Dvar Torah- Toldot

This week’s portion focuses on the adventures of Isaac- mostly, but not entirely, on his two sons Jacob and Esau and his troubled relationship with them.

But before Jacob and Esau are even born, Isaac has a run-in with the Canaanites or two.  One of those run-ins involves his wife.  Due to a famine, Isaac moves to the town of Gerar- just as Abraham had some years earlier.  And just as Abraham had told the residents of Gerar that his wife Sarah was really his sister (Gen. 20), Isaac tells them that Rebekah is his sister (Gen. 26).   And just as the king of Gerar discovers the truth about Abraham and Sarah before laying hands on Sarah in an inappropriate manner, the king of Gerar similarly discovers the truth about Rebekah and Isaac.

Sarna notes, however, a major difference between the stories.  In the first story, the king takes Sarah and keeps his hands to himself only due to supernatural intervention.  In the second story, no one messes with Rebekah; the king sees Isaac “fondling” her and that is enough to persuade him that they are really man and wife.  So no one does anything even remotely naughty.

How come?  Perhaps the second story is there to tell us that Abraham has somehow been a good influence, such that the Canaanites’ sexual mores at least temporarily improve.  Or maybe they now think that if a stranger claims to be traveling with his sister, they had better investigate to make sure the relationship is really not husband and wife (having been fooled once by Abraham).

Even if this is the case, why don’t Sarah and Rebekah just say “no” to the Canaanites, regardless of their claimed relationships to their husband? Wouldn’t that be much simpler?

Perhaps the story is there to remind us how backwards the Canaanites still are (even if they are less bad than a generation earlier).  If you assume for the sake of argument that they are not interested in Sarah’s consent or lack thereof, they still view women as property of their husbands and fathers.  Thus, rape of a woman not attached to a husband or father is no more a crime than picking up a lost coin in the street.  And maybe this is the sin for which God expels them from the land.

On the other hand, the Canaanites might not have thought this way at all, in which case the patriarchs/matriarchs are just being xenophobic.  (Though if  they know what we readers know about Sodom, these sort of fears are understandable).