A Matchless Match

We saw last week how Rivka began to take the place of Sarah in her tent and in the heart of Yitzchak. Of all the marriages of our patriarchs and matriarchs, the marriage of Yitzchak and Rivka is unique in that neither of them ever took another partner. The classical commentators note that the Torah relates the age of Yitzchak upon marrying Rivka, and that he is the only one about whom this detail is related. The Ohr HaChaim looks at this verse (Bereishit 28:20) in its entirety to shed light on the extraordinary merit of Yitzchak and Rivka.

First he points out that the Torah tells us Yitzchak’s age, as noted, when he took Rivka to be his wife. This means that Yitzchak waited patiently to meet his true soulmate, even though he was forty years old before he encountered her. When he took her, she became his wife, the only one that was ever suitable or matched to him – and because of his purity and holiness, the only woman he ever loved.

Regarding Rivka, the Torah tells us of her superior character too. We learn information that seems extraneous: the name of her father as well as her brother, and the fact that she comes from Padan Aram. The Ohr HaChaim explains that this is all a testament to the righteousness of Rivka. She came from a family of wicked people, she grew up in a wicked city, but she herself was worthy of marrying the greatest tzaddik of her generation.

Rivka’s righteousness in spite of her origins is noteworthy, but the Sages also point out that when it was necessary to pray for Hashem to open her womb, the Torah tells us that Hashem was moved by the prayers of Yitzchak. One reason commonly given for this is that Yitzchak was the son of tzaddikim so ultimately his prayers were more efficacious. Rav Kook, in a fragment from his notebooks, explains the mechanism by which this happens. In doing so, he also draws attention to the righteousness of Rivka and the power of the tzaddik to bring about desired outcomes through prayer. Rav Kook explains that true prayer is a manifestation of the inner qualities of the one who prays. He says that one can only truly elicit a Divine response of goodness if one’s own goodness is fully refined and perfected. Thus the tzaddik who is born of tzaddikim is more purely good and more able to awaken Hashem’s will to do good.

But in Rivka we also see later in life a much greater sophistication and understanding of human nature that allows her to see the true nature of Esav much more clearly than Yitzchak can. It’s interesting in light of our previous observations that Rivka opposes Yitzchak’s express will in this episode, but we don’t ever see Yitzchak rebuke or even question her. Yitzchak seems to immediately acquiesce to what he must realize is the greater wisdom and judgment of his wife where matters of understanding human nature are concerned.

Ultimately, through their union, Yitzchak and Rivka become more powerful than either could hope to be alone. Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzera points out that Yitzchak marrying at forty means that following the well-known verse in Pirkei Avot, he had achieved “understanding.” (Avot 5:21). Understanding is one of the “feminine” attributes associated with Hashem’s presence, so Rivka was a suitable match for Yitzchak at this time in his life, and at this point in history, when it was necessary for this understanding which is the basis of prophecy to also be harnessed as the precursor for the birth of Yaakov Avinu. This was only made possible by matching Yitzchak’s understanding with the understanding that was innate in Rivka, even at a much younger age.

Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzera also examines the numerical values of the names Yitzchak and Rivka as well as the vowels in each, and he matches these with different permutations of the Divine Name, concluding that with both of the names joined, the true power of the Divine is manifest in the world, and this synthesis of blessing and mercy is also mediated through the unified personhood of Yitzchak and Rivka who embody it. He explains too that the numerical value of the combined names, Yitzchak and Rivka, is equal to the Hebrew word yeshara, meaning straight or upright. The righteous walk upright in the service of Hashem, and when Yitzchak and Rivka cooperated and worked together toward a common purpose, they were found to be blameless and praiseworthy in the eyes of Hashem.

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