‫ב”ה‬

‫פרשת תולדות תשס”ח‬ ‫שיחות רב עוזר‬

Insights into Torah and Halacha from Rav Ozer Glickman ‫שליט”א‬
‫ר”מ בישיבת רבנו יצחק אלחנן‬
Riding the Spanish Jitney with the Malbim
:‫הביאה לי ציד ועשה לי מטעמים ואכלה ואברככה לפני ה‘ לפני מותי‬
The Torah’s economy of language requires careful reading. This is the nature of Mikra: the text must be parsed because
every word and construction are laden with meaning. When ‫ רבי ישמעאל‬declared “‫“דברה תורה כלשון בני אדם‬, he did not deny that
the Torah is elliptical and fraught with levels of meaning, rather that its constructions and diction were intended to fall easily on
the human ear.
The reader who cherishes Torah as you do must pay careful attention to subtle shifts in language. Fortunately, we
need not rely solely on our ears desensitized by a culture that bombards us with words. The more immediate our ability to
communicate, the more we learn to devalue language.
Studying the parashah each week forces us to concentrate on the subtlety of language. Its words quietly in a still small
voice that offers us refuge from the torrential flood of beeping Blackberries and gargantuan Google searches. It is fine wine to
be savored unlike the whiskey of words that are written for cumulative effect.
I am sitting on a jitney barreling along Route 4 toward Manhattan trying to complete another aliya in my weekly
struggle with “‫“שנים מקרא ןאחד תרגום‬. As the driver talks on her cell phone and narrowly misses a truck changing lanes, I bury my
head in my sefer. As I whisper Rivka’s words to Yaakov, I notice a subtle shift in her version that I do not believe I have noticed
before. When Yitzchak Avinu sent the son he believed to be Eisav to the fields to hunt, he sought food that would elevate him
into the spirit of b’racha. In Rivka’s retelling, she emphasizes words that were only implicit in Yitzchak’s command: ‘‫לפני ה‬.
Why has the matriarch deviated from the explicit words of her husband? What has she accomplished by adding this
phrase? Surely Yitzchak did not believe that he himself was the source of b’racha. When we secure a b’racha from an elder, it is
not the personal benediction of the m’vareich we seek but his or her invocation of ha-Shem’s power to bless. So why has she
added this phrase?
The Spanish rock emanating from the speaker above my head has now completely faded from my ear. All I can hear is
the song of Torah and I struggle with its lyrics. For a minute, I sit and think hard while scouring Rashi and his m’forshim on the
page. I remember suddenly that Rashi, his band, and I are not riding alone. Deep in my satchel is the Malbim and I rush to pull
it out. We are alone on the jitney: Rivka, Yaakov, the Malbim, and me.
Everything becomes clear with the Malbim’s guidance. Yaakov Avinu was surely puzzled how he might benefit from a
b’racha given mistakenly by his father. Does the b’racha not require the full intention of the one who invokes it? In the telling,
Rivka lays bare the thought that was surely implicit in the words of her husband. The b’racha comes from Our Father, not the
human father who is only his agent.
The rest of the ride I sit and silent and meditate on the lesson of the Malbim. The man with the kipa talking loudly on
his cellphone does not disturb me as it does the other passengers. I begin to wonder if perhaps Yitzchak sent Eisav to the fields
because he found it difficult to participate in the b’racha that was Eisav’s right as b’chor. Did he need to submerge himself in his
son’s material gifts in order to forget his spiritual deficiencies?
Should this father sitting on a jitney stopped in the middle of the George Washington Bridge focus on the achievements
of each of his children and thereby learn to invoke ha-Shem’s b’racha from the depths of his own heart? Is perhaps the language
of the blessings I offer on their behalf meant to be heard not only by them but by me? I ponder my life and the lessons that
inform it from subtle shifts in the Torah I cherish.

‫שבת שלום‬
These sichos are published by students and admirers of Rav Ozer Glickman shlit”a. We may be reached at ravglickmanshiur@gmail.com.

This week’s sicha is in honor of Rav Glickman’s niece Dr. Aliza Weintraub Braverman and her
family in Memphis where Rav Glickman will be visiting this Shabbat.