The Torah is full of stories of sibling rivalry, of brothers fighting brothers. It started with Cain and Abel and it continued on through Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau and Jacob’s twelve sons. The splits amongst the tribes continued. During the period of the Judges tribes competed with tribes, sometimes killing each other, as in the case of Yiftah…
Author: Jeremy Rosen
Frenemies
The dramatic encounter between Yaakov and Esav has come to be regarded as probably the most significant event in the Torah for relations between Jews and non-Jews. Two brothers compete for love and for a heritage. They part company as enemies. They meet again after many years with anxiety and hesitancy. They finally reconcile but go their separate ways. Esav…
Nicknames
My father loved giving nicknames. My younger brother Michael was called Mickey, and my youngest brother was called Buster. I was Rooky. That came from my Hebrew name, Yerucham. The English could not pronounce the guttural Chet sounds so it became Yerookam, and from that came Rooky, which stayed with me until my first rabbinic position, when I thought that…
Heaven
Yaakov runs for his life because his brother Esav has threatened to kill him. His mother sends him on his way back to her family in Aram (where Basra is today). On the face of it, it was to find sanctuary but also to find a wife. When Avraham wanted a wife for his son Yitzchak he sends his servant…
Do As You Would Be Done By
There is a tradition amongst some Talmudic commentators to try to discount what appears to be any narrative in the Torah that seems to reflect negatively on our founding fathers and mothers. This is partially out of profound respect for these great human beings. But it also reflects an old Pagan tradition dating back thousands of years to make well-known…
Sisters
The story of Rachel and Leah is a bittersweet one. Jacob arrives at the well in Ur and falls in love with beautiful Rachel on the spot. He proves himself by rolling a huge stone off the well, something that normally took lots of male shepherds to do. Clearly, he was not a weakling. Lavan hearing of his arrival runs…