Woman's Intuition

Isaac Blessing Jacob. Govert Flinck [Public domain, Public domain or CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

There is a fascinating incident at the end of this morning’s Torah reading, Parshat Chayei Sarah that is the key to understanding the interplay between Rivka and her husband Yitzchak and their two sons Yaakov and Esav in Parshat Toldot next week.

בראשית פרק כד
סג וַיֵּצֵא יִצְחָק לָשׂוּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶה, לִפְנוֹת עָרֶב; וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה גְמַלִּים בָּאִים. סד וַתִּשָּׂא רִבְקָה אֶת-עֵינֶיהָ, וַתֵּרֶא אֶת-יִצְחָק; וַתִּפֹּל, מֵעַל הַגָּמָל. סה וַתֹּאמֶר אֶל-הָעֶבֶד, מִי-הָאִישׁ הַלָּזֶה הַהֹלֵךְ בַּשָּׂדֶה לִקְרָאתֵנוּ, וַיֹּאמֶר הָעֶבֶד, הוּא אֲדֹנִי; וַתִּקַּח הַצָּעִיף, וַתִּתְכָּס.

Rivka, the young soon to be bride, is returning with Avraham’s servant, Eliezer, to see her newly betrothed Yitzchak for the first time. She sees a man (Yitzchak but she does not know this yet) praying in the field. Our rabbis teach us that he was praying Tefilat Mincha, the afternoon prayer. Considering the situation, he was likely praying that Eliezer would find him a suitable wife. When Rivka sees Yitzchak steeped in prayer, she falls off of the camel. She asks, “Who is this man walking in the field to greet us?” Eliezer responds that it is Yitzchak and Rivka covers her face with a veil.

This interplay, appears almost as if it is from a corny romantic film. The first time Rivka sees her soon to be husband, she falls off of her camel. Why? The Netziv in his classic commentary Haamek Davar offers a tremendous chiddush, a novel idea, which not only explains this incident but sets the stage for all future interactions between Yitzchak and Rivka as husband and wife. He proposes that the first time Rivka saw Yitzchak, this lofty soul, a tzadik the son of tzadik praying in the field, her natural reaction one one of awe. This led her to fall off her camel out of shock. She then covers herself with a veil embarrassed to have such a holy man see her for the first time.

We must remember that Rivka, although she was also a righteous individual, grew up amongst the wicked. Her brother Lavan was nothing like his lily white name. (The Hebrew word lavan meaning white.) He was as sly as they come. Rivka’s community was one of idolaters. When she spied Yitzchak meditating in the field, this was the first time she had ever seen a righteous person communing with God. One must also realize that Yitzchak was no ordinary tzadik. He was an olah temima, an offering to God. He had been brought by his elderly father to Har Hamoriah in the famous Akeidat Yitzchak, tied to the altar, and only at the last moment spared by God’s mercy. One could say that a part of Yitzchak never came down from this lofty height. - As evidenced by the fact that the Torah only states that Avraham went down from the mountain to his waiting attendants. - A part of Yitzchak always remained with the crying angels tied to the altar. To Rivka then the holy Yitzchak appears like an angel surrounded by the Shechina, the heavenly presence.

The Netziv points out that this incident set the tone of the relationship between Rivka and Yitzchak and sets the stage for how the two of them later relate to their twin sons Yaakov and Esav. Rivka had a very different marriage with Yitzchak than Avraham, Yitzchak’s father had with his mother Sarah. Avraham and Sarah’s marriage was one of equals. When Sara felt that something needed to be done, she told Avraham directly. In matters of the home, her word was final. For example, when Yishmael the son to Avraham of Hagar her maidservant, was becoming a bad influence on her son Yitzchak, Sarah told Avraham to send him away. Initially, Avraham objected to this since it was not in his kindly nature to banish a son. However, God sided with Sarah, proving that Sarah had the greater intuition about what was best for their son Yitzchak. Avraham relented and reluctantly sent Yishmael away.

Rivka experiences a very similar situation but handles it quite differently. In Parshat Toldot, while Yitzchak appears to favor his first born son Esav who gets him food, it is Rivka who recognizes Esav’s true nature. Only she realizes that Esav can receive no blessing to be the leader over Yaakov because only Yaakov is worthy to continue the Jewish destiny started by his father and grandfather, Avraham and Yitzchak. Rivka knew this for two reasons. Firstly, only she received a prophecy when her two twins were still in the womb that clearly stated that the older son, Esav, would serve his younger brother, Yaakov. Secondly, Rivka’s street smarts, the very fact that she had grown up with so many wicked people helped her to see through Esav’s ruse. Having grown up in the house of Lavan, Rivka could see how Esav was tricking his righteous father by feigning great honor for him and respect for his ethical monotheistic beliefs.

Despite that fact that Rivka knew her husband Yitzchak was mistaken in showing favoritism to Esav, just as Avraham had been mistaken in seeking to allow Yishmael to grow up in the same house as his brother Yitzchak, Rivka never directly confronts Yitzchak about this. The reason is that Rivka feels she cannot directly tell such a holy man as Yitzchak that he is wrong. Instead Rivka comes up with a plan to show Yitzchak that his mistake. Rivka dresses up Yaakov as Esav to trick Yitzchak into giving Yaakov the blessing intended for his older brother. Through this incident, Rivka shows Yitzchak that even the simple, mild-mannered Yaakov can trick him.

When Yitzchak sees that Yaakov tricked him into giving him the blessing Yitzchak’s eyes finally open up to Esav’s duplicity. He now recognizes that if Yaakov, the Ish Tam, can fool him then the crafty Esav has been fooling him about his true nature all along. When Esav returns to Yitzchak, Yitzchak trembles a great fear. The Midrash explains that at this moment Yitzchak sees the fires of gehenem opening underneath Esav. Yitzchak for the first time recognizes Esav’s truly sinister essence.

It is Rivka’s careful planning that sets up this moment of realization. Rivka never tells Yitzchak directly her feelings about Esav. Rather she uses her intuition to help open Yitzchak’s eyes so that his holiness no longer blind’s him to his son’s true nature allowing Yitzchak for the first time in many years to see his sons, both Yaakov and Esav as they truly are.