And they blessed Rivka, and said to her … let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
Isn’t this odd? What is the meaning of “possessing gates”?
As always, we can find answers by looking elsewhere in the text. Avraham is previously given the same blessing: your descendants shall inherit the gates of their foes.
Gates are interesting places. Gates are a doorway into a new world (Jacob says, “this is the gate of heaven!”). Lot welcomes the angels at the gates. Avraham buys the burial place at the gates – that is where buying and selling occurs. Hamor and Shechem go to the gates of the city to convince the men to become circumcised. Mordechai (and the blessed husband in Proverbs) “sits among the elders at the gates.” When a widow shames her brother-in-law, she spits on him and throws a shoe at him “at the gates.”
The gates of a city is where all the action happens: interaction with outsiders, the marketplace for goods, services, and even ideas (the forum is in or near gates). Judges sit at the gates, and so do businessmen and traders of all kinds.
Gates are places of action and interaction. Events at the gates are the least predictable of all. By contrast, a farmer has a limited range of expected action and reaction based on what nature throws at him. But anything can go down at a gate – a new rumor, a riot, an invasion. Gates are sources and breeding grounds for the unexpected. In part this is because a gate is where people meet each other, and people, not nature, are always the X Factor in the world. Nature is cyclical, but people can actually change and grow.
Classical Jewish professions include dealing in law, finance, and commerce of all kinds. Outside of medicine, every stereotypical Jewish profession would be practiced at the gate of a city. There are historical reasons for this, but I think there are temperamental reasons as well. Jews seem more comfortable in the “gate” professions than are most other people.
Why? What makes Jews more willing to be traders, lawyers, hustlers, financiers – all much more tolerant of not having a regular paycheck?
I think the answer is found in the text, when G-d tells Avraham why he is getting this blessing.
Because you have done this and have not withheld your son … your descendants shall inherit the gates of their foes.
What is the connection? Why does being willing to sacrifice your son mean that your descendants will inherit the gates of their enemies?
I think the answer comes down to risk tolerance. Here is why: Avraham takes a huge risk when he trusts in G-d. He has no idea how it will play out, but he is willing to take that risk anyway. The word play reinforces this: the word for “withheld” is the same root word as “darkness.”
In other words, Avraham’s decision was made in the dark. He was aware of that he had no idea what the future held, but he was prepared to do what he thought was best, and pray that G-d would sort things out.
This is an essential ingredient for Jewish businessmen. It is a reason why solo entrepreneurs in commerce and finance and real estate continue to succeed, long after corporations would logically have forced them from the field: Jews are willing to take risks that rational companies, companies who always need more information before they take a risk, will delay or outright avoid. Yet it is through businesses like that that wealth is created. The Hebrew word for “gates” also means “to multiply,” a reminder that wealth is multiplied through trade.
Entrepreneurial business is a leap of faith, and the road never leads where you think it is heading. It is not for the faint of heart – or those without faith. Business risks are often unique and the waters are fouled with the mines of unknown, unforeseeable, and unintended consequences, just waiting to explode. Few people choose that kind of risk if a nice, safe options are at hand. But Jews do.
It all connects. Rivka and Avraham are blessed to inherit the gates of his enemies – that Jews will prosper in the gates of sometimes-hostile host nations and peoples – because Avraham was willing to take a risk with inadequate information and faith. In both cases, we do all that we can, and then we believe that G-d will help everything turn out all right, somehow. Because that is precisely what has happened for thousands of years, and continues to happen to this day.
Procrastination
I wonder if the Torah has a problem with those who take their time when they act?
Compare:
When [Avraham] saw [the three men], he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the ground
With:
And [Rivka’s] brother and her mother said, Let the girl stay with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
Indeed, this seems to be a pattern does it not? After all, Lavan also seems to do everything imaginable to keep Jacob from leaving, from slowly doling out wives and wages, even up to the final parting.
I wonder if this might be a lesson? After all, Avraham, the ivri, was someone who acted without delay. When he knew what to do, he never hesitated.
But the other side of the family had a very different approach to action: they were against it. They seemed to instinctively delay and stall at every conceivable opportunity. Indeed, had G-d not directly intervened with Jacob (and with Lavan to allow Jacob to depart), it is not clear that he would have ever escaped Lavan’s house.
Is there a lesson here for each of us? Jews often suffer from analysis paralysis, where we think we know what is right, but we hesitate to act accordingly. Didn’t the Jews hesitate to enter the yam suf? G-d was not pleased.
Is hesitation antithetical to what G-d desires from us? Is a Jew who thrives at the gate someone who is able to make decisions with inadequate information, working hard and taking risks, but ultimately relying on G-d?