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Our story begins with Rachel, one of the matriarchs of the Jewish people. She was barren, a source of immense sorrow in a time when children were seen as a woman's greatest blessin...
The verse we're looking at is Genesis 30:23, where Rachel, finally blessed with a son, exclaims, "God has removed my disgrace!" But what exactly is this "disgrace" she's referring ...
That’s the kind of feeling we get when we delve into Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis. Specifically, let’s look at verse 30:...
We find a classic example of that – and its consequences – in the story of Jacob and Laban. It all revolves around a seemingly simple agreement about sheep, and honesty... or the l...
The Torah tells us, "Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar, and almond, and plane; he peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white that was in the rods” (Genesis 30:37). ...
We often think of money, houses, cars... but what about flocks? Genesis 30:43 tells us that Jacob, the patriarch, "became exceedingly prosperous." Now, "prosperous" is an understat...
It turns out, this isn't just a modern consideration. The ancient rabbis were thinking about this too! Our story today comes from Bereshit Rabbah (Genesis Rabbah), a collection of ...
Jacob, our patriarch, knew that feeling all too well. He was working for his father-in-law, Laban, and things were…complicated. In Genesis 31, we hear Jacob expressing his frustrat...
But the rabbis of the Talmud saw something more. Rabbi Yudan offers one explanation: Rachel died first "because she spoke before her sister." It's a fascinating idea, suggesting pe...
