Rebekah, wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau, certainly did.

Imagine this: Isaac, old and blind, is about to bestow a blessing – a powerful, almost magical blessing – on his eldest son, Esau. But Rebekah knows this is wrong. It's not just a feeling; according to Legends of the Jews, she receives this knowledge through the ruach hakodesh, the holy spirit.

Now, some might think she’s just playing favorites with her son Jacob. But Ginzberg, in his masterful retelling of the Legends, suggests otherwise. It wasn't simply love for Jacob motivating her; it was a fierce determination to prevent Isaac from making a terrible mistake.

Think about it. This blessing wasn't just some nice words. It was a divinely charged pronouncement. Giving it to the wrong person could have… cosmic consequences.

So, what does Rebekah do? She takes action. She tells Jacob: "This night... this night is special." She describes it as a night when the "storehouses of dew are unlocked," a poetic image hinting at divine abundance. It's a night, she says, when the celestial beings sing Hallel, praises to God. And crucially, she connects it to the future deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt, when they too, will sing Hallel. Quite a powerful night, indeed! Hallel (הלל) is a Jewish prayer consisting of Psalms 113-118, which is used for praise and thanksgiving.

"Go now," she urges Jacob, "and prepare savory meat for thy father, that he may bless thee before his death." It’s a direct command, a call to action. She adds, appealing to his sense of duty and lineage: "Do as I bid thee, obey me as thou art wont, for thou art my son whose children, every one, will be good and God-fearing--not one shall be graceless." In other words, trust me, Jacob. This isn't just about you; it's about the future generations, your legacy.

Rebekah’s actions are often debated. Was she right to deceive Isaac? Was she manipulating her son? But perhaps, just perhaps, she was acting as an instrument of something larger than herself, guided by that inner knowing, that divine spark. And it certainly makes you wonder about the times in our own lives when we've had a gut feeling, a deep sense of right and wrong, guiding our decisions. Should we trust it? And how far should we go to act on it?