פָּרָשַׁת תּוֹלְדֹת

Parshat Toldot tells us about Yitzchak's household and the two sons who struggle in it from the womb. Rivkah is barren for twenty years; Yitzchak prays, and she conceives twins who struggle within her. Hashem tells her that two nations are in her womb and the elder will serve the younger. Esav is born first, red and hairy, and grows into a hunter loved by Yitzchak; Yaakov, holding his heel, becomes a whole man who dwells in tents, loved by Rivkah. Esav sells his birthright to Yaakov for a pot of red lentil stew, and despises it.

During a famine Hashem tells Yitzchak to stay in the land and renews the blessings of Avraham. In Gerar Yitzchak says Rivkah is his sister, prospers greatly, is envied by the Pelishtim, and digs his father's wells again until he finds room at Rechovot; Avimelech comes to make a covenant with him at Be'er Sheva. When Yitzchak, old and blind, prepares to bless Esav, Rivkah dresses Yaakov in Esav's clothes and goat skins and sends him in with the food; Yitzchak blesses Yaakov with the Tal Hashamayim ("dew of heaven"), the fat of the earth and mastery over his brothers. Esav returns, cries out bitterly, receives a lesser blessing, and resolves to kill Yaakov. Rivkah sends Yaakov to her brother Lavan in Charan, and Yitzchak blesses him openly with the blessing of Avraham before he goes. Esav, seeing that his parents dislike his Kenaanite wives, marries a daughter of Yishmael. The parsha sets the two brothers, and the two nations, on their separate roads.