2,248 related texts · Page 4 of 47
The Torah describes Jacob's burial as a solemn procession to Canaan. Targum Jonathan turns it into an epic confrontation complete with a golden deathbed, a eulogy comparing Jacob t...
Take the birth of Jacob and Esau, for example. Seems straightforward. But Bereshit Rabbah, the ancient rabbinic commentary on Genesis, dives deep, revealing layers of interpretatio...
It all boils down to a pot of stew. (Genesis 25:29) tells us, "Jacob cooked a stew, and Esau came from the field and he was weary." Simple enough. But within that weariness, and wi...
Let’s look at Isaac, the son of Abraham. The book of Genesis tells us, "There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was during the days of Abraham, and Isaac went...
Take the tale of Esau, brother of Jacob. He wasn't exactly winning any popularity contests with his parents. (Genesis 28:8) tells us, "Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were ob...
We’ve all been there. But what if I told you this very human tendency is reflected in the ancient commentaries on the Torah? Today, we’re diving into Bereshit Rabbah, a collection ...
That’s the kind of tension simmering in our portion today, as we delve into Bereshit Rabbah 75, a midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic exploration of Jacob's anxieties befo...
We're looking at section 76, which grapples with Jacob's prayer as he prepares to meet his brother Esau after years of separation (Genesis 32:10). Remember the setup: Jacob is unde...
Take the story of Jacob preparing to meet his brother Esau after years of estrangement. He sends Esau a lavish gift, described in detail in Genesis 32. But is it just a gift list, ...
to a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of Jacob's reunion with his brother Esau, years after their fraught parting. The story, as told in Bereshit Rabbah 78, isn't just about b...
We're in chapter 97, diving into Jacob's blessing of Joseph. The scene: Jacob, nearing the end of his life, blesses Joseph, saying, "The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isa...
The Torah portion Vayechi, at the very end of Genesis, gives us a glimpse into that very idea. Jacob, on his deathbed, blesses his sons. And when he blesses Joseph, it says, "He bl...
The verse in question is (Genesis 49:28): "This is what their father Jacob spoke to them." But the Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah notice something subtle. It doesn't say, "This is what ...
The collection of rabbinic homiletic interpretations of Song of Songs, Shir HaShirim Rabbah, dives deep into this very question. Rabbi Berekhya offers a surprising take: how can ho...
That feeling, that raw, unfair sting, is at the heart of the story of Jacob and Esau, and the stolen blessing. The scene is set: Isaac, now old and with failing eyesight, calls for...
We get glimpses in the Torah, of course, but sometimes other ancient texts offer fascinating expansions on those stories. Take the Book of Jubilees, for example. It's an ancient Je...
Before giving the Torah to Israel, God first offered it to every other nation on earth. The Mekhilta records one of the most dramatic of these encounters — the moment God approache...
Jacob blessed Esau's son but knew the blessing came from somewhere deeper than himself. "And God shall give you the dew of heaven" (Genesis 27:28) — this is the dew of Mount Hermon...
"In all their affliction, He was not afflicted" (Isaiah 63:9). The midrash reads this as conditional: if Israel does the will of God in their troubles, then He is afflicted with th...
to a juicy little episode from the Book of Jubilees, chapter 27, and see what kind of familial kerfuffles our ancestor Jacob found himself in. Remember Jacob and Esau? Those twins,...
Two brothers, locked in a struggle for inheritance and blessing, but also, according to some traditions, watched over by celestial guardians of immense power. We know the story: Es...
We often think of Rebekah's role in the story of Jacob and Esau as somewhat manipulative, but when you dig into the legends, you find a fierce maternal love driving her actions. : ...
Take the story of Jacob, disguised as Esau, receiving Isaac's blessing. It's a pivotal moment, full of deception and destiny. But let's zoom in on one specific detail: "And the hid...
"These are the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham" (Genesis 25:19). Rashi comments simply: "these are Jacob and Esau, who are discussed in the portion." But Rebbe Elimelech o...
Esau sees that the women of Canaan displease his father Isaac (Genesis 28:8). So what does he do? He goes and marries a daughter of Ishmael. Adding trouble upon trouble, the rabbis...
You know the one – stretching all the way from earth to heaven, angels going up and down, up and down. He jolted awake and said, "In truth, the Glory of the Shekhinah (the Divine P...
It’s a powerful scene, thick with emotion. But according to Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, there's so much more going on ...
We throw them around pretty casually these days, don't we? "Bless you" after a sneeze. "Have a blessed day." But what if a blessing held real, tangible power? What if it could shap...
We find a powerful description of it in the Book of Jubilees. Imagine the moment. Jacob, having tricked his father into giving him the blessing meant for Esau, now stands before th...
The traditional texts offer some fascinating, and frankly, unsettling insights into Esau's true character and the events surrounding that infamous stolen blessing. According to Leg...
Esau was seething after Jacob received their father Isaac's blessing. He was so consumed by hatred, according to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, that Jacob had to esca...
According to Legends of the Jews, that sign came with the birth of his son, Joseph. Jacob believed that Joseph's descendants would ultimately triumph over Esau's – his own brother,...
The story of Rebekah and her twin sons, Jacob and Esau, is a wild ride that takes us just there. According to Legends of the Jews, by Louis Ginzberg, Rebekah's pregnancy wasn't exa...
The Torah tells us that Rebekah, knowing what was right and divinely inspired, took matters into her own hands to make sure that Jacob, not Esau, received Isaac’s blessing. But tha...
The stories we find in Jewish tradition certainly do. Take the tale of Esau and Jacob, for instance. It’s a story filled with sibling rivalry, deception, and, as we'll see, divine ...
Take Jacob, for example. The narrative surrounding Jacob in Jewish tradition is… well, let's just say it's complicated. He’s a patriarch, one of the foundational figures of our peo...
The whole thing started with a bowl of soup. Esau came home from hunting one day—starving, exhausted, still a young man—and found his brother Jacob cooking lentil stew. It was brig...
The Mekhilta completes its tracing of prayer through the three patriarchs by turning to Jacob. The Torah says that Jacob "vayifga in the place and he spent the night there, for the...
The Torah tells us that Isaac eventually married Rebecca. But did you know that, according to some traditions, they faced a long period of infertility? Twenty-two years, to be exac...
Let’s talk about Jacob and Esau, and a bowl of… lentil stew. Genesis tells us that the twins were different from the start. "When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a...
Zechariah saw a horseman in a vision of the night (Zechariah 1:8). The rabbis identified this figure as the prince of Edom — the heavenly guardian angel of the nation that had rule...
The pattern repeats. Israel suffers, God rescues, and Israel sings. Then the singing stops, and the same behavior that caused the original suffering returns. The Holy One watches t...
A voice cries in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3). The Aggadat Bereshit connects this voice — the hera...
A sigh from a Jewish person can repair what is broken in the world. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught this not as poetry but as metaphysics. The sigh, the deep exhalation of grief or...
What is written of Moses? (Numbers 20:14-16) "And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom … And our fathers went down to Egypt … and He hearkened to our voice." He (t...
When the righteous multiply in the world, good things multiply with them. This is Aggadat Bereshit's reading of "When the righteous are many, the people rejoice" (Proverbs 29:2). N...
It is written: “You have seen, for You behold mischief and spite; to requite is in Your hand: the helpless man commits himself to You; You are the helper of the orphans” (Psalms 10...
“Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himself to him and Haman was filled with wrath” (Esther 3:5).“Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himse...
