1,092 related texts · Page 87 of 122
The story begins with Akilas, a convert to Judaism – a ger tzedek, as we say in Hebrew. He approaches Rabbi Eliezer with a question, a concern, really. Akilas points to the verse i...
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...
That feeling, that resilience, is at the heart of a beautiful teaching about Jacob, our patriarch. The Torah tells us that Jacob "arrived intact" (Genesis 33:18) after his long jou...
to a passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, and unpack some of the ideas around yibum, or levirate marriage. The story begin...
We find ourselves in Genesis 44:16, with Judah facing Joseph – though he doesn’t yet know it's Joseph – after the infamous silver goblet is found in Benjamin's sack. His desperate ...
Our Sages, delving deep into the Torah, grapple with this very idea in Bereshit Rabbah 97, a section of the ancient Midrash. They begin with a verse from Genesis (48:16), where Jac...
It's a wild ride of interpretations, isn’t it? The passage opens with Jacob's words: "Reuben, you are my firstborn." Now, Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi], the compiler of the Mishnah, offers...
The story starts with a quote from Genesis 49:5: "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of villainy are their heritage." But what does it really mean? Bereshit Rabbah, an ancient c...
The Torah describes Joseph as a "fruitful tree, a fruitful tree alongside a spring; branches run over the wall" (Genesis 49:22). But what does that really mean? The rabbis in Beres...
