Chayei Sara | Why Didn’t Avraham Bless Yitzchak?

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Introduction

At the end of Parashat Chayei-Sara, it is reported that Yitzchak inherited Avraham's position as God's chosen one:

And it came to pass after the death of Avraham, that God blessed Yitzchak his son; and Yitzchak dwelt by Be'er Lachai Ro'i. (Bereishit 25:11) 

The "technical" nature of this statement does not encourage the reader to devote special study to it. However, a careful reading of the verse reveals information that is far from trivial – and indeed, that is of great importance to the history of the nation.

Why Didn’t Avraham Bless Yitzchak Before He Died?

Let us consider the first piece of information: "And it came to pass after the death of Avraham, that God blessed Yitzchak his son." The blessing that a father gives his sons before he dies is one of the most charged issues in the patriarchal stories. The Torah devotes many verses to the story of the blessings that Yitzchak gave Yaakov and Esav (Bereishit 27-28:9), and even more to the blessings that Yaakov gave Yosef and the rest of his sons (Bereishit 48-49).

What about the blessings that Avraham gave his sons before he died? Surprisingly, there is no such story in the Torah; all we have is the above verse that ascribes the blessing of Yitzchak to God.[1]

From this verse, Chazal came to the conclusion that God blessed Yitzchak after his father's death because Avraham had failed to do so before he died:

The Holy One, blessed be He, said: In the past, I had to bless My creatures. I blessed the first man and his wife… I blessed Noach and his sons… I blessed Avraham… The Holy One, blessed be He, said: From now on, the blessings are handed over to you, as it is stated: "And be you a blessing" (Bereishit 12:2)… What did Avraham do? He had two sons, one righteous and one wicked, Yishmael and Yitzchak. Avraham said: If I bless Yitzchak, Yishmael will ask me to bless him, but he is wicked! Rather, I am of flesh and blood. After I depart from the world, the Holy One, blessed be He, will perform His will. When Avraham died, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to Yitzchak and blessed him, as it is stated: "And it came to pass after the death of Avraham, that God blessed Yitzchak his son." (Tanchuma [ed. Buber], Bamidbar, Naso 17 [p. 33])

According to the Tanchuma, Avraham feared that Yishmael (who is referred to here as "wicked") would also ask for a blessing, and therefore he refrained even from blessing Yitzchak.[2] However, this explanation is puzzling, for a dialogue had already taken place between Avraham and God about the blessing of Yishmael:

And Avraham said to God: Oh that Yishmael might live before You! And God said… And as for Yishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. (Bereishit 17:18-20) 

In fact, the blessing that God agreed to give Yishmael in the wake of Avraham's request is fulfilled in the verses that immediately follow the verse under discussion in our chapter:[3]

Now these are the generations of Yishmael, Avraham's son… these are the sons of Yishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments; twelve princes according to their nations. (Bereishit 25:12-16) 

We are left with the question: Why does the Torah tell us about the blessing that God gave to Yitzchak and not about any blessing that Avraham gave him?

Why Does Yitzchak Dwell in Be’er Lachai Ro’i?

The second piece of information in our verse, the name of Yitzchak's place of residence, is also surprising: "And Yitzchak dwelt by Be'er Lachai Ro'i" (Bereishit 25:11). It turns out that the place in which Yitzchak chooses to live after his father's death is not one of the places in which his father had lived, but rather a place connected to the story of the birth of his expelled brother, Yishmael![4]

It is easy to see that the story of Yishmael's birth hovers in the background of our chapter – implied not only by the fact that Be'er Lachai Ro'i is mentioned almost exclusively in these two stories,[5] but also by the very name of the well, which is so named because of the revelation of Yishmael’s imminent birth:

And she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, You are a God of seeing; for she said: Have I even here seen Him that sees Me? Therefore the well was called Be’er Lachai Ro’i. (Bereishit 16:13-14)

A look at the nearby verses indicates that the story of Yishmael's birth is indeed alluded to in our chapter:

Only in these two units is Hagar described with the words: "Egyptian" and "Sarai's handmaid," and the same is true of Yishmael's description as "Avraham's son, whom Hagar bore." Similarly, Shur is hardly ever mentioned outside of these two stories. And most importantly, our chapter tells how the angel's promise to Hagar, that Yishmael would dwell in the face of all his brothers, was fulfilled.[6]

Yitzhak's choosing to live in Be’er Lachai Ro’i, a place that is so strongly identified with Yishmael, is exceedingly puzzling. How can it be that Yitzchak chose to live so close to the brother who was expelled from the house of Avraham, immediately after his father’s death?![7]

Return to the Story of the Akeida

These perplexities lead us to a re-examination of the events recorded at the end of the previous parasha and throughout our parasha. If we go back to the story of the Akeida (Bereishit 22), we can see discern deep attachment between Avraham and Yitzchak as they went to Mount Moriya. This closeness is emphasized by their separation from the young men who had accompanied them, their use of the terms "my father" and "my son" when they speak to each other, and the repeated account of their joint journey to the site of the Akeida:[8]

And Avraham said to his young men: Abide you here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come back to you… and they went both of them together. And Yitzchak spoke to Avraham his father, and said: My father. And he said: Here am I, my son… So they went both of them together. (Bereishit 25:5-8) 

This, however, is the last time we find such closeness between them. The description of Avraham's praise at the highpoint of the Akeida already contains hints of separation:

And the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven, and said: Avraham, Avraham. And he said: Here am I. And he said: Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do you anything to him; for now I know that you are a God-fearing man, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me. (Bereishit 25:11-12) 

It is hard not to cringe in sorrow when one hears that Yitzchak, who at the beginning of the story was described with the words "your son, your only son, whom you love" (v. 2), is now described – after it became clear that Avraham was prepared to sacrifice him – only with the words "your son, your only son."[9]

We also find allusions in the journey back from the Akeida to the distance that was created between the father and son: "So Avraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together" (v. 19). Avraham's return to his young men is formulated in the singular, without expressly mentioning Yitzchak, and the repeated expression "and they went together" emphasizes the shift: it no longer relates to Avraham and Yitzchak, but rather to Avraham and his young men![10]

The Distance Between Avraham and Yitzchak at Sara’s Burial and At Yitzchak’s Marriage to Rivka

From the Akeida to Avraham’s death, there are few reports of encounters between Avraham and Yitzchak,[11] even where we might have expected they would be mentioned together and even when their separation causes awkwardness in the presentation of the narrative. Yitzchak is absent from the story of the death of Sara, and is not mentioned alongside his father in the mourning over his mother or even in the account of her burial.

Avraham’s absence is especially noticeable in the story of Yitzchak's marriage to Rivka, particularly in the last verses:

And Yitzchak came from the way of Be’er Lachai Ro’i; for he dwelt in the land of the South…  And Rivka lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Yitzchak, she alighted from the camel. And she said to the servant: What man is this that walks in the field to meet us? And the servant said: It is my master. And she took her veil, and covered herself. And the servant told Yitzchak all the things that he had done. And Yitzchak brought her into his mother Sara's tent, and took Rivka, and she became his wife; and he loved her. And Yitzchak was comforted for his mother. (Bereishit 24:62-67)

Several strange facts are reported here.[12] First, Rivka's meeting with Yitzchak is not conducted at his father's house, but rather when he returns home from a visit to Be’er Lachai Ro’i. But what could cause Yitzchak to visit that desert well? Is it possible that despite Yishmael's expulsion from Avraham's house, an expulsion that damaged the relationship between Avraham and Yishmael, Yitzchak continued to maintain a relationship with him?

Second, when Rivka asks: "What man is this that walks in the field to meet us," the servant replies: "It is my master" (v. 65). Throughout the story thus far, this designation was reserved for Avraham.[13] Furthermore, when the servant goes out to bring Rivka, he receives instructions only from Avraham "his master" (vv. 1-9), but when he returns with Rivka, he reports his experiences only to Yitzchak "his master" (vv. 65-66).[14]

Finally, Avraham's absence from the marriage story seems to be emphasized when Rivka is brought to the tent: "And Yitzchak brought her into his mother Sara's tent… And Yitzchak was comforted for his mother" (v. 67). Is it not surprising that the account of Yitzchak's marriage contains repeated references to his dead mother, but no reference to his living father, who actually organized the match? Perhaps this verse, which teaches that "Yitzchak mourned for three years,"[15] also fills in what the Torah left out in the story of Sara's death, which describes only the weeping and mourning of Avraham. 

In Avraham's final years, the Torah reports a kind of "encounter" between him and Yitzchak: 

And Avraham gave all that he had to Yitzchak. But to the sons of the concubines, that Avraham had, Avraham gave gifts; and he sent them away from Yitzchak his son, while he yet lived, eastward, to the east country. (Bereishit 25:5-6)

 This encounter, however, only indicates further separation between Avraham and his descendants. The sons of Avraham's concubines are also sent away, to fortify Yitzchak's status as sole heir.

The only time it is reported that Avraham united with two of his sons – the one he had been commanded to send away to the wilderness and the one he had been commanded to slay – is at his burial:

And Avraham expired, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. And Yitzchak and Yishmael his sons buried him. (Bereishit 25:8-9)  

That family unity, which is made possible only with the burial of Avraham, becomes more permanent after his death, when Yitzchak makes his way to Be’er Lachai Ro’i, the area where his "rejected" brother lived (in the verse with which we began our study). This time it is not just to visit, as he used to do during his father's lifetime, but for permanent residence.[16]

Why Didn’t Avraham Bless Yitzchak?

To better understand why Avraham himself did not bless Yitzchak, let us imagine what might have been said in that blessing. From what is written, "And it came to pass after the death of Avraham, that God blessed Yitzchak his son" (Bereishit 25:11), we can conclude only that God's blessing was given to Yitzchak after Avraham died. However, perhaps we can learn about the content of that blessing from what is related in Parashat Toldot. 

Parashat Toldot repeats an account of the marriage of Yitzchak and Rivka, which took place about thirty-five years before Avraham's death. We might, then, hope that God's blessing to Yitzchak after Avraham's death would also be repeated there in greater detail. Indeed, the story of Yitzchak in Gerar is the first story that relates to the death of Avraham. Avraham’s death is first alluded to implicitly: "And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Avraham" (Bereishit 26:1), and then explicitly:

Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Avraham his father, the Pelishtim had stopped them, and filled them with earth… And Yitzchak dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Avraham his father; for the Pelishtim had stopped them after the death of Avraham; and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. (Bereishit 26:15-18) 

Perhaps it is no coincidence that this story of “after the death of Avraham” is saturated with mentions of God's blessings to Yitzchak.[17] The first mention of God's blessing appears already at the beginning of the story: "And the Lord appeared to him, and said… Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you…" (Bereishit 26:2-3),[18] and the content of the blessing relates directly to God's words to Avraham after the Akeida:[19]

The similarity between the blessings leaves little room for doubt. God's blessing of Yitzchak is based on the story of the Akeida, and is spelled out in greater detail. Yitzchak receives God's oath precisely because of Avraham's willingness to offer him up to God, and he merits the blessing precisely because of his father's extreme loyalty. And if this blessing, which Yitzchak received after the death of Avraham, is the blessing he was supposed to receive from the outset, it is easy to understand why Avraham left it to God to give it to him.

The Real Cost of the Trials

The many trials by way of which God tested Avraham, beginning with prolonged infertility, do not end with the expulsion of Yishmael or the binding of Yitzchak, but only with Avraham's return to dust. The pain and yearnings of a father who is compelled to expel his son to the wilderness do not fade away with the knowledge that this is the will of God; certainly, the terrible moment in which a father is forced to take his son and reach out with a knife to his neck does not become erased from his memory when the angel cries out, "Lay not your hand upon the lad" (Bereishit 22:12). 

For Yitzchak, too, the Akeida did not end the moment his father removed the knife from his neck. Is there a cure for the pain of a child who suddenly realizes that in his father's world there is devotion that is even greater than his devotion to him? In the touching words of Naomi Shemer, in her song, "Akeidat Yitzchak": "Even if we live long and grow old, we will not forget that the knife was raised."

It turns out that part of the "infertility" trial of Avraham obliges him to sacrifice the natural love of a father for his sons on the altar of his great mission. He who was destined to be "the father of a multitude of nations" was not meant to be a father like all others. To merit his wide-ranging fatherhood, Avraham had to pay a terrible price – the sacrifice of his personal fatherhood.

(Translated by David Strauss)