Parshat Vayeshev

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Joseph's dreams and his brothers' jealousy, Joseph sold into slavery, Judah and Tamar, and Joseph in Potiphar's house and prison. Genesis 37:1-40:23.

Rebecca: Abraham at the Dawn of Creation

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 90:1

But Jewish tradition, with its beautiful layers of interpretation, sees something far deeper. The rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah, an ancient and profound commentary on the Book of Genes...

CreationPatriarchsJosephMoses

Jacob's Sons Go Down to Egypt to Buy Grain

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 91:1

Jacob, seeing a famine in the land, tells his sons, "Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?" (Genesis 42:1). Simple enough. But the rabbis of the Midrash, particularly in Bereshit...

CreationPatriarchsJosephKing David

Jacob and Creation of Egypt

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 91:2

The story begins with Jacob observing his sons. "Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?" he asks them. But what exactly did he mean? According to this Midrash, Jacob wasn't just w...

CreationPatriarchsJosephEgypt

Egypt: Jacob's Journey

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 91:3

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...

CreationJosephSolomonTorah

Why Jacob Sacrificed to the God of Isaac Not Abraham

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 94:5

It centers around the verse: "He slaughtered feast-offerings to the God of his father Isaac" (Genesis 46:1). Why Isaac? Why not Abraham, the patriarch of them all? Rabbi Yehoshua b...

CreationNoah & FloodPatriarchsJoseph

Egypt: Jacob at the Dawn of Creation

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 96:1

It's even woven into the very fabric of the Torah. : we read in Genesis 47:28, "Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one...

CreationPatriarchsJosephJob

Elazar: Joshua at the Dawn of Creation

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 97:3

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...

CreationAngelsPatriarchsJoseph

Did Jacob Reveal the End of Days to His Sons

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 98:2

The Torah tells us, "Jacob called to his sons, and he said: Gather, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days. Assemble and hear, sons of Jacob, and listen to Isr...

CreationHeavenHell/GehennaPatriarchs

Naphtali at the Dawn of Creation

Midrash Rabbah Bereshit Rabbah 98:17

First, "Naphtali is a doe let loose [sheluḥa]." The Rabbis connect this to the land of Naphtali being full of irrigated fields [beit hashelaḥin]. They point to Deuteronomy 3:17, wh...

CreationPatriarchsJosephMoses