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The opening 11 chapters of Sefer Breisheet can be read as explaining why there was a need for a Jewish people.
G-d created man in His image and tasked him with partnering with Him in conquering the world. G-d began the process of creation but…
"And they said, should they make our sister like a harlot?" (Breisheet 34:31). So ends round one of the debate between Yaakov on one side, and Shimon and Levi on the other, over the killing of the people of Shechem for the rape of Dinah. The Torah…
One of the recurring and unfortunate themes of the book of Breisheet is that of sibling rivalry and even hatred: Cain and Hevel, Yitzchak and Yishmael, Yaakov and Eisav, Leah and Rachel, Yosef and his brothers. In fact, we often see better…
Sefer Breisheet begins with the grandeur of creation, detailing the many new life forms, and with great hope for the human race. This hope was to be short-lived, with story after story of man's pettiness and propensity for evil. By the end of…
People often mistakenly think that truly righteous people are somehow different, perhaps not totally "normal". Somehow we assume that, unlike regular people, tzadikim (to paraphrase Shakespeare) "don't bleed or feel like we…
"And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were one hundred and forty seven years" (Breisheet 47:28).
As the Torah has already told us that Jacob arrived in Egypt at the age of 130, the first half of…
“On that day Jacob blessed them saying by you shall bless [the people of] Israel saying, 'may G-d make you like Ephraim and Menashe (48:20).'” While Ephraim and Menasheh are no doubt worthy candidates to serve as a model of blessing why are they…
The story of Yosef begins, “and Jacob dwelled (vayeshev) in the land of his fathers, in the land of Canaan”. As the story of Joseph reaches its conclusion, the Torah tells us that “Jacob lived (vayechi) in the land of Egypt”.
Jacob dwelled in Canaan…