Toldot
How can the possibility of a new life be born?
Reflection by Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels, Founder of Or HaLev:
"At the beginning of parshat Toldot, we meet the following verse:
וַיֶּעְתַּר יִצְחָק לַה' לְנֹכַח אִשְׁתּוֹ, כִּי עֲקָרָה הִוא; וַיֵּעָתֶר לוֹ ה', וַתַּהַר רִבְקָה אִשְׁתּוֹ.
Isaac pleaded with God on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and God responded to him, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
The word ‘pleaded’ and the word ‘responded’ in this verse are in fact the exact same word (VaYe'TaR / VaYe'aTeR - VY'TR - the same Hebrew letters, though with different vowels, according to the tradition). Isaac VY'TR/reaches out to God and God VY'TR/reaches out to Isaac.
The word ‘on behalf’ (nochah) could also be translated as ‘present’.
So we could essentially read this verse as, 'Isaac connects with God in presence with his wife, and God connects to Isaac' which all results in pregnancy, in the generation of a new life, a new possibility.
We reach out in presence, and what we offer is mirrored back to us. We share our deep yearning and that deep yearning has the possibility of manifesting. Meir ibn Gabai describes our relationship with the divine as meant to be like the sympathetic vibration of attuned strings. One is struck and the other vibrates. On one level, we want to align ourselves with the divine vibration, to allow the Divine to move through us and to move us in how we show up in the world. On another level, we want our deep and beautiful intentions and passions to be mirrored in the world, for the world to resonate with our desire for the good, for creation, for life.
We are in a time of terrible suffering, fear, uncertainty and confusion. I know it is all too easy to be lost in the fear, the worry, the pain of what has happened and the terror of what might happen. Our parsha invites us to be present with our deep intention and be present with each other. To reach out to the divine and name how we want the world to be, however impossible that might seem. To connect, plead, and demand that the world manifest in a different way. It may be totally unclear how that could be possible. It may seem impossible. But if we name it, maybe something starts to gestate. Maybe the possibility of a new life, a new way is born. Maybe the world can resonate with our call. Maybe, in presence with others, the call can be heard and the beginnings of the birth of a new possibility emerge. May it be so."