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One that stings, and echoes through the ages. We see it play out in the story of Jacob and Esau. In Genesis 32:7, Jacob's messengers return with a troubling report: "We came to you...
We pick up the story in Genesis 32:4, where it says: "Jacob sent messengers." But before we get to that, Genesis 32:3 tells us something crucial: "Jacob said, when he saw them: [Th...
That’s the kind of tension simmering in our portion today, as we delve into Bereshit Rabbah 75, a midrashic exploration of Jacob's anxieties before his fateful encounter with Esau....
It’s easy to think of it as a simple sibling rivalry, a fear of physical harm. But when we delve into the ancient commentaries, a much larger, almost cosmic, fear emerges. The vers...
Genesis 32:17 tells us, "And he placed them in the hands of his slaves, each flock separately, and he told them: Go before me, and leave space between the flocks." Jacob isn't just...
The story of Jacob wrestling with an angel, found in Genesis 32, is one of the most enigmatic and powerful scenes in the Torah. But what was really going on that night by the river...
The Torah gives us a tiny peek in the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel. Remember that dramatic scene in Genesis 32:27? "He said: Release me, as dawn has broken. He said: I w...
It's never just a detail. Everything has meaning, layers upon layers waiting to be uncovered. We find this idea beautifully illustrated in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic...
It’s a pretty universal experience, and it seems even Jacob, one of our patriarchs, felt it too. Our story begins with Jacob's reunion with his brother, Esau, after many years of s...
