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"Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn" (Genesis 32:25). A simple sentence, but pregnant with meaning. What does it mean to be alone? And who, o...
Rabbi Ḥama ben Rabbi Ḥanina suggests that Jacob wasn't wrestling just anyone; he was battling Esau’s guardian angel! Remember when Jacob says, "For therefore I have seen your face,...
The Torah gives us a tiny peek in the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel. Remember that dramatic scene in Genesis 32:27? "He said: Release me, as dawn has broken. He said: I w...
The Torah tells us in Genesis 32:28 that after wrestling with a mysterious figure, Jacob is told, "No more shall Jacob be said to be your name; rather, Israel, for you have striven...
It all starts with Jacob, that famous figure from the Book of Genesis. Remember when Jacob wrestles with a mysterious figure all night long? After this epic struggle, Jacob asks hi...
It's never just a detail. Everything has meaning, layers upon layers waiting to be uncovered. We find this idea beautifully illustrated in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic...
It’s a fascinating story that takes us back to the very beginnings of our people, to Jacob wrestling with a mysterious figure. The Torah tells us, in Genesis 32:33, "Therefore, the...
It’s a pretty universal experience, and it seems even Jacob, one of our patriarchs, felt it too. Our story begins with Jacob's reunion with his brother, Esau, after many years of s...
Take the reunion of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 33. We read how Jacob arranged his family as he approached his brother, placing the maidservants and their children first, Leah and he...