“The Personality of Isaac: The Passive Patriarch”
(updated and revised from Chayei Sarah 5761–2000)

by, Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald

In this week’s parasha, parashat Chayei Sarah, we learn of the death of Abraham’s wife, the matriarch Sarah, at age 127.

According to the Midrash, cited by Rashi, on Genesis 23:2, Sarah’s soul flew from her body and she expired when a messenger came to tell her that Abraham had almost sacrificed her beloved son Isaac at the Akeidah (the binding of Isaac). This interpretation, which maintains that the Akeidah led directly to Sarah’s death, is based on the immediate juxtaposition of last week’s parasha, Vayeira, which concludes with the Akeidah, and this week’s parasha, Chayei Sarah, which opens with the death of Sarah.

In both last week’s and this week’s parashiot, we learn much about the personality of the patriarch Isaac. He is born to two parents who are well-on in years. Sarah is ninety and Abraham is 100 years old when Isaac is born. Both parents can hardly believe that, after so many years of longing, a biological child is actually born to them. They clearly celebrate every step of Isaac’s development.

Sarah, understandably, becomes a very doting and seemingly over-protective mother. When she sees Ishmael taking advantage of Isaac, her beloved miracle child, she demands that both Ishmael and Hagar be expelled from the house. (Some commentators suggest that the harsh punishment meted out to them was because Ishmael actually tried to sexually molest Isaac.) Surely, Sarah does not want the negative influences of Hagar and Ishmael in the home where she is raising her very-special child, Isaac.

Perhaps because of the fierce bond of the doting parents with their son, Abraham is tested by G-d and instructed to give up Isaac by offering him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Ultimately, after a few days of excruciating tension, a ram replaces the child as the sacrifice.

While it may be coincidence, the Torah does not record any further conversation between Abraham and Isaac after the Akeidah. Could it be a that a profound estrangement resulted between father and son because of Abraham’s attempt on Isaac’s life? Are there perhaps other scars and wounds which are a result of the Akeidah? Can this also be the reason why Isaac is portrayed as being so extraordinarily passive throughout parashat Chayei Sarah, or could this passivity be the result of living in the shadow of such a great, dynamic father, Abraham?

Further signs of Isaac’s retiring nature are evidenced in Abraham’s decision to send his servant, Eliezer, back to Haran to find a wife for Isaac. Isaac seems to have no say in the matter. Scripture, in Genesis 24:63, records, וַיֵּצֵא יִצְחָק לָשׂוּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶה לִפְנוֹת עָרֶב, Isaac is out passively meditating in the fields, and sees a caravan coming toward him. Rebecca, who is part of the caravan, sees a person approaching the caravan, whom she suspects is Isaac, she falls off the camel. When she is told that indeed it is the master, her future husband, Isaac, she modestly covers herself with a veil. Isaac, appears totally oblivious to the fact that Eliezer has gone to fetch a wife for him, and thus requires a full briefing.

The servant tells Isaac everything that had happened in Haran. No time is wasted, as Genesis 24:67 reports, וַיְבִאֶהָ יִצְחָק הָאֹהֱלָה שָׂרָה אִמּוֹ, and Isaac brings Rebecca into his deceased mother Sarah’s tent, וַיִּקַּח אֶת רִבְקָה, and he takes Rebecca, that is, he betroths her, וַתְּהִי לוֹ לְאִשָּׁה, and she becomes his wife, וַיֶּאֱהָבֶהָ, fortunately, he loves her. וַיִּנָּחֵם יִצְחָק אַחֲרֵי אִמּוֹ, the Torah informs us that Isaac is finally consoled after his mother’s death, underscoring how deeply attached Isaac was to his mother, and that he had never really overcome her loss.

In the forthcoming parasha, parashat Toledot, Isaac appears to be even more passive. Rather than blazing new trails, Isaac spends most of his time retracing his father’s steps: Like Abraham, his father, during a local famine, Isaac goes down to Gerar, and, again like Abraham had done, he deceives Abimelech, the King of the Philistines, telling him that Rebecca is his sister rather than his wife.

In what seems to be the only departure from Isaac’s passivity, the Torah, in Genesis 26:12, informs us: וַיִּזְרַע יִצְחָק בָּאָרֶץ הַהִוא, וַיִּמְצָא בַּשָּׁנָה הַהִוא מֵאָה שְׁעָרִים, וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ השׁם, Isaac plants in the land, and reaps one hundredfold. G-d blesses Isaac who becomes very wealthy. He acquires flocks and herds and many businesses, until the Philistines become jealous of him. To spite Isaac, the Philistines fill up the wells that Abraham had dug with earth, eventually chasing Isaac out of Gerar.

Again, Isaac passively responds to the Philistine aggressions by moving further away, and digging new wells. When these new wells are also stopped up by the Philistines, Isaac again moves further away, until a peace agreement is finally established between himself and Abimelech King of Gerar.

At home, Isaac is completely deceived by his son Esau, the great hunter, and fails to appreciate the goodness of Jacob. When Isaac grows old and becomes partially blind, he is so unaware, that he cannot even tell the difference between Esau and his son Jacob, who deceives him by dressing up as Esau by placing goat-skins on his hands.

Isaac’s retiring personality and passive nature is most perplexing. How does this seemingly thoroughly passive person become the great Isaac, a member of the mighty triumvirate of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the renowned patriarchs of the Jewish people?

Perhaps we find it so difficult to regard Isaac as a leader because of the changed definition of leadership and heroism in contemporary times. Our own, contemporary, standard for a hero, that is probably based on the Roman and Greek legacy, always regards the hero as a dynamic person, the gifted poet, the powerful and indefatigable soldier. While Jewish tradition also recognizes and values the physical prowess of a person, Jewish tradition far more deeply values the spiritual strengths of people.

The bottom line of this story is that Isaac achieves his greatness not because of his dynamism or hyper-activity, but perhaps because of his passivity, perhaps because he was the only one of the patriarchs who never left the land of Israel., The Rabbis maintain, in Midrash Rabbah, Genesis 64:3, that, after the Akeidah, Isaac had become, an עוֹלָה תְמִימָה, a pure sacrifice meant for G-d.

It may not be easy to appreciate, but Isaac, in his passivity, accomplishes as much, if not more, than the others in their dynamism and their dramatic activity. In Jewish tradition, the gibor, the hero, is not necessarily the one who attracts the cheering crowds and inspires poets who write sonnets in his/her honor, but rather the quiet person who achieves what he/she is supposed to achieve, and “simply” accomplishes what he/she is destined to accomplish. Taking hold of the land of Israel and securing it for future generations–that was the foremost accomplishment of Isaac, and perhaps the greatest accomplishment of all the patriarchs.

Yes, Isaac was the patriarch who took hold of the land of Israel; and if we have that land today, it is probably because Isaac, who, as opposed to Abraham and Jacob, never left the land. He toiled the land and worked the land, he plowed the land and harvested the land. He thoroughly loved the land! He embraced the land, and gave it to the Jewish people as an eternal gift and an everlasting legacy.

Isaac was not at all passive. He was just a quiet person, who, with his quiet perseverance achieved more than many others accomplish with much tumult, noise and bravado.

May you be blessed.