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The Torah tells us, "Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, and it displeased him; he supported his father’s hand, to remove it from the he...
Specifically, we're going to look at section 97, which unpacks Jacob's final words to Joseph. The verse in question is Genesis 48:21: "Israel said to Joseph: Behold, I am dying, an...
The Torah tells us, "Jacob called to his sons, and he said: Gather, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days. Assemble and hear, sons of Jacob, and listen to Isr...
It's a wild ride of interpretations, isn’t it? The passage opens with Jacob's words: "Reuben, you are my firstborn." Now, Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi], the compiler of the Mishnah, offers...
The story starts with a quote from Genesis 49:5: "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of villainy are their heritage." But what does it really mean? Bereshit Rabbah, an ancient c...
The passage centers around Jacob's blessing to his son Judah: "Judah, you shall your brothers acknowledge; your hand will be at the nape of your enemies; your father’s sons will pr...
It's Genesis 49:9: “Judah is a lion cub; from prey, my son, you ascended. He crouches, lies like a lion, and like a great cat, who shall rouse him?” Right away, the image of a lion...
In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, they dig deep into this verse, connecting it to the story of Samson, the legendary strongman from t...
First, "Naphtali is a doe let loose [sheluḥa]." The Rabbis connect this to the land of Naphtali being full of irrigated fields [beit hashelaḥin]. They point to Deuteronomy 3:17, wh...
