Toledot

"And Avraham fathered Isaac" (Breishis 25:19)

Rashi cites the comment from our Sages in the Midrash: "Since the scoffers of the generation (lit. leitzanei hador) would have said that Sarah had become pregnant from Avimelech, Hashem therefore made Yitzchak look just like Avraham so that everyone would know who was his father."

Rabbi Mordecai Gifter, in his work "Pirkei Torah", asks of what concern is it to the Almighty that the "scoffers" of the time would make such a spurious claim regarding the paternity of Avraham, to the extent that He would miraculously have Yitzchak look just like his father? Indeed, what lasting impression would such a patently false statement-that Sarah could possibly have become pregnant from Avimelech-possibly have regarding the future of the Jewish people that such a hint must be included into the text of the Torah itself-the story of the Toldos of Yitzchak?

We see from here, says the Rosh HaYeshiva (may he have a refuah sheleimah), how great the potential for spiritual destruction is manifest in every remark of "leitzanus", of scoffery. We can understand this from the words of the Ramchal, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, in his seminal work Messilas Yesharim, chapter 8. There, the Ramchal describes the awesome force of a mocking statement as an oiled shield, from which arrows fall away harmlessly. So too, with the penetrating words of mussar and rebuke, whose goal is to pierce the heart and if possible, make a complete spiritual upheaval in the soul of the recipient. Instead, one small mocking remark and the penetrating effect of the rebuke disappears.

With this, explains Rabbi Gifter, we can understand the force of "leitzanus", where the approach is no longer one of clarity of intellect, but of lightheadedness and frivolity, of a lack of seriousness and earnestness. Our Sages rightly understood the inherent danger implicit in such an attitude and saw its potential harm to the spiritual growth of the generation. We can thus recognize the need for the miracle cited by Rashi.

We live in a society where this "cool" attitude of mockery is the norm, where the "witty repartee" is valued, if misguidedly. In recognizing the potential danger of "leitzanus", we should ever strive to be on guard against its entering our lives.

(This d'var Torah is based on the work Pirkei Torah, the essays of the Telsher Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Mordecai Gifter, edited by Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Nussbaum, shlit"a, and Rabbi Reuven Dovid Gerson, shlit"a, vol. 1, p. 83)