Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Chasidut for Yevamot 127:7

א"ה אברהם נמי עקור היה ההוא מיבעי ליה לכדר' חייא בר אבא דא"ר חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן למה נמנו שנותיו של ישמעאל כדי לייחס בהן שנותיו של יעקב

— The other replied: Isaac was barren.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Knowing that the disability was due to his weakness he waited ten years longer than Abraham. ');"><sup>17</sup></span> If so,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra n. 13. ');"><sup>18</sup></span> Abraham also was barren!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Why then did he not wait more than ten years? ');"><sup>19</sup></span>

Kedushat Levi

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.‎
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