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But trust me, there's more than meets the eye. These names, tucked away in Genesis 25:2, are actually bursting with hidden meanings. The passage tells us these were the sons born t...
The Torah, and later rabbinic texts, offer some fascinating, and comforting, glimpses. Let’s start with Abraham. Genesis 25:7 tells us, "These are the days of the years of Abraham’...
It’s a question that perplexed some of our sages, too. Take Ishmael, for example. Genesis 25:12 starts out: "These are the descendants of Ishmael son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egy...
The verse in Genesis 25:22 tells us "The children were agitated within her, and she said: If this is so, why do I exist? She went to inquire of the Lord." But what exactly does "ag...
Our story today comes from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis. Specifically, we're looking at section 63, which delves into the lives ...
We find a fascinating, and perhaps unsettling, answer in Bereshit Rabbah 63, a section of the ancient Midrash that delves into the lives of Abraham and Isaac, and the troublesome f...
We often hear it as a simple transaction: Esau was hungry, Jacob offered food in exchange for the birthright, end of story. But, as always, the Rabbis see layers upon layers, depth...
The scene: Isaac is hanging out in the land of the Philistines, near Gerar. Remember, his father Abraham had his own…issues there. And wouldn’t you know it, history seems to be rep...
But the Midrash, specifically Bereshit Rabbah 65, really digs into why that bitterness is directed at Isaac first. Why Isaac first? That's the question the rabbis grapple with. And...
