Комментарий к Берешит 25:21

וַיֶּעְתַּר AND ISAAC ENTREATED —He prayed much and urgently.

ויעתר, an expression denoting a lengthy prayer, as in Ezekiel 35,13 העתרתם עלי דבריכם, “you multiplied your words against Me.”

לנכח אשתו, even though he had been given an assurance from G’d that he would produce seed, he prayed to G’d that the mother of this child or children should be someone who was meritorious, someone of the calibre of Rivkah who was present and standing opposite him..

ויעתר לו, "He responded to his entreaty." The reason that the Torah does not mention the customary "Isaac knew his wife" (as in Genesis 4,1, or Samuel I 1,19) prior to reporting her pregnancy may have been that they prayed within three days of having had marital relations. Their prayer was that the semen should not go to waste (compare Berachot 60 on the subject of semen turning unfit for conception).

ויעתר, he prayed long and hard asking that his wife should bear a child, seeing that he loved her very dearly [and would not consider marrying anyone in addition to her. Ed.] He would not even consider taking any of Rivkah’s handmaids as a partner, as had his father Avraham who had married Hagar. As a result of all this prayer, Rivkah did finally become pregnant.

ויעתר לו, “G’d responded to his prayer.” The emphasis on the word לו is meant to tell us that G’d did not respond to her prayer. The reason is that we have a principle that a prisoner is unable to free himself (without external help) [In this instance it was Rivkah who could not have children, hence she is comparable to someone who is handicapped, like a prisoner in a cell. Compare Sifssey Chachamim on Genesis Ed.]

To be implored and to be placated and swayed by him. [Rashi says this] because וַיֵrָתֶר (He granted his prayer) cannot mean “increase.” Rather it means “implore,” whose meaning is close to that of “increase.” [Although וַיֵrָתֶר comes later on in the verse,] this is why Rashi explains it before לנוכח אשתו: [in order to explain the meaning of the root עתר]. Since נתפצר [implies giving in due to pressure] and may not to be used for Hashem, Rashi adds the word נתפתה, conveying that Hashem “consented” to his request.

חתר ,ויעתר יצחק verwandt mit חתר: einbohren, מחתרת: Einbruch. Das gewaltsame Andringen eines Schiffes gegen Wind und Wellen ebenfalls: חתר (Jona 1, 13). עתר daher ein dringendes Bitten und Beten. Ahnlich עתר ,פגע ב־ noch stärker. Die gerade aufwirbelnde Rauchsäule heißt auch: עתר ענן הקטורת ,עתר (Ezech. 8. 11). נעתרות נשיקות שונא (Prob. 27, 6): Wenn ein Feind uns küsst, so merkt man, dass die Küsse ihm "abgerungen und abgedrungen sind" dass sie nicht vom Herzen kommen. Pharao spricht: העתירו בעדי, im Hiphil, "lasset etwas zu Gott für mich dringen", sendet einen mächtigen, einflussreichen Fürsprecher für mich zu Gott. Er weiß nicht, dass man zu Gott leichter kommt, als zu dem Unterschreiber des Sekretärs eines Amtmannes.

לנח אשתו, “in the presence of his wife.” The numerical value of the word אשתו=707, is the same as the combined numerical value of the words: אש וקש, “fire and straw.” This is a hint that Rivkah would give birth to one son, comparable in spiritual values to fire, and another whose value in terms of spiritual values was no better than straw. The prophet therefore compared Yaakov to fire and Esau to straw. (Ovadiah 18)

On behalf of his wife. The main part of Isaac's prayer was for his wife. He was not afraid, for himself, since if he was not built up through her he would be built up through another -- for behold God had promised (lit. "made him trust" [?]) to Avraham "to your seed I will give this land", and said to Yitzchak that he would call him seed. For this Yitzchak trusted for himself, but he wished to be built up from Rivkah.

ויעתר יצחק, “Yitzchok prayed;” Rashi continues with: this word when used for prayer always describes an intense prayer, one reflecting the urgent need of the petitioner. He describes this as the meaning wherever we encounter this root in this mode. He proceeds to quote three verses from Scripture as proof. Then he adds that this rule applies to this word generally.

וַיֵּעָתֶר לו WAS ENTREATED OF HIM — He let himself be urged, conciliated and influenced by him. I say that wherever this root עתר occurs it has the meaning of heaping up and increasing. E. g., (Ezekiel 8:11) “And a thick (עתר) cloud of incense” which means an abundance of ascending smoke; (Ezekiel 35:13) “You have multiplied (העתרתם) your words against me”; (Proverbs 27:6) “The kisses of an enemy are importunate (נעתרות)”—they appear to be too many and therefore they are burdensome. old French encresser; English to increase.

לנכח, on account of.

לנכח אשתו, on behalf of his wife, explaining that the reason for his intense prayer was that he did not want to marry anyone else. His prayer did not so much concern his becoming a father as his becoming a father of a child born by his wife Rivkah. He prayed in the presence of his wife so that he would be better able to concentrate on her problem. [whereas the Torah had written that both Avraham and Sarah had been barren, nothing about Yitzchok being sterile had been written anywhere. Ed.]

It means imploring and increasing... Rashi is explaining that עתר does not [generally] denote prayer, rather imploring. [Here,] it means he implored and increased his prayers.

לנכח אשתו. Zwanzig Jahre lang hatte Jizchak im Gebete vor Gott um Er füllung des Wunsches gerungen, von Rebekka Kinder zu erhalten. Ihm war ja die Verheißung bekannt: כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע er hatte ja jedenfalls Kinder zu erhoffen; allein ob die Fortträger des Abrahamsbundes von einer Schwester Labans geboren werden würden, daran durfte er, trotz ihrer eigenen Vortrefflichkeit, insbesondere nach so langem Harren, zu zweifeln anfangen, seine Bitte bezog sich daher speziell auf Rebekka. — Wir sehen hier, nicht nur der erste Stein, sondern auch der Weiterbau des Hauses Israels war nur der unmittelbaren Allmachtsspende Gottes zu verdanken. Wie Sara war auch Rebelka עקרה.

לנוכח אשתו, “in order to enable his wife to conceive;” the expression נכח occurs in a similar sense in Judges 18,6 'נכח ה דרככם, “which the Targum renders as: “G-d will ensure that your mission will be successful,” i.e. אתקין ה' ארחכין. He did not pray on his own behalf as he was aware that he was not sterile. The reason that he knew this was so was that G-d had told Avraham his father that his name would be carried on through his son Yitzchok. (Genesis 21,12)

לנכח אשתו FACING HIS WIFE — He stood in one corner and prayed whilst she stood in the other corner and prayed (Genesis Rabbah 63:5).

And similarly: “Exorbitant are the kisses of the enemy,” meaning, they seem exorbitant... Rashi is answering the question: It was explained above that ונעתרות also means “increasing.” But why would an enemy increase his kisses? Thus Rashi explains that they seem exorbitant and are burdensome. I.e., an enemy kisses only once, but it seems as if he kissed exorbitantly, and even the one kiss is burdensome. [You might ask:] Why did Rashi not mention נעתרות נשיקות שונא above, when he was explaining וַיֶrְתַר which also means increasing? The answer is: Above, we could have said that עתר has two [separate] meanings: imploring and increasing. This would be similar to וישבר למצרים (41:56), where Rashi explains that שבר can mean either selling or buying. Thus וַיֵrָתֶר could be explained as imploring, since increasing does not apply to Hashem — Heaven forbid we should say He “increased”! If so, נעתרות נשיקות שונא could also mean imploring: one must implore the enemy to kiss his adversary. But now that Rashi explained that even וַיֵrָתֶר means [something similar to] increasing, and that עתר always means increasing, we are forced to explain נעתרות נשיקות שונא as, “They seem exorbitant.”

כי עקרה היא, ‘for she was barren;” what was the reason why Rivkah up to that point had been barren? G-d did not want the gentiles to be able to credit her fertility to the blessings that her family had bestowed on her when they said: “may you become the mother of thousands and tens of thousands.”(Genesis 24,60). She therefore could not conceive until G-d responded to her husband’s prayer on her behalf.

ויעתר לו [AND THE LORD] WAS ENTREATED OF HIM — of him and not of her, because there is no comparison between the prayer of a righteous person who is the son of a righteous person and the prayer of a righteous person the child of a wicked-person — therefore God allowed himself to be entreated of him and not of her (Yevamot 64a).

He was standing in one corner and praying... [Although לנוכח usually means “facing,” Rashi explains it differently here] because it is not normal to pray facing one another.

“His” but not hers. For it is not comparable... Rashi is answering the question: Why does it not say, “He granted their prayers”? They both prayed! He answers: “‘His’ but not hers. For it is not comparable...”