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Jewish tradition certainly seems to think so. Take the story of Jacob and Esau, those eternally feuding twins from the Book of Genesis. Their very names, given at birth, are loaded...
Take the tale of Jacob and Esau. As babies, they were basically indistinguishable, right? Like a myrtle and a thorn bush just sprouting – you can't tell them apart yet. But give th...
Take Isaac, for example. His life, as the great compilation Legends of the Jews tells us, reads like a mirror image of his father Abraham's. Think about it. Abraham had to leave hi...
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...
According to Legends of the Jews, a monumental compilation of Jewish folklore by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, Rebekah, overcome with distress, began to weep as soon as Jacob departed. Isa...
What does he do? Does he stand back, waiting for someone to acknowledge him? Nope. He takes the initiative. "My brethren, whence be ye?" he asks. A simple question, but oh-so-power...
And it turns out, it's one reflected in the stories of our ancestors, even in the lives of biblical figures like Leah. The text reminds us that, as it says, “The ways of God are no...
They're often packed with meaning, little clues into the lives and destinies of the people who carry them. Take Reuben, for instance, the firstborn son of Leah. It's a name that wh...
Her story, as told in Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, is filled with love, loss, and a touch of the mystical. When her son Joseph was born, she named him Yosef, which means ...
