Parshas Toldos - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת תולדות

Parsha Stumpers and Something to Think About

1. Rashi (25:20) writes that the Torah praised Rivkah that despite being a daughter of a wicked person, and the sister of a wicked person, still she did not learn from their deeds and instead was righteous. Yet, Rashi (25:21) comments that Hashem only answered the tefillos of Yitzchak – because the prayer of a tzadik ben rasha (a righteous person who is the son of a wicked person) is not comparable to a tzadik ben tzadik (a righteous person who is the son of a righteous person). Why is this so? Shouldn't the tefillos of someone who, despite their background, is a tzadik, be more dear to Hashem than someone who simply “grew up that way”?

2. The Torah relates that Eisav said to Yaakov, “Pour into me , now, some of that very red stuff for I am exhausted”. Did Eisav not know what the food was called that he had to say “that red stuff”?

3. What is the significance of eating in this week's parsha?

4. Hashem promises again in this week's parsha (26:4) that B'nei Yisroel will increase as many as the stars. Now with the help of science we indeed know that there are billions of stars across the galaxies, etc. However, the Torah generally speaks in the lashon of people and in the way we perceive things from earth. Looking up on even the most starry night in the clearest sky, one could still put a relatively low estimate on the number of stars that the eye could see – whether it be 100,000 or perhaps a million or two million, the promise comparing us to the stars seems different in nature from the comparison to the sand – where even the amount of grains in a single sandbox seems infinite. How could we understand the promise of us being like the stars?

5. In Toldos 26:5, Hashem tells Yitzchak that Avraham kept “My safeguards, My commandments, My edicts, and My Torahs”. Rashi explains them, respectively, as follows: “Rabbinic decrees, common-sense mitzvos, decrees, and Torah shel baal peh” Why is this the order that the Torah lists them in? Shouldn't the order be: mishpatim, chukim, torah shel baal peh, and then the rabbinic decrees?

6. Why was Yaakov suddenly worried that he was going to die in פרק כז : פסוק ז ?

7. What was special about Eisav's garment? Where did he get it from? Why wasn't he wearing it?

8. The Torah tells us that Yitzchakl became visually impaired. Rashi offers three possible causes of/reasons for this. The first is that he was affected by the smoke of avodah zarrah incense of Eisav's wives. If so, why wasn't Rivkah affected in the same way?

9. In פרק כז : פסוק יט Yaakov tells Yitzchak, “ אנכי עשו בכורך". How could he say this, isn't it lying? And even according to Rashi that Yaakov stuck in punctuation to make it truthful, still wasn't Yaakov really the bechor – he bought it from Eisav?

10. In פרק כח : פסוק ה Rashi writes, “I do not know what it teaches us”. Why does Rashi tell us this? Just say nothing?

11. There are four times throughout the parsha (in Rashi) where the Beis Medrash of Shem and Aver is mentioned. Two of these times it is refereed to as “Shem and Aver”. Another time, though, it is referred to only as “Shem”, whereas another time only by “Aver.” Why the differences?