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Why does the Torah (תורה) repeat Rivka's family lineage when praising her righteousness despite evil surroundings? The shiur develops that Rivka didn't just resist bad influences - she extracted the positive potential from her family's negative traits, like their cunning, and redirected these powers toward good. This explains how a tzaddik can actually benefit from encountering evil when properly channeled.
Rabbi Green begins by analyzing Rashi (רש"י)'s question on the opening of Parshas Toldos: Why does the Torah (תורה) repeat that Rivka was the daughter of Betuel and sister of Lavan from Paddan Aram, when this information was already provided in Parshas Chayei Sarah? Rashi answers that this repetition comes to praise Rivka - despite being the daughter of a wicked person, sister of a wicked person, and from a place full of wicked people, she did not learn from their actions. Several commentators offer different approaches to understanding this praise. The Mizrachi suggests that while we already knew Rivka was praiseworthy, the repetition teaches us that the Torah specifically wants to emphasize her praise. The Maralus explains that since Rivka was very young (three years old), we might think she didn't have sufficient understanding to be influenced by evil, so the repetition clarifies that she did have full awareness yet remained righteous.
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Parshas Toldos
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