Reb Ginsbourg: "Rivkah went to inquire of Hashem"

 Rivkah went to inquire of Hashem"

The wondrous outcome of Rivkah's pregnancy, is that all that the nations create in this world, in the end result, is for the benefit of Bnei Israel, in their service of Hashem.

The Torah relates in our Parasha, the birth of Esav and Yaakov: (25:21-23) "Hashem allowed Himself to be entreated by’ Yitzchak," and his wife Rivkah conceived. The children struggled within her, and she said: ’If so, why am I thus? ‘. And she went to inquire of Hashem.

"And Hashem said to her: ’Two nations are in your womb; two regimes from your insides shall be separated; the might shall pass from one regime to the other, and the elder shall serve the younger’."

The Torah then relates: (25:24) ’When her term grew full, then behold! there were twins in her womb’.

Rashi comments on our psukim: ’Struggled’: This calls for a Midrashic interpretation, as it does not explain what this struggling was all about, and the Torah wrote:’If it be so, why am I like this?’

Our Rabbis interpreted it, as an expression of running. When she passed by the entrance of the Torah academies of Shem and Eber, Yaakov would run and struggle to come out; when she passed the entrance of a place of idolatory, Esav would run and struggle to come out.

‘If it be so’: that the pain of pregnancy is so great. ‘Why am I like this?: ’Why did I desire and pray to conceive?’

‘And she went to inquire’: to the academy of Shem.’

‘To inquire of the Lord’:’that He should tell her what would happen to her in the end.’

‘And the Lord said to her’: through a messenger. Shem was told through Divine Inspiration, and he told it to her.’

Two kingdoms will separate from your innards’:’from the womb they will be separated, this one to his wickedness, and this one to innocence’; ‘will become mightier than the other kingdom’:’They will not be equal in greatness: when one rises, the other will fall’.

Chezkuni - on this Rashi - as to the struggling within her, elucidates:’If so, the great pain of my pregnancy, better I die immediately, and not suffer further pregnancy pain.

‘And she went to inquire of Hashem’: to inquire from the prophetd, that lived in those days: what is this great struggling within her, as she knew that her period to give birth was not completed, and she was concerned lest she should lose the child.

‘And Hashem said to her’: to her by a messenger - some commentators say, that it was by Avraham, who was still alive then - who said to her - not to him, therefore he , Yitzchak -was unaware that Esav would be wicked.

‘Two nations are in your womb’: Do not fear if the pains of your pregnancy are great, as it this is because there are two nations within your womb, and greater are the pangs of pregnancy when there are two, than when there is only one.

‘The two will be separated from your womb’: Rashi commented:’This one to his wickedness, this one to his innocence’- we do not, at this point, know who will be the righteous one, and who the wicked - but as they grew, and Esav was one who knew hunting, a man of the field; but Yaakov was a wholesome man, abiding in tents.

‘The elder shall serve the younger’:Here it was decreed on Yaakov that he should be master over his brother.’

Rav David Pardo elucidates:’By a messenger’: As it is not respectful to the One Above, to suggest otherwise - more so, this raises a difficuly, as it then mentions the Name: ’And Hashem said to her’, seemingly in a way that does not seem respectful - therefore, Rashi expounds that it was in a respectful way, as it was via a messenger.’

Rav Moshe Sternbuch offers a different understanding, as to Rivkah’s inquiry: The Midrash - which Rashi brought - that the one would run and struggle to come out, when they passed by the entrance to the Torah academy, and the other one, likewise, but when they passed a place of idol worship - led Rivkah to have dread, that the child she bore, would be undecided, seeking houses of Torah study -yet, at the same time - also being attracted to houses of idol worship.

‘There is no-one worse than one who does this - vacillating between worshipping and serving idolatry- these deceivers being worse than even the errant Tzadukim, ‘performing the deeds of Zimri, and seeking the reward of a Pinchas.

To allay this concern, Hashem said to her: ’There are two nations inyour womb’: meaning: One will be attracted to the Torah academy, and the other to houses of idol worship.

Her mind was thus put at rest.

The Kli Yakar adds: Yaakov was certain - as he was a tzadik the son of a tzadik - that, from his side, any issue would be righteousbut was concerned regarding his wife - as she was the daughter of Betuel and the sister of Laban - that any seed coming from her, would be unworthy, as ‘she was barren’ - that the infertility was from her side.

He was therefore fearful lest impure seed should issue from her - just as Yishmael came from Hagar - and that, perhaps, this was the reason for her infertility.

Thus, when the sons struggled within her womb - one seeking to go out when at tthe entrance of the Torah academy, the other at the entrance to the house of idol worship - she felt with certainty that one would be righteous, and the other one, wicked.

She therefore said:’Why. am I thus?’, as I am like Hagar, and how am I any better than her - and why, then, did I entreat Hashem, to bear a child?

She therefore ‘went to inquire of Hashem: what purpose is there in my prayer?

Hashem answered her :’Two nations are in your womb’, they being Rebbie and Antonigus - and her prayer was helpful, that out of Esav also came righteous seed, like Antonigus and the rest of the righteous converts - which was not the case with Yishmael, and, in this regard, you are superior to Hagar.

Abarbanel - on the pasuk: ’She went to inquire of Hashem’ - expounds: Since she knew thar all that befell her was by Divine Providence, went to inquire from the one in charge, concerning the matter.

Rashi wrote that her inquiry was: ‘how will it end?’, snd that is the truth. Our sages said - that as she was not a prophetess - she went to inquire at the Torah academy of Shem and Eber, where she was told, in the name of Hashem: ’There are two nations in your womb’ - but it is more correct to say that she went to inquire from Avraham, who was still alive at that time, and who answered her in the words of Hashem:’Two nations are in your womb’, meaning: that there were twin fetuses in her womb.

It appears to me that the Torah informed that there were four factors in what she was undergoing.

The first, that there were two nations in her womb, meaning: that though they were the offspring of one father and one mother who were righteous - the children would not be so, but they would be differing in their natures, their faiths and their beliefs - as if they were from different nations, as if was from the east and the other from the west - which is why they were so different in every respect.

This is why they were ‘struggling’ in her womb, as they could not connect in the one place.

Second, ’two nations are in your womb’, meaning: do not think that one of these will be barren like his father and his grandfather, but, rather, that each would have prolific seed, each becoming nations, after their separation from the womb.

Third, ‘the might shall pass from one regime to another’, meaning: both, as well as having very different outlooks, will, in addition, will always be striving one against the other - never being at amity and peace with one another, as brothers - at times, one will have the upper hand, and at others, the other will triumph.

This is why they are now struggling in the womb, an allusion to what would occur in the future.

The fourth reason:’’the elder shall serve the younger’:, meaning: in additon to the other reasons, there will be another good reason for the enmity between these two nations, it being that the elder will be subservient to the younger - the opposite of the appropriate order of things - and therefore the older will struggle to be free of his subservience, and to overcome the younger - minded in the natural order of things -whilst the younger will strive to retain the rule he has been given by Divine Providence.’

Rav Pinchas Friedman expounds:’In asking::’If so, why am I?’, Rivkah was asking two questions: One: Why did Hashem cause that I should give birth to a wicked son::Esav? - and two: Why did Hashem cause that Yaakov and Esav be twins, whilst Yaakov is the root of sanctity, from whom all of Israel derive, whilst Esav is the root of impurity, from whom all the nations derive?

She therefore ‘went to inquire of Hashem’, to enlighten her, to understand the matter.

How does Hashem’s answer:’Two nations are in your womb’, address her question:’If so, why am I?’

To answer this, let us recall the Mishnah in Avot:’’All that Hashem created in this world, He created for His honor’ - how, then, can we understand this, when the will of the nations is the very opposite of the Will of Hashem?

Rambam gives us the key to this, saying: ’The purpose of Creation, is that man should attain מושכלות: understanding, in Torah and in service of Hashem - for these righteous men who are engaged in this noble pursuit, there is a need for the ‘lesser’ ones, to provide their needs, so that they are free to engage in the holy Torah.

This can be seen in Hashem’s mockery (Avoda Zara 2.) of the claims of the nations - that all they did, was to enable Bnei Israel to better engage in Torah and mitzvot, by building bath- houses and markets; Hashem mocks their ‘claimed virtue’, responding that they did not do this for the benefit of Bnei Israel, but solely to extort money from them, for the use of these facilities.

‘Rav Tzadok Hakohen beautifully relates this to the saying of the Rambam: Whilst this was far from their intention, Bnei Israel were better able to engage in their Torah studies, because of these amenities which were provided by the nations.

From this insight, we can glean Hashem’s answer to Rivkah’s query: Esav had to be created, to fulfill the blessing:’The elder shall serve the younger’: Yaakov, by unwillingly assisting him to engage in his holy endeavors.

Despite his great hatred for Yaakov, Esav - from whom all they did nations would descend - will, unwittingly andunwillingly assist the sons of Yaakov, to engage in an appropriate manner, in their Torah studies.

The wondrous outcome of all this, is that all that the nations create in this world, in the end result, is for the benefit of Bnei Israel, in their service of Hashem.

A parting gem from the Maharal: Why did Rivkah go to the Torah academy, to ‘inquire of Hashem’, and did not inquire of her holy husband - Yitzchak - or her revered father-in-law, Avraham - surely they were able to relay to her, Hashem’s answer, to her query!

Answer: In her humility, Rivkah surmised that her transgressions were the cause of the pain of her pregnancy, knowing the tradition - from that which was said by our Sages, regarding Leah, that the righteous women do not have pain in giving birth.

Rivkah therefore surmised that her pregnancy pangs, were a sign that she was not righteous, and therefore was careful not to make her husband and her father-in-law, aware of them, lest they consider her - unlike their present view of her - not to be righteous, and to thereby hold her in lower esteem, even leading Avraham to consider her an unworthy wife for Yitzchak, and to counsel him to divorce her.

She therefore went to the Torah academy of Shem, with her inquiry.’

לרפואת נועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/418145