Naming a sidra – Ask the Rabbi
Q. The second sidra in the Torah begins Eleh Tol’dot No’ach (These are the Generations of Noah), but the sidra itself is called merely No’ach. Yet a few weeks later we have a sidra that begins V’eleh Tol’dot Yitzchak (These are the Generations of Isaac), but that sidra is Tol’dot and not Yitzchak. Is this not inconsistent?
A. The general rule is that a sidra derives its name from the first important word. Pure logic might therefore have dictated that Parashat No’ach could have been called Tol’dot (though then we would have two sidrot with the same name!) and the later sidra you mention could have been Yitzchak.
The probable reason for the way the names were actually worked out is that since the story of Noah is basically contained within one sidra it was appropriate to give the sidra the name No’ach, and since the story of Yitzchak is spread over several sidrot it would be confusing to call one sidra Yitzchak.
