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One that stings, and echoes through the ages. We see it play out in the story of Jacob and Esau. In Genesis 32:7, Jacob's messengers return with a troubling report: "We came to you...
The passage begins with Jacob, poised to meet his brother Esau after years of separation. “Jacob sent messengers” (Genesis 32:4). But it's not just a simple act of diplomacy. The R...
In fact, our ancestors grappled with it too. to a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a classical rabbinic commentary on the Book of Genesis, and see how Jacob faced a simila...
We pick up the story in Genesis 32:4, where it says: "Jacob sent messengers." But before we get to that, Genesis 32:3 tells us something crucial: "Jacob said, when he saw them: [Th...
We're looking at section 75, which deals with the moment Jacob prepares to meet his brother Esau after years of estrangement. Jacob, remember, is about to face his brother Esau, fr...
Our ancestor Jacob certainly did. When he sends messengers ahead to his brother Esau, the report they bring back plunges him into fear. But within that fear, we find a fascinating ...
That’s the kind of tension simmering in our portion today, as we delve into Bereshit Rabbah 75, a midrashic exploration of Jacob's anxieties before his fateful encounter with Esau....
It turns out, even our greatest heroes struggled with this. We find ourselves in Bereshit Rabbah 76, a section of the ancient rabbinic commentary on the Book of Genesis. The scene ...
It’s a uniquely human experience, and it's exactly the kind of layered emotion we find in the story of Jacob's reunion with Esau. In Genesis 32:8, it says "Jacob was very frightene...
