November 20, 2025
Parashat Toledot tells us about Yishak and Rivka, and their experiences with their two children, Yaakob and Esav. One of the intriguing things about Rivka – which is striking especially after having just read Parashat Hayeh-Sara – is that the Torah never tells us about her passing. The Torah devotes a special section at the beginning of Parashat Hayeh-Sara to the death of our first matriarch, Sara, telling us how many years she lived, where she died, that her husband wept and eulogized her, and how he secured a burial plot for her final resting place. Rivka's death, however, is not mentioned – at least not explicitly. Later in the Book of Bereshit (35:8), we read of the passing of Devorah, who was Rivka's nurse when she was younger. Rashi explains that at that time, when Devorah died, Yaakov learned of the passing of his beloved mother, Rivka. The Torah told us about Devorah's passing, Rashi explains, to subtly allude to us that Rivka had died. And so whereas Sara's death received a whole section in the Torah, Rivka's death is concealed within the death of a different person. Why? Rashi writes: ולפיכך העלימו את יום מותה – שלא יקללו הבריות כרס שיצא ממנו עשו . This means that the Torah hid Rivka's death, rather than mention it openly, so that people would not say bad things about her. One of her two sons was Esav, who grew to become a very evil man. If the Torah would speak of Rivka's passing out in the open, people might right away associate her with Esav, and denigrate her. R