Make Me Like Dust

Our parashah begins with Jacob leaving Beersheba and setting out toward Paddan-aram in order to search for a bride from among Abraham’s family. On the way, however, he spends the night in Luz, a city he ends up calling “Bethel,” which means, “House of God.” During the night Hashem appears to Jacob in a dream. He sees angels ascending and descending on a ladder extending into heaven. In this dream the LORD appears to Jacob and makes him a promise. As part of that promise He tells Jacob:

Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 28:14)

The first phrase of this passage says, “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth.” Without the additional context it doesn’t sound too appealing. Who wants to be like dust? Isn’t dust the lowest, most debased thing on earth? Isn’t our return to dust an inevitable future for all living creatures? Echoing Genesis 3:19, Ecclesiastes 3:20 tells us, “All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.” Within the context, however, we find that being like dust is truly a blessing, since dust symbolizes an incalculable multiplication of Jacob’s offspring.

The Prayer of the Righteous

Parashat Toldot is essentially the story explaining how Jacob ended up receiving the birthright in place of his brother, Esau. At the very beginning of the story, however, Isaac and Rebecca have no children. Like, her mother-in-law, Sarah, Rebecca is barren. Just a few chapters over we also see that Rachel, the favored wife of Jacob, is also barren. All three of the matriarchs struggle with fertility, but yet all three eventually are able to conceive. Why is it that all three of these godly families struggled in this way? The Talmud proposes that it was because the LORD desired their prayers:

R. Isaac stated: Why were our ancestors barren? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, longs to hear the prayer of the righteous. (Yevamot 64a)

Is this truly the case? In Genesis 25:21 we read, “And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” In Hebrew, the words “prayed” and “granted his prayer” use two different forms of the same root word (atar) that has the general meaning of pleading or supplicating. The way it is used in the second part of this passage, however, seems to be less passive than our English translations generally render it. Rashi suggests that it should read, “and he prevailed on the LORD,” commenting, “He (God) allowed Himself to be entreated and placated and swayed by him.”

The midrash suggests that Isaac’s entreatment “dug through” to Hashem and compelled Him to act on his behalf. It uses a play on words to compare the entreatment of Isaac to a prince digging a tunnel to his father. From this perspective, Isaac’s prayers were not only answered by Hashem, but they were also aided by Him: