בראשית

ויתרוצצו הבנים בקרבה. ההריון הזה היה מחודש ומשונה משאר הריון הנשים, שאין דרך הנשים להיות התאומים מתרוצצין ומתקוטטין בבטן ואלו היו מתרוצצין בקרבה ומצטערת הרבה, וממה שהיו מתרוצצין ומתגרין בבטן בתחלת היצירה היה זה רמז וסימן למה שעתידין להיות זה כנגד זה שונאים נלחמים, זהו שאמר לה הקב"ה על ידי שם שני גוים בבטנך, פירוש אל תפחדי מזה כי הרצוץ הזה הוא בסבת שני בנים שיש בבטנך שעתידין לצאת מהם שתי אומות זו כנגד זו.

ויתרוצצו הבנים בקרבה, “the children quarreled inside her.” This particular pregnancy was totally different from all the pregnancies experienced by women up until that time. It was quite unknown for women who gave birth to twins to experience turbulence within their wombs during their pregnancies. The fact that these fetuses had begun to behave in such a manner already while inside the womb made Rivkah very distraught. She had her worst fears confirmed when G’d told her through His prophet Shem (Bereshit Rabbah 63,7) that she was going to give birth to founders of two nations whose outlook on life would be totally different from one another. He assured Rivkah that she, personally, had no cause to worry about the physical phenomenon of that tumult within her.

ובמדרש שני גוים בבטנך אל תקרי גוים, אלא גיים זה רבי ואנטונינוס שלא פסקו מעל שלחנם לא חזרת ולא צנון לא בימות החמה ולא בימות הגשמים, ואע"פ שמצינו שאמר רבי בשעת פטירתו ולא נהניתי אפילו באצבע קטנה שלי, האמת היה שנצטער בעצמו בגופו ולא נהנה כלל מתאוות העולם כי אם במוכרחות ביותר, אבל סדר המאכלים והעדונים היו לאנשיו ואוכלי שולחנו, אנטונינוס היה מלך גדול מזרע עשו, והיה למד תורה בסתר לפני רבינו הקדוש והיה מתירא פן ירגישו בו עבדיו ואנשי מלכותו, ודרשו ז"ל במסכת ע"ז (דף י ב) הות ליה ההיא מערתא דהות תותי ארעא דהוה אתי בה מביתיה לבית רבי, כל יומא הוה מייתא תרי עבדי בהדיה, חד קטיל אבבא דביתיה וחד קטיל אבבא דרבי, א"ל בעדנא דאתינא לא אשכח אינש קמך, יומא חד אשכחיה לרבי חנינא בר חמא קמיה א"ל לאו אמינא לך דלא אשכח אינש קמך, א"ל לית דין בר אינש, א"ל אי הכי ליזיל ולשדר לי ההיא גברא דגאני אבבא קאים וליתי, אזל רבי חנינא אשכחיה דקטיל אמר היכי אעביד, אימור ליה דקטיל אין משיבין על הקלקלה, אשבקיה ואיזיל קא מזלזלינא במלכותא, בעי רחמי עליה ואחייה ושדריה, א"ל ידענא דאפילו זוטרי דאית בכו מחיי מיתי מיהו בעידנא דאתינא לא אשכח אינש קמך, כל יומא הוה משמש ליה מאכיל ליה משקה ליה, כי הוה בעי רבי למיסק לפורייה גחין קמי פורייה אמר סק עלאי לפורייך, א"ל לאו אורח ארעא לזלזולי במלכותא כולי האי, א"ל מי יתנני מצע תחתך לעוה"ב, א"ל אתינא לעלמא דאתי, א"ל אין, א"ל והכתיב (עובדיה יח) ולא יהיה שריד לבית עשו, א"ל בעושה מעשה עשו, אמר ליה והכתיב (יחזקאל ל״ב:כ״ט) שמה אדום מלכיה ושריה, א"ל מלכיה ולא כל מלכיה, שריה ולא כל שריה, פרט לאנטונינוס בן אסוירוס, ופרט לקטיעא בר שלום.

A Midrashic opinion (Avodah Zarah 11) draws attention to the unusual spelling of the words גיים in our verse. The correct spelling should have been גוים. This prompted Rabbi Yehudah to see a hint that there would be two individuals belonging to these two nations, i.e. Emperor Antoninus and Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi, whose wealth would be such that all manner of vegetables which were not in season would nonetheless be served on their tables all year. At first glance such a statement is difficult to reconcile with the statement made by the same Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi on his deathbed (compare Ketuvot 104), that he had never permitted himself to use his wealth to indulge himself or to otherwise enjoy the pleasures of life on earth, but had made do with absolute necessities only. We need to understand the Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah as describing what Rabbi Yehudah served his guests, not what he himself partook of. Antoninus was a descendant of Esau, of course. He had studied Torah secretly with Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi so that his servants and other members of his Empire would not become aware of this. According to tradition (also quoted in Avodah Zarah 10), Antoninus, (while governor of Palestine) had a subterranean room which was linked by a passage to the home of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi. He would take two slaves with him every day. He would kill the first one at the entrance to the house of Rabbi Yehudah, and the second one at the entrance to his own palace so that there would not be any surviving witnesses to his visits at the home of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi. He requested of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi that at the pre-arranged times when he would visit, Rabbi Yehudah should not have anyone else present at the house. It happened that on one occasion Rabbi Chanina bar Chama happened to be at the house of Rabbi Yehudah when Antoninus arrived. He became very agitated and complained: “did I not tell you not to have anyone present when I come?” Rabbi Yehudah replied that the apparition in the guise of Rabbi Chanina was not a human being. Thereupon Antoninus said to Rabbi Yehudah: “tell this man to get me the slave who stands on guard at the entrance.” Rabbi Chanina, aware that this slave was going to be killed, deliberated what to do. When he came to the place from where he was supposed to get the slave he found that the slave was already dead. He meditated on what to do, saying to himself that if he told Antoninus that the slave was already dead, he would accuse him of having murdered him. At the same time there is a rule that one need not return to the sender in order to bring bad news. On the other hand, he reasoned, if he were simply to leave the dead man and not go back to the house of Rabbi Yehudah at all, this would be a disgrace, and an insult to the Roman Empire. So he decided to pray. As a result of his prayer the dead guard came to life again and he sent him to his master. Thereupon Antoninus said to Rabbi Yehudah: “I am aware that even relatively insignificant Jews possess the power to bring the dead back to life. Nonetheless, I wish that when I come here no other living soul shall be present.” Antoninus used to provide Rabbi Yehudah with a variety of personal services as well as feed him if necessary on a daily basis. He even expressed a wish to be able to serve Rabbi Yehudah in the hereafter as his mattress. One day he asked Rabbi Yehudah if he could expect to be granted life in the hereafter. Rabbi Yehudah answered in the affirmative. Antoninus questioned this, quoting Ovadiah 18 “there will not be anyone remaining of the house of Esau.” Rabbi Yehudah replied that this verse speaks only of people who live in accordance with the principles of Esau. Thereupon Antoninus quoted another verse, this time from Ezekiel 32,29: “There are Edom, her kings and her princes” [The entire passage deals with the descent to Gehinom of all these Gentile people. Ed.] Rabbi Yehudah replied that the verse referred to “her kings,” but not to “all her kings.” He added that Ezekiel had specifically excluded Antoninus as well as a certain Ketiah bar Shalom from his prediction.