ספר בראשית

Genesis ‎25,21. “Yitzchok implored Hashem on behalf of his wife;” it ‎is known that the relationship between the masculine and the ‎feminine parts in a marriage is based on the masculine part ‎initiating and the feminine part responding. This relationship is ‎demonstrated clearly as one of total contrast when both partners ‎in the marriage are completely sterile, in the sense that neither is ‎able to contribute his or her part to conception. When the roles ‎of the male and the female appear to be reversed, i.e. the female ‎appearing to initiate and the male appearing to respond, the ‎usual relationship is totally askew. The latter situation was the ‎case here, and this is expressed by the Torah writing the word ‎לנוכח אשתו‎, an expression indicating ‎היפוך‎, a totally reversed ‎situation. This is the reason why the Torah writes of G’d: ‎ויעתר לו‎, ‎‎“G’d was entreated on his account.” The word ‎עתר‎ indicates a ‎‎“reversal,” as we know from Sukkah 14, where the Talmud ‎applies it to a shovel or pitchfork, which is used to turn over the ‎grain.‎