Jacob Built the First Study Hall at Succoth

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 33:17 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 15, 2025

"And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and sojourned there the twelve months of the year; and he built in it a midrasha, and for his flocks he made booths; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth." Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Genesis 33:17) inserts a detail the plain text never mentions: a midrasha.

A midrasha is a study hall — the ancient ancestor of the yeshiva. The Targum is telling us that when Jacob finally found a safe place, the first thing he built was not a fortress and not a palace. He built a house of study.

Why a study hall before anything else?

The rabbis of late antiquity read this detail as a signature of Jewish identity. The booths were for the flocks — shelter for the animals that fed the family. But the midrasha was for the people — shelter for the soul. The Torah traditions already traced back to Abraham's tent and Isaac's fields had to have a permanent place to be taught, and Jacob made that place.

For a whole year, Jacob stayed at Succoth. Twelve months of study and settling. The rabbis saw here a model: after every great upheaval — reconciliation with Esau in this case — you need a season of rebuilding, and the center of that rebuilding is learning. Torah is what turns a journey into a home.

The takeaway: the first thing a Jew builds in a new place is a room where Torah is taught.

Themes

Patriarchs Study Torah Community

Biblical References

Genesis 33:17

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