A Verse of Torah - Toldot 5782

(22) But the children struggled in her womb, and she said, “If so, why do I exist?” She went to inquire of the Eternal,

(1) ויתרצצו AND [THE CHILDREN] STRUGGLED — You must admit that this verse calls for a Midrashic interpretation since it leaves unexplained what this struggling was about and it states that she exclaimed “If it be so, wherefore did I desire this” (i.e. she asked whether this was the normal course of child-bearing, feeling that something extraordinary was happening). Our Rabbis explain that the word ויתרוצצו has the meaning of running, moving quickly: whenever she passed by the doors of the Torah (i. e. the Schools of Shem and Eber) Jacob moved convulsively in his efforts to come to birth, but whenever she passed by the gate of a pagan temple Esau moved convulsively in his efforts to come to birth (Genesis Rabbah 63:6). Another explanation is: they struggled with one another and quarrelled as to how they should divide the two worlds as their inheritance (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 111:2).

(2) ותאמר אם כן means AND SHE SAID, “IF the pain of pregnancy be so great,

(3) למה זה אנכי WHY IS IT that I longed and prayed to become pregnant?” (Genesis Rabbah 63:6).

(5) 'לדרש את ה, TO ENQUIRE OF THE Eternal, that God might tell her what would happen to her at the end.

(1) ויתרוצצו, “They quarreled.” According to Rashi the wrangle inside Rebecca’s womb concerned two worlds. According to the plain meaning of the text, seeing that Esau developed a lot of body hair whereas Jacob was smooth skinned, Esau’s hair kept rubbing Jacob's skin, resulting in violent movement inside her womb, Jacob trying to escape being scratched.

(2) ותאמר: אם כן וגו', “she said: ”if so, etc.” according to Rashi she said that “if my desire to found a nation of twelve tribes involves so much pain as part of the pregnancies, why did I ever aspire to become the founding mother of such a nation?” According to a Midrash, Rebecca’s complaint of למה זה אנכי was the reason that it was not she who became the founding mother of the twelve tribes. In practice, it was Esau who inadvertently damaged Rebecca’s uterus to the extent that she could not again become pregnant. Other commentators interpret Rebecca’s complaint not as directed against future pregnancies, but as her immediate fear of her embryos seeing the light of the world too soon due to their conduct within her womb. She was afraid of giving birth to premature babies, babies that would die at birth or shortly thereafter. Her complaint was that if she had to undergo all these pains only in order to abort at the end, what was the point in her becoming pregnant in the first place? Why would she have been singled out for such a difficult pregnancy? Yet other scholars see Rebecca’s question as not addressed to God, but to other women who had born children successfully. After these women told her that they had not experienced any of the symptoms Rebecca had been plagued by during her pregnancy, she then addressed the question of why she had been singled out to God, (using the head of the academy of Shem and Ever as her intermediary) Nachmanides understands Rebecca’s question as wanting to know if her children were already quarrelling before they were born, her own life would not be worth living and she would be better off dead.

(3) ותלך לדרוש את ה', “she went in order to enquire from God.” Rashi understands her question as pertaining to the future of these children. Perhaps the reason she preferred to address her enquiry to the head of the Academy of Shem instead of to her father-in-law Abraham, who was still alive at the time, was that she did not want to let him know that she was so beset by mental and physical anguish. Nachmanides understands the words ותלך לדרוש את ה', to mean that Rebecca appealed directly to God in prayer seeing that she felt so much anguish.

(1) ותאמר אם כן, after it is a fact that these fetuses already are at each other’s throats I have reason to be afraid that one of them will die so that I endanger myself by giving birth to them, causing one of them to be stillborn.

(2) למה זה אנכי, why were my relatives so concerned that it would be I who provide the seed for Isaac when they said את היי לאלפי רבבה, “may it be you who will be the source of millions.” (24:60) Also, why did my husband insist that I become the mother of his children?

(1) ויתרוצצו, a word derived from רץ, “ran,” as for instance in Jeremiah 51:31 לקראת רץ רץ, “runner dashes to meet runner.” The word describes the constant motion of the two fetuses inside Rebecca’s womb. We have a similar construction of the word קם when it appears next to מתקוממים, or the word לן when it occurs next to the word מתלוננים. If the word had been derived from the root רצץ, as for instance in Job 20:19 רצץ עזב דלים, the Torah would have had to write here vayitratzetzu with the vowel patach, instead of vayitrotzetzu with the vowel cholem. We find such a parallel construction in Jeremiah 13:16 ובטרם יתנגפו רגליכם, “and before your feet stumble.”

(2) 'לדרוש את ה, an inquiry directed at the prophets that were around in her time. We have a verse in Kings I 22:8 as well as in Exodus 18:15 where this expression describes questions addressed by the common people to the prophet.

(1) AND SHE SAID: IF IT BE SO, ‘LAMAH ZEH ANOCHI?’”If the pain of pregnancy is so great, lamah zeh anochi (why did I) pray for and aspire to pregnancy?” Thus Rashi. But it is not correct. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says that she asked the women if they had experienced such pains, and they said, “No,” whereupon she said, “If the matter and custom of pregnancy be as they said, lamah zeh anochi, why am I beset with an unusual pregnancy?” Now according to this exposition, the verse is missing and not complete.The correct interpretation in my opinion is that she said, “If it shall be so with me, lamah zeh anochi, [why am I in the world]? Would that I did not exist, that I should die or never have come into existence.” This is similar to the verse, I should have been as though I had not been.

(2) AND SHE WENT ‘LIDROSH’ (TO INQUIRE) OF THE ETERNAL. Rashi comments: “To tell what her outcome will be.” Now I have not discovered the word drishah [lidrosh, to inquire] in relation to God except in the context of prayer, as in the verses: I sought (‘darashti’) the Eternal and He answered me; seek ye Me, (‘dirshuni’) and live; As I live, saith God the Eternal, I will not be inquired of (‘edareish’) by you.

(1) ויתרוצצו, as soon as the fetuses had developed to the point where they were able to move, they moved far more violently than is the custom, so that Rebecca had the impression that quarrelling was going on inside her.

(2) ותאמר אם כן, after she felt these strange movements she consulted with other women who were pregnant or who had born children if they too had experienced such a phenomenon. After they all denied ever having experienced such feelings, she burst out asking: אם כן למה זה אנכי, why should such a thing be reserved for me?

(3) 'ותלך לדרוש את ה, some of our sages (quoted by Rashi) say that she went to the academy of Shem in order to inquire from him about the meaning of such strange goings on inside her. The truth is that Shem was still alive at that time for he survived Abraham by 31 years. If Shem was identical with Malki Tzedek he would have resided in Jerusalem at that time. Why are we told all this? To draw our attention to the fact that she bypassed her father-in-law Abraham, who we would think, was better qualified than Shem to answer her question. Abraham remained alive until Esau and Jacob were 15 years of age.

(4) ותלך, perhaps Abraham and Keturah lived in the same house together with Keturah’s children.

(5) An investigative/rational approach to our verse: The Torah reminds us that when twins are born there are two afterbirths seeing each twin grows within its own setting. In the case of Esau and Jacob, however, something unnatural occurred. Although they grew up within a single afterbirth, nonetheless their characters were so totally at variance. This was foreshadowed when Rebecca experienced that the fetuses were fighting with one another inside her (25:22). The Torah had to remind us that Rebecca had already endured much before these sons had been born.

(1) ויתרצצו הבנים בקרבה, The children were quarrelling inside her, etc. Both the expression ויתרצצו, "they quarreled" and the words למה זה אנכי, "why am I therefore" need examination. Rashi explains that "if the pain involved in giving birth is so intense, why did I bother to pray to become pregnant?" It is difficult to reconcile our image of the pious and righteous Rebeccah with Rashi's comment, i.e. that she did not think the pain worth her while in order to become a mother. Also, if that had been her real concern, how did God's response alleviate her problem? Our rabbis have offered many and various explanations none of which are acceptable as the plain meaning of the verse. The plain meaning of the word ויתרצצו is based on the root רצץ, to crush. Since there were two fetuses in her womb she felt as if her womb was being crushed. She was afraid that she could not complete her pregnancy and would have a miscarriage as a result. Her question then was rhetorical, i.e. "what good was my becoming pregnant if this pregnancy will not be completed successfully?" The words: "she went to ask God," mean that she prayed to God to let her complete her pregnancy without mishap. She felt that the miracle of her becoming pregnant after all these years surely should not be wasted by her not giving birth to a healthy child.

(1) AND THE CHILDREN STRUGGLED TOGETHER. Va-yitrotzatzu (and they struggled) comes from the word that means running. The tzadi is doubled. Its parallel is found in They run to and fro (yerotzetzu) like the lightnings (Nachum 2:5). The Bible refers to the fetuses as children because that is what they ultimately became. And stripped the naked of their clothing (Job 22:6) is similar. Rebekah asked women who had children if they had had a similar experience. They responded that they did not.

(2) Rebekah then said, if it, namely, the manner and custom of pregnancy, be so as they said, wherefore do I undergo such an abnormal pregnancy.

(1) ויתרוצצו, “they quarreled;” the word means that something is about to be broken. Compare Chronicles II 16:10.

(2) אם כן, “if there is so much pain involved in pregnancy, why do I have to remain alive?” (I prefer to die immediately.)

(3) 'ותלך לדרוש את ה, “she went to obtain an answer to her problem from one of the prophets in her time.” (Rashbam) The answer she sought was why the fetuses inside her were engaged in a fight. She was well aware that her term of pregnancy had not yet been completed. She was afraid that after all these pains she might miscarry.