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…
Sefer Bereishit
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…
Home
Yaakov has to run away from home because of Esav’s threat to kill him. But Rivkah knows that if she says that to her husband he might not believe her because of his bias towards to his first born. So, she uses the argument that to find a wife for Yaakov, he, like his father before him has to go…
Genetic Engineering
Jacob worked for twenty one years for Lavan. During that time, he had eleven sons from two wives and two concubines. Having worked for Lavan all this time as a shepherd in charge of Lavan’s flocks, Jacob approached him with a proposition that would not cost Lavan, but could enrich Jacob. He asked for nothing. All he requested was that…