The Laugh Of Yitzchak

Why is Yitzchak named after the laugh of his mother when she heard she would give birth, why that an important fact to highlight in his name?  In this week’s parsha it says that Avimelech saw Yitzchak and Rivka laughing.  Why does it use such an expression to describe their relationship?  Why does the Torah use the language of ויעתר to describe the prayers of Yitzchak and Rivka as opposed to any other prayer where such a terminology isn’t used?

Yitzchak was named after laughter because he was born with the ability to bring holiness into a world which seems completely divorced from Hashem.  One laughs when something that is unexpected happens.  The ability to bring kedusha into this world seems completely impossible and when it happens it causes laughter.  Therefore, it is quite fitting that the first child born into compete kedusha is named laughter for it sums up the essence of Judaism.  The ultimate laughter will be in the future when all the sparks of holiness in the world will be uplifted and the world will finally be united with Hashem.  That’s why it’s specifically Yitzchak who is associated with the (near) future days and will be our defendant in judgment (see Shabbos 89b.)

The name Rivka is related to the word רבקה של בקר- a yoke of cows.  That means that she had the   ability to control her own cow, she ruled over her animal soul.  The union of Yitzchak and Rivka is therefore referred to as tzchok for it’s the ultimate unity of two kinds of tzchok.  The Yitzchak model of tzchok is the ability to bring kedusha into the world for he was born into holiness.  Rivka on the other hand came from reshaim and her tzchok was that even so she was able to perfect herself.  (Based upon a mammar from the Alter Rebbe 1809 with explanation of essay by Y.Y. Jacobson.)

The Zohar says that the language of vayetar is related to the word vayechtar which means that a furrow was dug for their prayers to be accepted.  The midrash quotes in the name of Rav Levi a parable to explain the idea of a king whose son wanted to get gold, so the king was tunneling from the inside to give him the gold and the son was tunneling from the outside to get to gold.  We see from here that it wasn’t natural for Yitzchak and Rivka to have children and it required a new tunnel to be created for them to have children.  That’s why specifically in this situation the language of vayetar is used for in this situation the tefillah created a new existence.  (Nesivos Shalom.) The Shem M’Shmuel points out that the midrash puts the tunneling of the king before the tunneling of the son.  That means even before a person actually prays, once he has in his mind that he will pray Hashem already grants the request.  

Why was it necessary for Yitzchak and Rivka to have children in a non-natural manner?  Based upon what we said above its self-understood that the existence of Klal Yisrael doesn’t make sense in the parameters of the world and therefore there was a need for a new form of existence to be created for the formation of Klal Yisroel.