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Why does Rivka tell Yaakov to flee to Charan while Yitzchok instructs him to go to Padan Aram to marry? The transcript analyzes the tension between Yaakov fulfilling his mother's directive to escape from Esav and his father's command to find a wife. The shiur explores why Esav's mere intent to kill makes Yaakov already "dead" in his eyes—introducing the principle that a goy's evil intention (machshava ra'ah) is treated as an accomplished act—and how Yaakov stayed twenty-two years away, ostensibly for marriage but actually in hiding.
This shiur provides an in-depth analysis of Parshas Toldos, focusing on the seemingly contradictory reasons Yaakov left Eretz Yisrael and the redundancies and tensions within the pesukim describing his departure. After Yaakov receives Yitzchok's blessings, Esav vows to kill him after their father dies. Rivka learns of this threat and tells Yaakov to flee (barach) to her brother Lavan in Charan, to hide there "a few days" until Esav's anger subsides. Yet Rivka then tells Yitzchok that she is disgusted with the local Canaanite women and cannot bear the thought of Yaakov marrying one of them. Yitzchok responds by commanding Yaakov to go to Padan Aram—a much broader region encompassing Aram Naharaim and Aram Tzovah—to marry one of Lavan's daughters, and he blesses Yaakov with the blessings of Avrohom. The shiur identifies multiple textual anomalies. The Torah (תורה) says Yitzchok sent Yaakov to Padan Aram, then repeats that Yaakov went to Padan Aram, and then has Esav observing these events in a seemingly redundant sequence. Furthermore, why does Rivka send Yaakov to the specific city of Charan if he is supposed to disappear and hide, while Yitzchok sends him to the vast territory of Padan Aram if he is supposed to find a specific bride? The logic seems reversed: one flees to a large, unspecified area to get lost, but one goes to a particular place to accomplish a specific mission like marriage. Yet the pesukim place the specific destination (Charan) with the escape motive and the general destination (Padan Aram) with the marriage motive.
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Bereishis 27:41–28:7 (Parshas Toldos)
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