why do I exist?

Rebecca was divided from Rebecca,

Isaac was divided from Isaac

Jacob was divided from Esau

It was always about the selling of the inheritance of Adam

Esau never had the inheritance of Abraham to sell

The generations of Isaac became two riverbeds,

one flowing with Torah waters,

the other a dry riverbed without holy spirit

Still, the blessing of Isaac was the blessing of his generations

and his blessing reversed the roles of Jacob and Esau

Esau was the firstborn according to Adam

But Jacob was the heir of Abraham 

according to the word of Hashem spoken to Rebecca

It was right that Jacob should redeem the bone of hope in Esau

Jacob pressed Esau to bind himself to a mitzvah, to a Godly oath

Thus, he tied Esau’s oath to him like a rope

that Jacob held in his own hands,

while Jacob’s hands were held in the hands of Hashem 

This is what Jacob did, 

that in the day of judgment with this rope, 

with his own hands, he might draw Esau in from the abyss

Now Esau griped the heel of Jacob

Only when Jacob rests as Israel,

in Hashem's appointed Land,

when Jacob has conquered

and harnessed all potential chaos within himself,

only when the Holy Jewel in the Crown of Jerusalem

is radiating from the Holy Land of Israel,

dispelling all darkness,

even for wandering worlds,

only then will Esau be thankful for Isaac's blessing

Esau will thank God for having blessed Jacob as the firstborn from Adam

Then the full story of the generations of Isaac will be told

Then the sisters, Rachel and Leah, will be one soul

For Rachel's weeping will end

and Rebecca will be healed and with Sarah will be one

Love is a dicipline

It is the core discipline of the discipline of life

The undisciplined do not know how to be kind

Kindness is the most Godly skill,

the skill that Isaac and Rebecca and Jacob used in dealing with Esau

It is the whole way of life for those who have acquired skill in life,

by being disciplined by God