“And Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s sojourning, in the Land of Canaan” (B’reishis 37:1). The commentators (e.g. Ramban, Radak and Chizkuni) discuss why the area is described using both terms (“where his father sojourned” and “Canaan”). The Midrash (B’reishis Rabbah 84:4), based on the letters for the word “sojourn” being the same as the word “convert,” reads the verse as “And Yaakov lived in the land of his father’s converts, in the Land of Canaan.” From here, the Midrash says, we know that Yitzchok, like his father Avraham and his son Yaakov, converted people to monotheism.
That Avraham (and Sara) converted others to monotheism is learned from the verse “and the souls they made in Charan” (12:5), something fairly well known and often quoted. Yaakov doing the same is learned from his instructions to those with him when he left for Beis El, telling “his house and all who were with him” to rid themselves of any foreign deities (34:2), and from a second reference (34:6), where it wasn’t just Yaakov who arrived in Luz, but “the entire nation that was with him.” [It isn’t just the context (getting rid of their idols) that teaches us that Yaakov converted them, but that there was a “nation with him.”] For Yitzchok, reading the word as “converts” rather than “sojourns” negates any need for a context to teach us that Yitzchok converted others. Nevertheless, it is a bit curious that we are taught this as part of Yaakov’s narrative instead of Yitzchok’s. Before suggesting a possible reason why we are taught this here rather than earlier, let’s take a closer look at some of the implications of Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov having converted others to monotheism.
I have already discussed the ramifications of Avraham bringing a “tension of ideas” into the world (see page 4 of http://www.aishdas.org/ta/5764/vayeira.pdf); his conversion of others was the start of the 2,000 years of Torah (see Avodah Zara 9a), and the age we are held responsible for our actions in the heavenly court switched to 20 from 100. I have also suggested (see page 7 of http://www.aishdas.org/ta/5768/lechLecha.pdf) that Avraham went back to Charan for five years when he was 70 to rebuild the community of converts he had built there, but had fallen apart in his absence. (This assumes that these converts made the trip with him to Canaan when he was 75, not when he was 55; see https://rabbidmk.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/parashas-lech-lecha-5775/.) And Shem and/or Eiver may have moved their Yeshiva(s) to B’er Sheva in order to be near where Avraham was continually introducing people to monotheism (see https://rabbidmk.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/parashas-chayei-sara-5775/). Yet, despite having the community of monotheists he built living with him in Canaan, Avraham insisted that Yitzchok marry someone from his family back in Charan (B’reishis 24:38). Similarly, Yitzchok and Rivka sent Yaakov to Charan to find a wife (27:46-28:2), without considering anyone from Avraham’s monotheistic community. Why weren’t any of these “daughters” worthy candidates?
It is unclear what happened to Avraham’s converts. There is a fairly widely-quoted Midrash which says that after Avraham died they went back to their old idol-worshipping ways. [I have been unable to locate this Midrash; recent editions of the Meshech Chochma, who quotes this Midrash (in his commentary on 21:33), say it is in Pirkay D’Rebbi Eliezer (29), but it isn’t. What it does say there is that Avraham’s servants, who were all circumcised with him (see 17:23), must not have stayed “in the fold,” since we don’t hear about them afterwards. Perhaps the implication that not hearing about a group anymore indicates that they abandoned their previous religious commitments is being applied to Avraham’s converts as well, but this is not stated explicitly in this Midrash. Besides, the point of the Midrash is that we can’t be confident that the conversion of servants, which is done whether they want to or not, will last; this should have little bearing on full converts, who converted of their own volition. (If anyone knows where such a Midrash is, please email me at RabbiDMK at Yahoo dot com.)] (Several Chasidishe commentators use this Midrash to point out how important having a leader is. After all, after Avraham died, his converts didn’t stick with the program. However, it could just as easily be used to point out how important it is not to become dependant on a leader.) If these converts were no longer monotheistic after Avraham passed away, there would not have been anyone left for Yaakov to marry (he was 15 when his grandfather died). Even if Yitzchok had converted others afterwards, after seeing what had happened to Avraham’s converts we can understand his reluctance to having Yaakov marry one of them. How could they be confident that Yitzchok’s converts would stay committed to monotheism for the long term if Avraham’s weren’t? As far as whom Yitzchok married, Avraham may have noticed something about his converts that concerned him regarding their ability to remain committed monotheists (which turned out to be a valid concern). [This concern would have been more obvious if the reason Avraham went back to Charan was to rebuild the community of converts that had fallen apart without him.]
Midrash Talpios (not a Midrash, but a commentary; see http://alturl.com/9fe3o under “Elifaz”) quotes another Midrash, which says that Eisav murdered Avraham’s converts. (He suggests that G-d allowed them to be killed because they were going to revert to their old ways, and were better off being killed before they did, adding that the Midrash that says they did actually go back to their old ways may be referring to a small few Eisav did not kill, from whom we know that the same would likely have happened to the others had Eisav not killed them.) Although I have not been able to find this Midrash either, Bamidbar Rabbah (4:8) does say Eisav killed many righteous and pious people, which may be referring to Avraham’s converts. If Eisav wiped out the community of converts Avraham had built, there weren’t any monotheistic locals around anymore for Yaakov to marry. [If the “rumors” that Rivka’s twins would marry her brother Lavan’s twins, with Eisav marrying Leah and Yaakov marrying Rachel, had any prophetic validity, this would be another reason why Yaakov had to go to Charan to get married. However, the reason Rivka gave Yitzchok strongly implies that this was not a factor.]
What about Yaakov’s children? Whom did they marry? Rashi (37:35) quotes two opinions, based on whether saying that Yaakov’s “daughters” tried to console him (over the “loss” of Yosef) could refer to his daughters-in-law, or whether it must refer to his biological daughters. If they weren’t his biological daughters, who were they? Yehudah married a “local” girl (38:2), and we can be confident that she was monotheistic or he wouldn’t have married her. [His daughter-in-law, Tamar, was Shem’s daughter (see Rashi on 38:24); there had to be others from Shem (and Eiver)’s circle to whom he could marry (if there weren’t other monotheists around).] Were the “locals” whom Yaakov’s sons married from the community of converts that either Yitzchok or Yaakov had built? If so, why were they more confident that they would remain monotheistic for the long-term if Avraham’s converts didn’t?
There were several differences between Avraham’s converts and those of his son and grandson. For one thing, Avraham was not circumcised when he built his community of converts, whereas Yitzchok and Yaakov were. The Mechilta (Mishpatim 18) says that G-d purposely waited until Avraham was 99 years old before commanding him to become circumcised, because if he was 20 or 30, converts would have had to be younger than that in order to convert without becoming circumcised first. Since Yitzchok and Yaakov were both circumcised when they were eight days old (see 21:4), their converts had to be circumcised too. [This explains why the people of Sh’chem bought into Shimon and Levi’s demand that they all become circumcised; all of the converts with them had done it, so it seemed “normal.”] If Yitzchok and Yaakov’s converts had to undergo circumcision before converting, they likely had a much stronger level of commitment to monotheism before their conversion was completed.
Another difference between Avraham’s converts and Yitzchok’s and Yaakov’s was the newness of the concept. Avraham was a pioneer when he started spreading the word about monotheism. By the time Yitzchok invited people in for food and drink, the discussion didn’t have to start with an introduction to what monotheism is all about; they had likely heard about the concept due to the inroads Avraham had previously made into the polytheistic mindset. Instead, the potential convert already knew what the conversation with Yitzchok would be about, and was still willing to have it. And that conversation could start on a deeper level than it did with Avraham, and therefore penetrate more deeply.
Still another difference was the uniqueness of the communities. Avraham’s community was a singular entity, all revolving around Avraham and what he was teaching. Although the messages taught by Yitzchok and Yaakov were similar, by the time Yaakov moved back to the Land of Canaan, there were two communities, not just one; Yitzchok’s, which he had build in Canaan, and Yaakov which he had brought with him into Canaan. The mere presence of two totally separate communities having the same set of goals and ideals strengthened each of them. Having two leaders instead of just one, and additional leaders as Yaakov’s sons became older, also gave the newly merged community additional strength and staying power. Additionally, with Yaakov’s younger community joining with Yitzchok’s older one, there were now multiple generations of converts, including the children and grandchildren of those who had converted years earlier. Therefore, by the time Yaakov’s community joined with Yitzchok’s, Yaakov’s sons could marry members of that community and be confident that their life partners would not go back to the idol worship of their parents or grandparents.
Since the merging of Yaakov’s community of converts with Yitzchok’s was a major factor in the strengthening of that community, the Torah informs us of Yitzchok’s involvement with converts here. “And Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s converts,” rather than maintaining two separate communities of converts. This helped both communities tremendously, creating one stronger community worthy enough for Yaakov’s sons to marry into.
RabbiDMK 