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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 with...
We find a fascinating, and perhaps unsettling, answer in Bereshit Rabbah 63, a section of the ancient Midrash that delves into the lives of Abraham and Isaac, and the troublesome f...
We often hear it as a simple transaction: Esau was hungry, Jacob offered food in exchange for the birthright, end of story. But, as always, the Rabbis see layers upon layers, depth...
Jewish tradition certainly sees patterns in the past, especially when it comes to times of hardship. We find a fascinating example of this in Bereshit Rabbah 64, a collection of ra...
The ancient rabbis grappled with these questions constantly, poring over scripture for answers. One particularly poignant example comes from Bereshit Rabbah 65, as it tries to unde...
We're looking at Genesis 27:3, where Isaac tells his son Esau, "Now, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me." Seems simple e...
The scene: Jacob is about to deceive his father Isaac in order to receive the blessing meant for his brother Esau. He's understandably nervous. "Behold," he says to Rebecca, "Esau ...
It turns out, even the clothes in the Torah have a tale to spin. to a fascinating Midrash about Esau's special garments, found in Bereshit Rabbah 65. In Genesis 27:15, we read, “Re...
In the story of Jacob and Esau, as told in Genesis 27:23, that sense of smell takes on a whole new, almost mystical, significance. The verse tells us, "He did not recognize him, be...
