Toldot: Sowing in the Unity of Love

In previous commentaries on this portion of the Torah we referred to the endeavor of integrating all aspects of consciousness in a harmonized and functioning unity. This is the underlying and resounding message of Toldot from beginning to end.

“And Isaac prayed to the Lord opposite his wife because she was barren, and the Lord accepted his prayer, and Rebecca his wife conceived.” (Genesis 25:21)

This is another dimension of the unity we discussed earlier. Isaac and Rebecca prayed together and united in order to relate and communicate with their Creator, from whom all comes. We also mentioned in one of our videos in Spanish (www.youtube.com/dioscomoamor) that prayer is the means to connect and unite with God. Through prayer we allow Him to nurture all dimensions of consciousness and guide them into His service, which is to manifest His presence as the blessing of His love in the material world.

We also said that Isaac and Rebecca represent two aspects of Israel's identity. Isaac is the spiritual expression as the bond with God, and Rebecca is the material expression of this bond. They both are a harmonized and functioning unity that God hears and accepts as part of our bond with Him.

In this unified awareness we reveal light out of darkness as Isaac did by digging deep into the darkness of the material world to find the living waters that nurture us to manifest the goodness of God's blessings.

“And Isaac again dug the wells of water which they had dug in the days of his father Abraham, and the Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham's death; and he gave them names like the names that his father had given them. And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and they found there a well of living waters.” (26:18-19)

In this process the darkness of ego's desires, fantasies and illusions look forward to feed themselves with the Source of all life.

“And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds, saying, 'The water is ours'; so he named the well Esek, because they had contended with him. And they dug another well, and they quarreled about it also; so he named it Sitnah.” (26:20-21)

The Torah tells us that there were “contending” and “quarreling” as confrontation of opposed principles. However, these two quarrels ended with a third well dug by Isaac.

“And he moved away from there, and he dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehobot, and he said, 'For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land'.” (26:22)

Our sages explain that the first two wells represent the destruction of the first and second temples of Jerusalem, and the third well represents the construction of third and final Temple.

This construction takes place “away from there” where dispute, quarrel and harassment dwell. We often quote our sages on this issue, saying that the first temple was destroyed due to idolatry, incest and murder; the second temple destroyed by uncalled for hatred; and the third temple will be built on uncalled for love.

We equate this to what king David and our sages say regarding the world: “the world is built on loving kindness” (Psalms 89:2) and “The world stands on three things: Torah, the service of God, and deeds of loving kindness” (Pirkei Avot 1:2), because the Torah instructs us to serve God with loving kindness.

Love is the room that God made for us, and in its ways and attributes we become fruitful and multiply. Love is the land where we expand the positive aspects of our consciousness. This is the eternal dimension of the third temple of Jerusalem that we all build by truly loving each other as the Torah commands us.

Sooner or later our discernment and common sense lead us to the truth of love's ways and attributes. It may take us ages and countless lifetimes, but we eventually will get there because love endures and transcends ego's materialistic desires and fantasies.

At one point we come to realize that ego's sense of lack is the worst of all illusions derived from the biggest of all: the false belief that we are separated from God's love.

“And Isaac said to them, 'Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and you sent me away from you'? And they said, 'We have seen that the Lord was with you; so we said: Let there now be an oath between us, between ourselves and you, and let us form a covenant with you'.” (26:27-28)

In this awareness we reconcile all aspects of consciousness and put and end to the quarrels and disputes, because we let love be the natural guide and conductor of our life. One of our father Isaac's legacy for us is to dig wells, to penetrate deep in every level of consciousness and bring up the waters that sustain life, love as our essence and true identity.

Yes, there is only one light, and only one love, which is God's love, and we have to reveal it whenever and wherever is concealed in the darkness of that which denies His ways and attributes.

Let's be aware that both Jacob and Esau were conceived together in the womb of one mother who also represents Israel, the bearer of the material manifestation of God's love.

Let's recall this.

“And redeemers shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.” (Obadiah 1:21)

“The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day the Lord will be one, and His name one.” (Zachariah 14:9)

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14)

The glory of God is His love.

We have to rectify and reorient the lower and negative aspects of consciousness represented by Esau, the “nations”, “peoples”, “kings”, “rulers” and “princes” that keep us in the darkness of ego's fantasies and illusions. These are beliefs, ideas, addictions, habits, and behavior patterns that don't allow us to be free to embrace love's ways, means and attributes.

Our individual and collective redemption begins when our discernment and common sense lead us to enthrone Love as the true ruler of all aspects of life. Love is the fire that transforms and transmutes the negative into positive, false into true, wrong into right, bad into good, wickedness into righteousness. Through its ways and means, love purifies and unifies the revealed and non revealed light from which God created us.

The Torah tells us that God was with our patriarchs, and the peoples of their time also gave testimony of this. Goodness was with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the land that God gave them as an eternal heritage, the land where Isaac sowed.

“And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found in that year a hundred fold, and the Lord blessed him. And the man became great, and he grew constantly greater until he had grown very great.” (Genesis 26:12-13)

Our land is love as the material manifestation of God's love, where He bestows His blessings on us when we are and do His ways and emulate His attributes. Love is what makes us great, and makes us grow constantly greater to keep expanding its ways over the entire world.

Thus we discover and reveal that “the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

Toldot: Unifying Consciousness

Consciousness involves different aspects, levels and dimensions that, if we are no able to integrate as a harmonized and functioning unity, we may have difficulties to face the material world. Most people can't achieve such harmonized unity because it is not easy to conciliate mind with emotions, discernment with passion, or feelings with instincts. It becomes even more difficult when ego's desires and illusions occupy most aspects of consciousness. Sometimes life is reduced to a field of an endless battle among the elements that comprise human consciousness.

“And the children struggled within her” (Genesis 25:22) Rashi comments on this verse saying that they were fighting over the inheritance of both Heaven and Earth. We understand this in the context of their adult life when ultimately Jacob wins the blessings that make him the inheritor of both. It seems that the fight with his brother is for all or nothing, as indeed was. The struggle of Esau and Jacob begins even before they were born, which makes us reflect on the deeper meanings the twin brothers encompass. It is evident that they oppose each other because they have different views about the material world (Earth) and the World to Come (Heaven).

We can infer from this fight about “all or nothing” that “all” implies a unity, something in its totality. Hence, Heaven and Earth are the two parts of the wholeness that the brothers were fighting for. This is an essential premise to assimilate that there is no separation in God's Creation or in our consciousness; even if we know that different aspects, levels and dimensions are part of them. This helps us understand why, without a developed consciousness, the twins were struggling in their mother's womb for inheriting the blessings of the entire Creation. Our awareness of unity is easier to grasp from a spiritual awareness than from a material perspective.

“And the Lord said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two kingdoms will separate from your innards, and one kingdom will become mightier than the other kingdom, and the elder will serve the younger'.” (25:23) Separation and opposition set the tone for two different conceptions and approaches to God's Creation. They are not meant to compromise with each other, except for the Divine decree that one has to serve the other.

Here is the key that makes us assimilate what we indicated before. In order for one to inherit both worlds, the other consequently must serve him. In other words, we prevail in a conflict if the opposite part agrees to our views and cooperate with us. We achieve a functioning, harmonizing unity when all the parts involved are integrated in a common cause, in which all win and there are no losers.

This means that if we face a situation that is either “black” or “white”, we don't look for the “gray” to reconcile the opposites but we engage in a discerning process to bring the goodness of “positive” into the badness of “negative”. Once we all experience “positive”, we all abandon “negative” by our individual and collective experience of what is right and wrong, true and false, etc. We have said that good and evil are references to exercise our free will, and by our experience of both we make our choices.

In this sense we discern what we call a functioning, working, harmonizing unity when we deal with the wholeness of our consciousness. We realize that every aspect of it must work in a common direction in order to experience life in the material world as a reflection of life in the World to Come. This is how we win in our struggle to inherit the blessings of both worlds.

It is indeed a struggle, a moment to moment endeavor to make prevail the positive over the negative, good over evil, useful over useless. This is the legacy Jacob embraced even before he was born, fighting all his life to make Truth prevail, and it is also the legacy for his descendants called by his prevailing name, Israel.

We have to rectify our divided awareness of the material world by unifying our divided consciousness, and this task may take many lifetimes. We are aware of this when we review our Jewish history since Abraham and Sara. So many falls in our endeavors during slavery, long exiles, endless persecutions, and tireless struggles. Jacob as Israel is destined to fulfill the Creator's Will to make the material world a dwelling place for Him, so that He may live among (in) us. Thus we unite this world and the World to Come as the indivisible Oneness of His Creation.

In this process we must know who Esau is and who Jacob is. The Torah defines for us who is who, and the bearer of God's blessings. Love and goodness win the struggle because hatred and evil are destined to surrender to Love and goodness, as the prevailing qualities that unify Heavens and Earth, as parts of the Creation emanated from God's Love.

Parshat Toldot: Love as the Guide

This week's portion starts telling us about “the generations (toldot) of Isaac, the son of Abraham” (25:19) and in this context “generations” refer to the life and times of our second Patriarch, the least mentioned in the Torah though essential and important as Abraham and Jacob.

Isaac is distinguished as the Jewish Patriarch whose name was not changed by the Creator, and whose life is considered the perfect offering for Him. Isaac remained being that all his life. Indeed this is a special distinction we must honor and emulate as individuals and as a Nation who want to become the perfect offering of God's ways and attributes.

“And the children struggled within her, and she said, 'If so, why am I this?' And she went to inquire of the Lord.” (25:22). Like her husband, our matriarch Rebecca was fully aware that God's Love creates and sustains all, and everything depends on His will including the struggle that was taking place in her womb. “And the Lord said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb, and two kingdoms will separate from your innards, and one kingdom will become mightier than the other kingdom, and the elder will serve the younger'.” (25:23). We must understand this statement not as an answer for her but as a prophecy and Commandment, not only for Rebecca but for the people of the Torah.

Mystic Sages teach that these “two nations” are two forces that comprise the Universe, which are really one we can translate as Light revealed and Light not revealed, for all that exists was created as a unity emanated from God who is also One. In this context His Commandment in His words for Rebecca is clear: darkness's destiny is to reveal the Light that it conceals (“the elder will serve the younger”). In a deeper meaning, the lower and negative aspects must serve the higher and positive levels of human consciousness, not the opposite.

It is interesting to note that the lower aspects of consciousness indeed act according to their own nature and to their own level, as the feet that walk and the hands that write. There is no judgment regarding their nature and function because all serve a purpose, hence it is the purpose what we must establish, direct and pursue.

Emotions, passions and instincts may disregard the purpose and mission delineated by the intellect and mind: “Esau replied, 'Behold, I am going to die; so why do I need this birthright'?” “(…) and Esau despised the birthright.” (25:32, 34).

Esau's purpose was focused on destructive materialistic desires and not altruistic or spiritual concerns, and selling his birthright was his way to confirm his choice. Our oral tradition say that he committed five transgressions on that day: he raped a betrothed maiden, murdered Nimrod the king of Babel, rejected the existence of God, denied the resurrection of the dead, and repudiated the birthright (which in those times also represented the priesthood). It also tells that God took Abraham's life that day to spare him the shame of seeing that one of his descendants was a criminal.

Isaac's journey continues: “And the Lord appeared to him and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt, dwell in the land that I will tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and I will bless you, because to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, and all the nations of the Earth will bless themselves by your seed' (…)” (26:2-4), “And Isaac sowed in that land, and he found in that year a hundred fold, and the Lord blessed him. And the man became great, and he grew constantly greater until he had grown very great.” (26:12-13).

What is so special about this Land that our Creator wants us to live in it? It is the Land where He is with us, and we are blessed with His Love that enables us to bless all the nations of the Earth. When we live in this Land and follow Love's ways and attributes as the material manifestation of God's Love, we sow the same Love that multiplies around us, making us grow more and more while we live in His Land, in His ways and attributes.

God's Love enables us to build a place for Him to dwell in this world: “And Isaac again dug the wells of water which they had dug in the days of his father, Abraham (…)" (26:18), "he named it Rehovot, and he said, 'Because now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land'.” (26:22) This is the endless expansion that God's Love gives us in His Creation when we become aware of His works and we live in His ways. As long as we keep this awareness we will live in the abundance that Love is.

Once again the Torah reaffirms that God's Love does not cohabit with anything different than His ways and attributes in our consciousness, referred in this verse as the Canaanite women who Esau married: “And they were a vexation of the spirit to Isaac and to Rebecca.” (26:35).

“And he came closer, and he kissed him, and he smelled the fragrance of his garments, and he blessed him, and he said, 'Behold, the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field, which the Lord has blessed'.” (27:27). Here Isaac recognized the son who was truly entitled to the birthright (that he previously bought from Esau for a plate of lentils).

Sages explain that Isaac smelled the scent of the Garden of Eden when he approached Jacob, the scent of Love manifested in the material world through him. “Nations shall serve you and kingdoms shall bow down to you; you shall be a master over your brothers, and your mother's sons shall bow down to you. Those who curse you shall be cursed, and those who bless you shall be blessed.” (27:29).

These are the blessings of Love because Love conquers and subdues the potential negative aspects and lower traits of consciousness that live in the suffering of pain, and waiting to be redeemed by Love: “And you shall live by your sword, and you shall serve your brother; and it will be, when you grieve, that you will break his yoke off your neck.” (27:40). We have to pay close attention to this verse because when we don't love and not follow Love's ways and attributes, negativity “grieves” and fights against us.

Isaac's words for Esau are the warning for Jacob and his descendants: When we do not direct every aspect of our consciousness with Love as the yoke of our lower nature (Esau), that yoke will be broken and the reverse process takes place: when we do not allow Love as the guide of our consciousness, we allow negativity to take over by letting ego's illusions and fantasies rule our life.

The portion ends with a final blessing that commands us to be together as a united Nation, because God's Love will always keep us united in His ways and attributes: “And may the Almighty God bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and you shall become an assembly of peoples.” (28:3).

We can achieve unity if we maintain the awareness of our permanent connection with God as the Levites do, as it is reminded by the Prophet in the haftarah for this portion: “True teaching was in his (Levi's) mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. In peace and fairness he went with Me, and he brought back many from iniquity. Because a priest's lips shall guard knowledge and teaching should be from his mouth, because he is a messenger of the Lord of Hosts.” (Malachi 2:6-7).