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It's a deep dive into the story of Jacob's sons and their trip to Egypt, and it's full of anxiety, suspicion, and loss. The passage begins with a recap from Genesis 42. Joseph, now...
Our ancestors certainly did. This week, we're diving into Bereshit Rabbah 91, a section of the great Midrashic collection that unpacks the Book of Genesis. Specifically, we'll be l...
The Torah portion Vayechi, at the very end of Genesis, gives us a glimpse into that very idea. Jacob, on his deathbed, blesses his sons. And when he blesses Joseph, it says, "He bl...
Our Sages, delving deep into the Torah, grapple with this very idea in Bereshit Rabbah 97, a section of the ancient Midrash. They begin with a verse from Genesis (48:16), where Jac...
That’s the sense I get reading Bereshit Rabbah 98, a beautiful passage from the ancient midrashic collection, which interprets a verse from Psalm 57:3: “I cry out to God on High, t...
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 story begins with the tribes of Reuben and Gad. As Israel was in the process of conquering and dividing the land, these tribes, as the midrash tells it, had left young children...
We all know the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, but the ancient rabbis saw layers of complexity there, hints of struggle just beneath the surface. to a fascinating passage fro...
The Torah portion of Vayechi recounts the death of Jacob and the journey to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah. We read in Genesis (50:10-11): “They came to the threshing floor of A...
