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The Torah tells us in Genesis 32:28 that after wrestling with a mysterious figure, Jacob is told, "No more shall Jacob be said to be your name; rather, Israel, for you have striven...
It’s a fascinating story that takes us back to the very beginnings of our people, to Jacob wrestling with a mysterious figure. The Torah tells us, in Genesis 32:33, "Therefore, the...
Our journey begins with a seemingly simple verse from Genesis 42:5: "The sons of Israel came to acquire grain among [betokh] those who came, as the famine was in the land of Canaan...
But peel back the layers, and you'll find a fascinating tapestry of interpretations woven by our sages. The Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah 98, for example, don't just see a vineyard. Th...
In Jewish tradition, there are stories about those who tried, and what happened when they did. Our story today comes from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpre...
It's easy to read the Torah as a collection of individual stories, but the rabbis of old saw something more: echoes, parallels, and meaningful connections woven throughout the gene...
We all know the story of the first set, shattered in anger at the sight of the Golden Calf. But why two in the first place? Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homilies on the Book of ...
The Book of Deuteronomy promises, "when the Lord your God will expand your border" (Deuteronomy 19:8). But what does that expansion really mean? Is it just about more territory? Th...
It seems so natural, so ingrained in Jewish practice, that we might not even stop to ask why. But the Rabbis of old, they were always asking. They wanted to know the source, the re...
