Chasidut su Genesi 25:22

Rabbi Shimon said, “I raise my hands in prayer to He who created the world (see Bereshit, 14:22). Even though our predecessors have revealed hidden supernal knowledge in this verse, one would do well to look into and contemplate the secrets of the book of Adam, because this is the source of the hidden book of Shlomo HaMelech.” (Zohar, Yitro, 70a) Thus we find that Shem and Eiver³⁶Whom tradition identifies as pre-Sinaitic Torah scholars, living from the time of Noach until the days of Yaakov. had a house of study. When Rivkah was pregnant and the twins were fighting in her womb, it says (Bereshit, 25:22), “She went to ask of God.” The Midrash Rabbah (Bereshit, 63) notes that she went to the house of study of Shem and Aiver. The Gemara teaches us that Yaakov hid himself from Eisav in the house of Aiver (Megillah, 17a).

‎Genesis 25,22. she said: “if so (that the children already quarrel ‎within my womb) ,what is the purpose of my existence?” We ‎can understand this complaint of Rivkah on the basis of a ‎comment by the Ari’zal that righteous women are spared ‎the pain and discomfort of pregnancy. Rivkah, while experiencing ‎even more than the normal amount of pain and discomfort ‎during her pregnancy, had concluded that this was proof that G’d ‎had not considered her righteous. Moreover, it is a tenet of our ‎faith that if someone is not a “good” person, such a person will ‎not serve as a receptacle for anything holy or potentially holy. ‎Our sages have based this insight on Leviticus 11,15 ‎את כל עורב ‏למינו‎, “and every subspecies of raven each according to its ‎species” (is forbidden to eat). [The word ‎כל‎ in that verse means ‎that even close association with something ritually unclean, i.e. a ‎raven, is an obstacle to such a person hosting holy spirit, etc. Ed.]‎ According to Bereshit Rabbah 63,6 whenever Rivkah ‎passed a Torah academy Yaakov would make an effort to leave her ‎womb, whereas when she passed a pagan temple Esau would try ‎to leave her womb. Thereupon she went to ask G’d about this ‎strange phenomenon. The Midrash states further that the ‎word ‎זה‎ in our verse refers to the fact that originally, -if not for ‎her complaint- Rivkah was slated to become the mother of all the ‎twelve tribes; seeing that she appeared to find fault with G’d’s ‎arrangement, she was told that she would become the mother of ‎only two sons, one of whom would be Esau. One of the sages in ‎the Midrash takes issue with the literal meaning of Yaakov ‎and Esau respectively having shown awareness of when their ‎mother passed a Torah academy or a pagan temple, and states ‎that, of course, this is merely a simile, and that Rivkah consulted ‎with the heads of the academy founded by Shem and ‎subsequently headed by his great grandson Ever. According to ‎another opinion offered, Rivkah knew that the source of holiness ‎is the One known as ‎אנכי‎, and when she exclaimed ‎למה זה אנכי‎, she ‎expressed her confusion how she could be the receptacle of a son ‎who clearly strived for holiness if she was not worthy. On the ‎other hand, if she were worthy, why did she experience such a ‎difficult pregnancy? G’d put her mind at rest, telling her that her ‎difficulties did not mean that she was not worthy, but that the ‎other son who would be unworthy was the one that caused her ‎present problems.‎