What we learn from these verses, is that it took 20 years of marriage for Yitzchak and Rivkah to have children. And furthermore, it required intense prayer by Yitzchak to bring this about.וַיְהִי יִצְחָק, בֶּן-אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה, בְּקַחְתּוֹ אֶת-רִבְקָה בַּת-בְּתוּאֵל הָאֲרַמִּי, מִפַּדַּן אֲרָם--אֲחוֹת לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי, לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה: וַיֶּעְתַּר יִצְחָק לַיהוָה לְנֹכַח אִשְׁתּוֹ, כִּי עֲקָרָה הִוא; וַיֵּעָתֶר לוֹ יְהוָה, וַתַּהַר רִבְקָה אִשְׁתּו: ֹ... וְאַחֲרֵי-כֵן יָצָא אָחִיו, וְיָדוֹ אֹחֶזֶת בַּעֲקֵב עֵשָׂו, וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ, יַעֲקֹב; וְיִצְחָק בֶּן-שִׁשִּׁים שָׁנָה, בְּלֶדֶת אֹתָם.
And Yitzchak was 40 years old when he took Rivkah, daughter of Besuel the Aramite, from Padan Aram, sister of Lavan the Aramite, as his wife. And Yitzchak pleaded to Hashem in the presence of his wife, because she was barren, and Hashem accepted his pleas, and Rivkah his wife conceived. … Afterwards his brother came out, and his hand grasped Esav’s heel, and they called his name “Yaakov”, and Yitzchak was 60 years old when they were born.
Genesis 25:20-21, 26
It is necessary to have some background to understand what is really happening in these verses. Taking a look back to parshas Lech L’cha, we see that Avraham and Sarah were also barren. However, their path to having children was quite different:
We see that, when Sarah was unable to conceive Avram took another wife, instead of praying, as Yitzchok did. (Or if he prayed, the Torah does not mention it, perhaps because it was not successful.) Rashi explains as follows:וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרַי אֶל-אַבְרָם, הִנֵּה-נָא עֲצָרַנִי יְהוָה מִלֶּדֶת--בֹּא-נָא אֶל-שִׁפְחָתִי, אוּלַי אִבָּנֶה מִמֶּנָּה; וַיִּשְׁמַע אַבְרָם, לְקוֹל שָׂרָי. וַתִּקַּח שָׂרַי אֵשֶׁת-אַבְרָם, אֶת-הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית שִׁפְחָתָהּ, מִקֵּץ עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים, לְשֶׁבֶת אַבְרָם בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן; וַתִּתֵּן אֹתָהּ לְאַבְרָם אִישָׁהּ, לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה.
And Sarai said to Avram, behold Hashem has prevented me from giving birth. Please go to my maidservant, perhaps I will be built up through her. And Avram heeded Sarai’s voice. And after Avram’s dwelling in Canaan for 10 years, Sarai, the wife of Avram, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maidservant, and gave her to Avram her husband, as a wife.
Genesis 16:2-3
רש”יאוּלַי אִבָּנֶה מִמֶּנָּה: בזכות שאכניס צרתי לתוך ביתי.מִקֵּץ עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים: מועד הקבוע לאשה ששהתה עשר שנים ולא ילדה לבעלה חייב לישא אחרת.
Rashi:
Perhaps I will be built up through her: in the merit that I am bringing in my antagonist (i.e. a second wife) into my house.
At the end of ten years: this is the period of time fixed for a woman, who has been unable to give birth to her husband after ten years, (he) is required to marry another.
Rashi is bringing his second comment from the Mishnah/Gemara in Yevamos 64a, and is letting us know the halakhah as stated there:
משנה:נשא אשה ושהה עמה עשר שנים ולא ילדה אינו רשאי לבטל...גמרא:אע”פ שאין ראיה לדבר זכר לדבר “מקיץ עשר שנים לשבת אברן בארץ כנען”
Mishnah:
A man who married a woman and waited with her 10 years and she did not give birth, he is not permitted to abstain (from the mitzvah of procreation).
Gemara:
Even though there is no proof to the thing, there is a mention of it, “And after Avram’s dwelling in Canaan for 10 years...”
The Mishnah and Gemara are teaching that the commandment (mitzvah) of procreation has a specific time period associated with it. If a couple has not given birth after 10 years, the man is required to take a second wife (or divorce the first wife and remarry) in order to try again to fulfill the mitzvah. (The wife is also permitted to remarry, as noted in the continuation of the Mishnah). The 10 year time limit is learned from the passage in Genesis about Avram, Sarai and Hagar.
So we see that the mitzvah of procreation is so important (see Parshas Noach), that a man (and woman) must take extraordinary action to fulfill that mitzvah, as Avraham and Sarah did. (In our times, we do not strictly follow this halakhah). And Sarah entertains the hope that, on account of her selfless action to enable Avraham to fulfill the mitzvah, as well as her acceptance of the suffering she will inevitably feel by bringing a second wife into the home, that she herself will merit to bear children in the future.
Now that we know the halakhah, and what Avraham and Sarah did to fulfill it, we have to question Yitzchok’s behavior. Why did he wait twenty years, instead of ten (as seems to be required), before taking action? Also, why didn’t he take a second wife as Avraham did? Rashi brings answers to both questions:
רש”י:בן ששים שנה: י’ שנים משנשא עד שנעשית בת י’”ג שנה וראויה להריון וי’ שנה הללו והמתין לה כמו שעשה אביו לשרה כיון שלא נתעברה טדע שהיא עקרה והתפלל עליה ושפחה לא רצה לישא לפי שנתקדש בהר המוריה לעלה תמימה.
Rashi:
Sixty years old: 10 years (elapsed) from the time he married her (when she was three) until she was thirteen years old and able to conceive. And these (next) 10 years he waited for her as his father waited for Sarah. Once he saw that she did not become pregnant, he knew she was barren and he prayed on her behalf. And he did not want to marry a maidservant because he had been sanctified at Mount Moriah as a pure elevation offering.
So in essence, Yitzchok only waited the requisite ten years. And because of his unique level of sanctity, marriage to a lesser woman was not an option. Therefore he pleaded intensely to G-d, that they should merit to have children.
The Ohr HaChaim makes an interesting clarification of Yitzchok’s act of prayer:
ויעתר לו וגו’: טעם שלא אמר וידע יצהק את וגו’ כאומרו והאדם ידע וידע אלקנה וגו’ אולי היתה התפילה אחר שידע תוך שלושה ימים הריאשונים כאומרם ז”ל שלושה ימים הריאשונים יתפלל אדם שלא יסריח זו היתה תפילתו של יצחק(ברכות ס:א) .
And Hashem accepted his pleas, etc: The reason that (the Torah) did not say “and Yitzchok knew (his wife)” the way it said “And the man knew (Eve his wife)” (and also in the story of Chana) “and Elkanah knew (Hannah his wife)”, is perhaps because Yitzchok’s prayer was after he knew (her) and within the first three days (of intimacy), following the dictate of our sages of blessed memory: “The first three days, a man should pray that (his seed) should not spoil (Berachos: 60a)” - (perhaps) this was the prayer of Yitzchok.To make the logic of the Ohr HaChaim’s statement explicit, he is saying that we would expect the Torah to first narrate that Yitzchok prayed, then was intimate with Rivkah, and then she conceived. He bases this assumption on how the Torah narrates the genealogy of many other figures in the Torah.
But this comment raises several questions. The first is: since the other forefathers (and foremothers) (avos), had difficulty bearing children, wouldn’t it be more logical to compare Yitzchok with them, rather than with Adam HaRishon and Elkanah? For example with Avraham and Sarah:
וַיהוָה פָּקַד אֶת-שָׂרָה, כַּאֲשֶׁר אָמָר; וַיַּעַשׂ יְהוָה לְשָׂרָה, כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר. וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד שָׂרָה לְאַבְרָהָם בֵּן, לִזְקֻנָיו, לַמּוֹעֵד, אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר אֹתוֹ אֱלֹהִים.
And the LORD remembered Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as He had spoken. And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Genesis 21:1-2
And with Yaakov and Rachel:
In narrating the procreation of the other avos, the Torah never uses the the word וידע (and he knew). So this raises a difficulty with the Ohr HaChaim’s initial premise. I think, that this difficulty is possibly the reason why he uses the word אולי (perhaps) in his comment. It is as if to acknowledge that since the word וידע was not used with any of the other avos, the basis of his interpretation is not so strong.וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-רָחֵל; וַיִּשְׁמַע אֵלֶיהָ אֱלֹהִים, וַיִּפְתַּח אֶת-רַחְמָהּ. וַתַּהַר, וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן; וַתֹּאמֶר, אָסַף אֱלֹהִים אֶת-חֶרְפָּתִי. בראשית ל:כב-כגAnd G-d remember Rachel, and G-d heeded her, and opened her womb. And she conceived and gave birth to a son. And she said, G-d has collected my shame.
The second question on the Ohr HaChaim is: of all the people in the Torah to bring as examples for how the Torah should have narrated the story of Yitzchok and Rachel, why did he select Adam HaRishon and Elkanah?
Perhaps we can say in answer to this last question, that he selected Adam HaRishon, because he was the first person in Torah to whom the mitzvah of procreation was commanded, and therefore serves as an archetype for how the Torah mentions this. Although there are many other in Genesis about whom the Torah says וידע, Ohr HaChaim skips to the Book of Samuel for his next example, Elkanah. Perhaps the reason for this is because the story of Elkanah and Chana is the most analogous toYitzchok and Rachel, meaning, that it was a direct result of Chana’s prayer that she conceived and gave birth.
It seems that the Ohr HaChaim is very focused on the fact that the verse states: “and Hashem accepted his pleas, and Rivkah his wife conceived”. It moves directly from Yitzchok’s prayer to conception, as if the step of being intimate was skipped. This would also explain why he mentions that the prayer was within three days, since we know that the seed only maintains its life giving potential for three days. We see this from Exodus:
וַיֹּאמֶר, אֶל-הָעָם, הֱיוּ נְכֹנִים, לִשְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים: אַל-תִּגְּשׁוּ, אֶל-אִשָּׁה.שמות י”ט:טורש”י: …אבל מי ששהתה ג’ ימים, כבר הזרע מסריח ואינו ראוי להזריע...
And he (Moshe) said to the nation, prepare yourselves for three days, do not touch your wives.
Exodus 19:15
Rashi: but whomever has waited 3 days, the seed has already spoiled and is no longer fit to cause conception.
I don’t know all the reasons why the Ohr HaChaim is moved to this interpretation. If we assume that Yitzchok (and Rachel) have been praying for children since early on in their marriage, perhaps, he is making us aware that Yitzchok’s prayers were very specific and timed. Or perhaps the Ohr HaChaim is implying that until the ten year maximum waiting period had elapsed, Yitzchok relied only on natural efforts to fulfill the mitzvah of procreation. But once he had reached the limit he began to pray. And the time of that first prayer was after their last time of intimacy.
If we take this last explanation, we can perhaps see this as another example of Yitzchok’s gevurah (strength) in following mitzvahs. Meaning, the very day when the tenth year had ended, he stood up in intense prayer, with no further delay. And this happened to be within the specific period of time mentioned by the Ohr HaChaim, which explains why the verse in the Torah moves directly from prayer to conception.
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