D’var Torah: Toldot 2025/5786 תולדות

Rabbi Jordy Callman, Temple Beth Elohim, Schechter Boston Board of Trustees Member

In this week’s Torah portion as Rebecca struggles with her pregnancy, her twin sons wrestling in her womb, she cries out: “if so, why do I exist?” What a question! Why do I exist?

This question makes me think of two of my favorite texts in all of our traditions. First, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov is famously quoted as saying “the day you were born is the day God decided that the world could not exist without you.” And second, in the Book of Esther when Mordechai speaks to Esther about her opportunity to save the Jewish people, he said “and who knows if you reached this royal position for such a time as this.”

I see these two ideas as both answering and not answering Rebecca’s question (how very Jewish!)

Rebecca asks: why do I exist? And our tradition answers: because you needed to exist. The world needed you. Your people needed you. This moment in time needed you.

The next question might naturally be: well, but why? For what purpose?

And that is where the answers stop because there is no one size fits all response, the answer is different for each of us. Judaism fundamentally believes that we have a purpose in the world, we were created for a reason; the “why” is what we discover along the way. Enjoy the journey!