by Rabbi Katz

In parsha Toldos, we encounter two fundamental themes: The Two Nations distressed in the womb of Rebecca, and the desire of Rebecca to seek council from Hashem, as to what she should do to calm herself with the turbulent pregnancy term that she is faced with.

“Two Nations are in your womb,” Hashem tells her. What the Torah does not come right out and explicitly say, is the agency of which Rebecca communicated with to inquire from God! The commentaries to the Torah inform the reader, that she went to the Academy of Shem and Ever, who with their Divine Inspiration were able to inform Rebecca of the true nature of her womb. This answers are question nicely, yet there is one problem: who does this formula equate to being in the presence of Hashem?!

When we were faced with the Torah Portion of Lech Lecha, and we encountered Shem / Malki Tzedek and Abraham, and their union on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, along with identifying Malki Tzedek as Shem, the ancient tradition also identified the presence of the Angel Michael, divinely associated within Shem! That although Abraham had met Shem, and to go along with the Rambam’s (famous medieval rabbi) vision of the reality of Angels, Michael was somehow visiting Abraham through the vehicle of the soul, that we call Shem; thus it was a double encounter of sorts for Abraham! It was again this sort of spiritual reality in the Parsha of Vayeira, when Abraham had seen the three visitors of his circumcision, which he was able to identify as three distinct Angels, and Michael again being one of them. Another point of continuity to connect the dots, is that it was Shem that had helped circumcise Abraham in the first place!

Now that we understand how Shem and his relationship with the Divine works, we can begin to look a little bit more closely as to how this works with Rebecca. When Rebecca approached the Academy of Shem and inquired of him, just being in the presence of Shem, is an elevation into the Heavenly Realm! Although they were all human and grounded on Earth, Shem has the ability to create a vehicle for Divine Intervention to function, even on this plane of existence! We see an example of this, when Jacob had chosen to make his son Levi a Priest of God. Jacob brought the child before Shem, and as the Midrash (Jewish Legend) tells us, again, Michael (and the Angel  Gabriel) had brought the baby before Hashem. That by being in the presence of Shem, Hashem had sent Michael into that channel, as a conduit of Heaven, and Levi, as  he was a Priest, had the same type of channel, however parallel to Shem and Michael, and therefore his conduit was through Gabriel. And thus this is considered as being brought before Hashem; through the Priestly Service in conjunction with the Heavenlyin conjunction with the Heavenly Temple.

With this now being clear, we can understand how Rebecca inquired of Hashem through Shem…as he functioned as a conduit to Heaven, allowing Hashem to intervene and help Rebecca: With Michael being the Angelic connection, while Shem functions as the Priest. It should be noted, Michael is the Angelic Priest parallel to the priesthood on Earth, however he serves in the Heavenly Temple! It is this same viewpoint of how Abraham received a circumcision with God’s help, yet it was Shem who was sent to offer assistance to Abraham…and yet remains not a contradiction! – Shem being the aide to Heaven’s intervention, through Michael’s service of God in the Heavenly Temple.

Lastly, we are faced with two brothers, two regimes that must find peace on Earth. Since we are on the topic of Priests and that of Levi, let’s look to Cain and Able; The original Priest / Levi and the original brotherhood.

Cain was the Levi that was to become like a Priest. Whereas Able was the Priest who was to realize that he came from Levi.

The Noahide Nations and the Jewish Nation functions in the same way. The Jewish Nation is called a Kingdom of Priests. The task of the Jewish Nation is to realize and incorporate, their roots, going back to Noah, but even more importantly to the Brotherhood between Abraham and Shem in their meeting in Jerusalem. The Third Temple will personify this for eternity.

The Noahide Nations then can operate as Cain – functioning as the Levi. Just as Cain, was created first, he must strive to reach that level of Priest – Which we know to be possible as the axiom in Leviticus implies: A Noahide who learns Torah can reach the status of High Priest!

This is the goal of true Brotherhood – Two Nations, as hinted at in this week’s Torah Portion. From being a Noahide, one can strive to dwell in Peace with his Jewish Brother. While from being Jewish, one can find the Brotherhood, of which he was created from. As this was the Goal of these two regimes in Rebecca’s womb had things gone right. Esau, has the same numerical value as Shalom / Peace…had Jacob merited to have been born directly as Israel. This was their task. This is the inquiry brought before Hashem: How to make this possible! And Shem functioned as the Priest of God to facilitate the Brotherhood that he helped create with Abraham!

Cain and Able made their mistakes. Jacob and Esau had their deficiencies. But it was Shem and Abraham who had shown us how to coexist in Peace as Brothers. This is why Rebecca may have turned to Hashem, but specifically she turned to Shem to find the Peace that she knew would satisfy the travails of her womb. History may have taken different twists and turns over the years…Yet even when things go wrong, such as the exile  from Jerusalem and Esau’s spurning the First Born Passage, the Torah has the ability to show us through example of how to right those wrongs.

It is for this reason, Rebecca seeks the guidance of Shem, and the Torah reminds us, that Isaac comes from Abraham, as an eternal statement that Brotherhood exists, is real, and is the foundation of two great regimes: The Noahide Nations and the Jewish People.

Rabbi David Katz

In this week’s Torah Portion, we encounter two fundamental themes: The Two Nations distressed in the womb of Rebecca, and the desire of Rebecca to seek council from Hashem, as to what she should do to calm herself with the turbulent pregnancy term that she is faced with.

“Two Nations are in your womb,” Hashem tells her. What the Torah does not come right out and explicitly say, is the agency of which Rebecca communicated with to inquire from God! The commentaries to the Torah inform the reader, that she went to the Academy of Shem and Ever, who with their Divine Inspiration were able to inform Rebecca of the true nature of her womb. This answers are question nicely, yet there is one problem: who does this formula equate to being in the presence of Hashem?!

When we were faced with the Torah Portion of Lech Lecha, and we encountered Shem / Malki Tzedek and Abraham, and their union on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, along with identifying Malki Tzedek as Shem, the ancient tradition also identified the presence of the Angel Michael, divinely associated within Shem! That although Abraham had met Shem, and to go along with the Rambam’s (famous medieval rabbi) vision of the reality of Angels, Michael was somehow visiting Abraham through the vehicle of the soul, that we call Shem; thus it was a double encounter of sorts for Abraham! It was again this sort of spiritual reality in the Parsha of Vayeira, when Abraham had seen the three visitors of his circumcision, which he was able to identify as three distinct Angels, and Michael again being one of them. Another point of continuity to connect the dots, is that it was Shem that had helped circumcise Abraham in the first place!

Now that we understand how Shem and his relationship with the Divine works, we can begin to look a little bit more closely as to how this works with Rebecca. When Rebecca approached the Academy of Shem and inquired of him, just being in the presence of Shem, is an elevation into the Heavenly Realm! Although they were all human and grounded on Earth, Shem has the ability to create a vehicle for Divine Intervention to function, even on this plane of existence! We see an example of this, when Jacob had chosen to make his son Levi a Priest of God. Jacob brought the child before Shem, and as the Midrash (Jewish Legend) tells us, again, Michael (and the Angel  Gabriel) had brought the baby before Hashem. That by being in the presence of Shem, Hashem had sent Michael into that channel, as a conduit of Heaven, and Levi, as  he was a Priest, had the same type of channel, however parallel to Shem and Michael, and therefore his conduit was through Gabriel. And thus this is considered as being brought before Hashem; through the Priestly Service in conjunction with the Heavenlyin conjunction with the Heavenly Temple.

With this now being clear, we can understand how Rebecca inquired of Hashem through Shem…as he functioned as a conduit to Heaven, allowing Hashem to intervene and help Rebecca: With Michael being the Angelic connection, while Shem functions as the Priest. It should be noted, Michael is the Angelic Priest parallel to the priesthood on Earth, however he serves in the Heavenly Temple! It is this same viewpoint of how Abraham received a circumcision with God’s help, yet it was Shem who was sent to offer assistance to Abraham…and yet remains not a contradiction! – Shem being the aide to Heaven’s intervention, through Michael’s service of God in the Heavenly Temple.

Lastly, we are faced with two brothers, two regimes that must find peace on Earth. Since we are on the topic of Priests and that of Levi, let’s look to Cain and Able; The original Priest / Levi and the original brotherhood.

Cain was the Levi that was to become like a Priest. Whereas Able was the Priest who was to realize that he came from Levi.

The Noahide Nations and the Jewish Nation functions in the same way. The Jewish Nation is called a Kingdom of Priests. The task of the Jewish Nation is to realize and incorporate, their roots, going back to Noah, but even more importantly to the Brotherhood between Abraham and Shem in their meeting in Jerusalem. The Third Temple will personify this for eternity.

The Noahide Nations then can operate as Cain – functioning as the Levi. Just as Cain, was created first, he must strive to reach that level of Priest – Which we know to be possible as the axiom in Leviticus implies: A Noahide who learns Torah can reach the status of High Priest!

This is the goal of true Brotherhood – Two Nations, as hinted at in this week’s Torah Portion. From being a Noahide, one can strive to dwell in Peace with his Jewish Brother. While from being Jewish, one can find the Brotherhood, of which he was created from. As this was the Goal of these two regimes in Rebecca’s womb had things gone right. Esau, has the same numerical value as Shalom / Peace…had Jacob merited to have been born directly as Israel. This was their task. This is the inquiry brought before Hashem: How to make this possible! And Shem functioned as the Priest of God to facilitate the Brotherhood that he helped create with Abraham!

Cain and Able made their mistakes. Jacob and Esau had their deficiencies. But it was Shem and Abraham who had shown us how to coexist in Peace as Brothers. This is why Rebecca may have turned to Hashem, but specifically she turned to Shem to find the Peace that she knew would satisfy the travails of her womb. History may have taken different twists and turns over the years…Yet even when things go wrong, such as the exile  from Jerusalem and Esau’s spurning the First Born Passage, the Torah has the ability to show us through example of how to right those wrongs.

It is for this reason, Rebecca seeks the guidance of Shem, and the Torah reminds us, that Isaac comes from Abraham, as an eternal statement that Brotherhood exists, is real, and is the foundation of two great regimes: The Noahide Nations and the Jewish People.

Rabbi David Katz