The blessing of everything, Parashat Chayei Sara

‘And Abraham was old, advanced in days, and G-d had blessed Abraham with ba-col’. (Bereishit 24,1)

This verse occurs straight after Abraham has finalised the burial arrangements for Sarah his wife. Why does the Torah refer to him as both ‘old’ and ‘advanced in years’? What, in this context, is the explanation of the word ‘ba-col’ which we normally translate as ‘with everything’?

The commentary of Rabbi Ovadia Seforno (aka Seforno, 15/16 century) explains that the phrase ‘advanced in days’ means that the time had come for Abraham to marry off Isaac. This explanation fits within the context of the passage as Abraham starts this process in the very next verse. Therefore, this phrase explains that Abraham’s obligation to marry off Isaac still existed, emphasised by the fact the Abraham was growing old.

If so, what is the meaning of the word ‘ba-col’? If Abraham needed and wanted to marry off Isaac, can this word mean that Abraham was blessed with ‘everything’?

Rashi, in a similar vein to Seforno, writes that the numerical value of the letters in the word ‘ba-col’ is the same as the numerical value of the letters in the word ‘ben’ (son). Abraham, it seems, was blessed ‘ba-col’ because he had Isaac but action was now required to take care of Isaac’s future. Perhaps we see here how even when we have blessings, we still need to apply these blessings to our situation through our actions.

Ibn Ezra (1089-1167) takes a different approach. He writes that ‘ba-col’ means that Abraham was blessed with a long life, wealth, honour and children – all that Abraham desired.

It is noteworthy also to consider the Talmud’s comment (Bava Batra 16b) that the blessing of ‘ba-col’ was that Abraham did not witness the rebellion of his grandson Esau and that his own rebellious, expelled son Ishmael did teshuva, repented of his evil ways before Abraham passed away (see the end of the Sidra, 25:9, which states that Isaac and Ishmael both buried Abraham, plus Rashi’s comment there).

Ramban (1194-1270) quotes Ibn Ezra, also explaining that although Abraham was blessed ‘ba-col’ he still wanted to help Isaac. Ramban then makes an intriguing suggestion, based on suggestions made in the Talmudic passage quoted above. According to Rabbi Meir, one of the Talmudic sages, the blessing of ‘ba-col’ was that Abraham did not have a daughter. On the other hand, his protagonist Rabbi Yehuda explains that Abraham did have a daughter.

How could Rabbi Meir say that not having a daughter was a blessing?

Ramban explains that given the nefarious nature of society around Abraham, if he had a daughter, she would have had no choice but to marry an unsuitable husband and in such a society she would have suffered from that husband. Therefore, Abraham as the representative of moral values in his society, was blessed by having a boy who could continue that legacy, rather than a girl who would suffer from the society around her.