Rabbi Howard Morrison

The well is a significant place in Sefer Berishit - the book of Genesis. Isaac comes from "Be'er Lachai Roi - the well of the vision of life" when he meets Rebecca and is destined to marry her. That narrative was read in last week's Parsha.

The origin of that well appears when God appears to Hagar and Yishmael in the Parsha we read two weeks ago. 

The well is also a place of meeting. Abraham's servant meets Rebecca by a well enroute to fixing her up with Isaac, as we read one week ago.

 In next week's Parsha, Jacob will meet Rachel at a well.

In this week's portion of Toldot, we find many references to wells, but in a disheartening manner. In our first scene, after Isaac had become wealthy and blessed by God, the Philistines stopped up all the wells which Isaac's father Abraham had dug, filling them with earth. Avimelech, king of the Philistines, says to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us." Is this remark one of propaganda and a Biblical form of Jew-hatred, comparable to Pharaoh in the book of Shemot-Exodus when he says that the Israelites have become too numerous and populous for us?????

"So, Isaac departed from there and encamped in the wadi of Gerar, where he settled. Isaac dug anew the wells which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death, and he gave them the same names that his father had given them. But when Isaac's servants, digging in the wadi, found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaacs herdsmen, saying, 'The water is ours.' Isaac named that well Esek, because they contended with him. And when they dug another well, they disputed over that one also, so he named it Sitnah (hostility). Isaac moved from there and dug yet another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so, he called it Rehovot, saying, 'Now at last the Lord has granted us ample space to increase in the land (Genesis 26:17-22)." 

Time and time again, Isaac had to dig and re-dig wells based on hatred coming from his Philistine and Gerar neighbors. In a legendary Midrash, which is cited in the Artscroll commentary, the three wells dug by Isaac refer to three Temples in Jewish history. The first was destroyed because of Esek, contention with the nations of the time. The second was destroyed because of Sitnah, hostility from the nations of the time. The third yet to be built, will be based on Rehovot, when contention and hostility will be things of the past. I would add that the first two Temples were also destroyed because of contention and hostility which resulted from strife within the echelons of the Jewish people.

Now, I am not proposing a third Temple will be built now or anytime soon. Just a few months ago, Israelis were sharply divided over governmental concerns. Over the last several weeks, however, Israelis and Jews around the world are united as never before because our very Statehood and survival as a people are at stake. I pray that this unity will remain not only in the weeks to come, but in months and years to come.

It is noteworthy that as we read about the wells called contention and hostility that one of the first places massacred by Hamas was Kibbutz Be'eri, which literally means "My well." I have read and heard that the residents are eager to reinhabit their Kibbutz and rebuild their homes and their community, symbolic of a resilient people. 

In the Biblical events surrounding a well and in the events of our time, I pray for when the well will always be known as Be'er Lachai Roi, literally, the well for life and where God sees me. This is the place where Hagar was blessed by God. This is the place at which Isaac lifted up his face and saw Rebecca. The fact that the same well is mentioned in separate narratives with Hagar and Isaac prompts the Midrash to suggest that Isaac went to Be'er Lachai Roi because he knew Hagar was there and brought her back for Abraham to marry her after Sarah's death.

We need a Be'er, a well, a place in the world, which will be defined by love, blessing, peace, and promise.

Shabbat Shalom