Parashat Toldot, rishon. The first pasuk begins: וְאֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת יִצְחָק בֶּן אַבְרָהָם אַבְרָהָם הוֹלִיד אֶת יִצְחָק. Yitzchak the son of Avraham, Avraham fathered Yitzchak: a repetition. Why the repetition? Rashi says: לְפִי שֶׁהָיוּ לֵיצָנֵי הַדּוֹר אוֹמְרִים מֵאֲבִימֶלֶךְ נִתְעַבְּרָה שָׂרָה, שֶׁהֲרֵי כַּמָּה שָׁנִים שָׁהֲתָה עִם אַבְרָהָם וְלֹא נִתְעַבְּרָה הֵימֶנּוּ; מֶה עָשָׂה הַקָּבָּ”ה? צָר קְלַסְתֵּר פָּנָיו שֶׁל יִצְחָק דּוֹמֶה לְאַבְרָהָם. There were people making fun, saying that obviously Yitzchak came from Avimelech and not from Avraham Avinu, since Sarah lived with Avraham so many years without a child, and now, after she was taken by Avimelech, she has a child. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu made Yitzchak’s face exactly identical to Avraham Avinu’s.
Question: who cares? Sarah Imeinu cares; Avraham Avinu cares. And another question: why call them leitzanei hador, the scoffers of the generation? What they say makes a lot of sense: for so many years Avraham Avinu had no child, and then Sarah is with Avimelech and has a child. What is the problem here?
The Torah wants to make sure there will be no scoffing in the future. That is why Hakadosh Baruch Hu made Yitzchak’s face exactly identical to Avraham Avinu’s: not for Yitzchak, not for Sarah, and not for Avraham, but for Am Yisrael. So that in the future no one would doubt that the torch handed from Avraham to Yitzchak and on to Klal Yisrael is truly Avraham Avinu’s, that this is exactly who we are.
They were only leitzanei hador, scoffers making fun of things, and still Hakadosh Baruch Hu cared that even their rumors not spread, because they might catch on later and ruin the name of Am Yisrael.
Based on Rabbi Shay Tahan’s class “Toldot. Shnayim Yomi. A Nation Is Created” (Parashat Toldot): watch the class.
