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Toledot, Toldot, Toldos, or Toldoth (—
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
for "generations" or "descendants," the second word and the first distinctive word in the ''parashah
The term ''parashah'', ''parasha'' or ''parashat'' ( ''Pārāšâ'', "portion", Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian , Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardi , plural: ''parashot'' or ''parashiyot'', also called ''parsha'') formally means a section of a biblical book ...
'') is the sixth weekly Torah portion
The weekly Torah portion refers to a lectionary custom in Judaism in which a portion of the Torah (or Pentateuch) is read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, ''Parashat HaShavua'' (), is popularly abbre ...
(, ''parashah'') in the annual Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
cycle of Torah reading
Torah reading (; ') is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark, chanting the ap ...
. The parashah tells of the conflict between Jacob
Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...
and Esau
Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the minor prophet, prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The story of Jacob and Esau reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming ...
, Isaac
Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...
's passing off his wife Rebekah as his sister, and Isaac's blessing
In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with doctrines of grace, grace, Sacred, holiness, spiritual Redemption (theology), redemption, or Will of God, divine will.
Etymology and Germani ...
of his sons.
It constitutes Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Religion
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
25:19–28:9. The parashah is made up of 5,426 Hebrew letters, 1,432 Hebrew words, 106 verses, and 173 lines in a Torah Scroll (, ''Sefer Torah
file:SeferTorah.jpg, A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema
file:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG, An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue
file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Inte ...
''). Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
s read it the sixth Sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...
after Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah (; Ashkenazi: ), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Hebrew Bible ...
, generally in November, or rarely in early December.
Readings
In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings (, '' aliyot''). In theMasoretic Text
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...
of the Tanakh
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''
. ''
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' peh'')). Parashat Toledot has three "closed portion" (, ''setumah'') divisions (abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (''
As the reading continues in chapter 27,
when Isaac was old and his sight had dimmed, he called Esau and asked him to hunt some game and prepare a dish, so that Isaac might give him his innermost blessing before he died. Rebekah had been listening, and when Esau departed, she instructed Jacob to fetch her two choice kids so that she might prepare a dish that Jacob could take to Isaac and receive his blessing. Jacob complained to Rebekah that since Esau was hairy, Isaac might touch him, discover him to be a trickster, and curse him. But Rebekah called the curse upon herself, insisting that Jacob do as she directed. So Jacob got the kids, and Rebekah prepared a dish, had Jacob put on Esau's best clothes, and covered Jacob's hands and neck with the kid's skins. When Jacob went to Isaac, he asked which of his sons had arrived, and Jacob said that he was Esau and asked for Isaac's blessing. Isaac asked him how he had succeeded so quickly, and he said that God had granted him good fortune. Isaac asked Jacob to come closer that Isaac might feel him to determine whether he was really Esau. Isaac felt him and wondered that the voice was Jacob's, but the hands were Esau's. Isaac questioned if it was really Esau, and when Jacob assured him, Isaac asked for the game and Jacob served him the kids and wine. Isaac bade his son to come close and kiss him, and Isaac smelled his clothes, remarking that he smelled like the fields. The fifth reading ends here.
Reading the words of Genesis 25:22, "and the children struggled together with in her," a Midrash taught that they sought to run within her. When she stood near synagogues or schools, Jacob struggled to come out, while when she passed idolatrous temples, Esau struggled to come out. Reading Rebekah's lament in Genesis 25:22, "why am I like this?" Rabbi Isaac taught that Rebekah went to other women's houses and asked them whether they had experienced such suffering. Reading the words, "and she went to inquire of the Lord," in Genesis 25:22, a Midrash wondered how Rebekah asked God about her pregnancy, and whether there were synagogues and houses of study in those days. The Midrash taught that Rebekah went to the school of
Reading Genesis 25:23, "the Lord said to her," Rabbi Iddi taught that God spoke to her through the medium of an angel. Rabbi Ba bar Kahana said that God’s word came to her through an intermediary. Rabbi Haggai said in Rabbi Isaac's name that Rebekah was a prophet, as were all of the matriarchs.
The Rabbis of the Talmud read
Rabbi Huna interpreted the words of Genesis 25:23, "the older shall serve the younger," to mean that if Jacob merited, then Esau would serve, but if not, then Esau would be served. Noting that in Genesis 25:24, regarding Jacob and Esau, the word "twins" is written , defectively (without an or a ), whereas in Genesis 38:27, regarding Peretz and Zeraḥ, the word "twins" is written , more completely (with an and a ), a Midrash taught that the text signals that Peretz and Zeraḥ were both righteous, but Jacob was righteous and Esau was wicked. Reading the words of Genesis 25:27, "And Esau was a cunning hunter," a Midrash taught that Esau ensnared people by their words. Reading the words, "and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents," the Midrash taught that Jacob dwelt in two tents, the academy of Shem and the academy of Eber. And reading the words of Genesis 25:28, "And Rebekah loved Jacob," the Midrash taught that the more Rebekah heard Jacob's voice (engaged in study), the stronger her love grew for him.
Rabbi Ḥaninah taught that Esau paid great attention to his parent (''horo''), his father, whom he supplied with meals, as Genesis 25:28 reports, "Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his venison." Rabbi Samuel the son of Rabbi Gedaliah concluded that God decided to reward Esau for this. When Jacob offered Esau gifts, Esau answered Jacob in Genesis 33:9, "I have enough (, ''rav''); do not trouble yourself." So God declared that with the same expression that Esau thus paid respect to Jacob, God would command Jacob's descendants not to trouble Esau's descendants, and thus God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 2:3, "You have circled this mountain (, ''har'') long enough (, ''rav'')."
A Tanna taught in a 
Rabbi Joḥanan taught that Esau committed five sins on the day recounted in Genesis 25:29–34. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from the similar use of the words "the field" in Genesis 25:29 and in connection with the betrothed maiden in Deuteronomy 22:27 that Esau dishonored a betrothed maiden. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from the similar use of the word "faint" in Genesis 25:29 and in connection with murderers in Jeremiah 4:31 that Esau committed a murder. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from the similar use of the word "this" in Genesis 25:32 and in the words "This is my God" in Exodus 15:2 that Esau denied belief in God. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from Esau's words, "Behold, I am on the way to die," in Genesis 25:32 that Esau denied the resurrection of the dead. And for Esau's fifth sin, Rabbi Joḥanan cited Genesis 25:34, that "Esau despised his birthright."
Reading Genesis 25:30, "Esau said to Jacob: 'Feed me now from that red, red dish,'" Rabbi Ze’eira said that Esau opened his mouth wide like a camel and told Jacob, "I will open my mouth and you continuously pour."
A Midrash taught that Jacob dedicated himself to acquiring the birthright because before the Tabernacle was established, private altars were permitted and service was performed by the firstborn, and Jacob did not want Esau to conduct the sacrificial services.
Rabbi Eliezer taught that the five Hebrew letters of the Torah that alone among Hebrew letters have two separate shapes (depending whether they are in the middle or the end of a word)— (Kh, M, N, P, Z)—all relate to the mystery of the redemption, including to Isaac's redemption from the Philistines in Genesis 26:16. With the letter ''
Rabbi Eleazar taught that Isaac's blindness, reported in Genesis 27:1, was caused by his looking at the wicked Esau. But Rabbi Isaac taught that Abimelech's curse of Sarah caused her son Isaac's blindness. Rabbi Isaac read the words, "it is for you a covering (''kesut'') of the eyes," in Genesis 20:16 not as ''kesut'', "covering," but as ''kesiyat'', "blinding." Rabbi Isaac concluded that one should not consider a small matter the curse of even an ordinary person. Alternatively, a Midrash interpreted the words "his eyes were dim from seeing" in Genesis 27:1 to teach that Isaac's eyesight dimmed as a result of his near sacrifice in Genesis 22, for when Abraham bound Isaac, the ministering angels wept, as Isaiah 33:7 says, "Behold, their valiant ones cry without, the angels of peace weep bitterly," and tears dropped from the angels' eyes into Isaac's, leaving their mark and causing Isaac's eyes to dim when he became old.
Rabbi Eleazar taught that deceptive speech is like idolatry. Rabbi Eleazar deduced the similarity from the common use of the word "deceiver" to describe Jacob's deception his father in Genesis 27:12, where Jacob says, "I shall seem to him as a deceiver," and to describe idols in Jeremiah 10:15, where idols are described as "the work of deceivers."
But the Gemara cited Jacob as the exemplar of one who, in the words of Psalm 15:3, "has no slander on his tongue," as Jacob's protest to Rebekah in Genesis 27:12, "I shall seem to him as a deceiver," demonstrated that Jacob did not take readily to deception.
Rabbi Joḥanan taught that when Jacob explained his rapid success in obtaining the meat by saying in Genesis 27:20 that it was "because the Lord your God sent me good speed," he was like a raven bringing fire to his nest, courting disaster. For when Jacob said "the Lord your God sent me good speed," Isaac thought to himself that he knew that Esau did not customarily mention the name of God, and if the person before him did so, he must not have been Esau but Jacob. Consequently, Isaac told him in Genesis 27:21, "Come near, I pray, that I may feel you, my son."
Reading Isaac's observation in Genesis 27:27, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed," Rav Judah the son of Rav Samuel bar Shilat said in the name of Rav that Jacob smelled like an apple orchard.
Rabbi Judah ben Pazi interpreted Isaac's blessing of Jacob with dew in Genesis 27:28 merely to pass along to his son what God had deeded to his father Abraham for all time. And Rabbi Ishmael deduced from Isaac's curse of those who cursed Jacob and blessing of those who blessed Jacob in Genesis 27:29 that Jews need not respond to those who curse or bless them, for the Torah has already decreed the response.
Rabbi Judan said that Jacob declared that Isaac blessed him with five blessings, and God correspondingly appeared five times to Jacob and blessed him (Genesis 28:13–15, 31:3, 31:11–13, 35:1, and 35:9–12). And thus, in Genesis 46:1, Jacob "offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac," and not to the God of Abraham and Isaac. Rabbi Judan also said that Jacob wanted to thank God for permitting Jacob to see the fulfillment of those blessings. And the blessing that was fulfilled was that of Genesis 27:29, "Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you," which was fulfilled with regard to Joseph. (And thus Jacob mentioned Isaac then on going down to witness Joseph's greatness.)
The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer saw in Isaac's two blessings of Jacob in Genesis 27:28–29 and 28:1–4 an application of the teaching of
Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥaninah interpreted the question "who then?" in Genesis 27:33 to ask who then intervened between Isaac and God that Jacob should receive the blessings. Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥaninah taught that Isaac thereby hinted at Rebekah's intervention. The Gemara read Isaac's words in Genesis 27:33, "And I have eaten from everything," to support the Sages' teaching that God gave three people in this world a taste of the
Reading Genesis 27:41, Rabbi Eleazar contrasted Esau's jealousy with Reuben's magnanimity. As Genesis 25:33 reports, Esau voluntarily sold his birthright, but as Genesis 27:41 says, "Esau hated Jacob," and as Genesis 27:36 says, "And he said, ‘Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he has supplanted me these two times.'" In Reuben's case,
The parashah is discussed in these
Naḥmanides taught that from the moment that Isaac blessed Jacob, Isaac knew from Divine inspiration that his blessing rested on Jacob. This was then the reason for his violent trembling, for he knew that his beloved son Esau had lost the blessing forever. After he said (in Genesis 27:33) "Who then is he who came," Isaac realized that Jacob had been the one who came before him to receive the blessing.
Notwithstanding Esau's conflicts with Jacob in Genesis 25–33, the
James Kugel wrote that Gunkel's concept of the etiological tale led 20th century scholars to understand the stories of the rivalry of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25:19–26, Genesis 25:29–34, and Genesis 27 to explain something about the national character (or national stereotype) of Israel and Edom at the time of the stories’ composition, a kind of projection of later reality back to the "time of the founders." In this etiological reading, that Esau and Jacob were twins explained the close connection between Edom and Israel, their similar dialects, and cultural and kinship ties, while the competition between Esau and Jacob explained the off-and-on enmity between Edom and Israel in the Biblical period. Kugel reported that some biblical scholars saw an analogue in Israelite history: Esau's descendants, the Edomites, had been a sovereign nation while the future Israel was still in formation (see Genesis 36:31), making Edom the "older brother" of Israel. But then, in the 10th century BCE, David unified Israel and conquered Edom (see 2 Samuel 8:13–14; 1 Kings 11:15–16; and 1 Chronicles 18:12–13), and that is why the oracle Genesis 25:23 gave Rebekah during her pregnancy said that "the older will end up serving the younger." Kugel reported that scholars thus view the stories of the young Jacob and Esau as created to reflect a political reality that came about in the time of David, indicating that these narratives were first composed in the early 10th century BCE, before the Edomites succeeded in throwing off their Israelite overlords, at that time when Israel might feel "like a little kid who had ended up with a prize that was not legitimately his." When Edom regained its independence, the stolen blessing story underwent a change (or perhaps was created out of whole cloth to reflect Edom's resurgence). For while Israel still dominated Edom, the story ought to have ended with Isaac's blessing of Jacob in Genesis 27:28. But Isaac's blessing of Esau in Genesis 27:40, "By your sword you will live, and you will indeed serve your brother; but then it will happen that you will break loose and throw his yoke from off your neck," reflects a reformulation (or perhaps new creation) of the story in the light of the new reality that developed half a century later.
Gary Rendsburg read in Genesis 25:19–29—which personifies Edom, a Transjordanian state ruled by David and Solomon, as the brother of Jacob/Israel—to indicate that the author of Genesis sought to portray the ancestor of this country as related to the patriarchs in order to justify Israelite rule over Edom. Rendsburg noted that during the United Monarchy, Israel governed most firmly the nations geographically closest to Israel. 2 Samuel reports that while Israel permitted the native kings of Moab and Ammon to rule as tributary vassals, Israel deposed the king of Edom, and David and Solomon exercised direct rule over their southeastern neighbor. Rendsburg deduced that this explains why Edom, in the character of Esau, is seen as a twin brother of Israel, in the character of Jacob, while Moab and Ammon, as portrayed in Genesis 19:30–38 by Lot's two sons, were more distantly related. Rendsburg also noted that in Genesis 27:40, Isaac predicted that Esau would throw off the yoke of Jacob, reflecting the Edomite rebellion against Israel during Solomon's reign reported in 1 Kings 11:14–22. Rendsburg concluded that royal scribes living in Jerusalem during the reigns of David and Solomon in the tenth century BCE were responsible for Genesis; their ultimate goal was to justify the monarchy in general, and the kingship of David and Solomon in particular; and Genesis thus appears as a piece of political propaganda.
Rendsburg noted that Genesis often repeats the motif of the younger son. God favored 
Noting that the name Jacob can mean "he will deceive" and that in Genesis 27:35, Jacob's father Isaac accused Jacob of acting "deceitfully" (, ''bemirmah''), a word that derives from the same root as the adjective "crafty" (, ''arum'') applied to the serpent in Genesis 3:1,
1:18:1–2, 4–8
Circa 93–94. In, e.g., ''The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition''. Translated by
Bikkurim 23b
Sukkah 21a; Taanit 1b, 27b; Megillah 16a, 17b; Sotah 28b, 31b; Sanhedrin 62a; Avodah Zarah 3a.63:1–67:13
Land of Israel, 5th Century. In, e.g., ''Midrash Rabbah: Genesis''. Translated by Harry Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. *Babylonian
Berakhot 5b7b56b57bShabbat 118a–bEruvin 104bPesachim 5a42bYoma 28bSukkah 5b14aTaanit 8b29bMegillah 6a28aMoed Katan 2aYevamot 64aKetubot 112aNedarim 32aSotah 11a12b13a41bGittin 57bKiddushin 82aBava Kamma 92b–93aBava Metzia 87aBava Batra 15a16b123aSanhedrin 12a37a69a92a96b105a111aMakkot 10a24aAvodah Zarah 2b11a
Genesis 25–28
* Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal). ''Commentary on the Torah.''
"Expository Studies in the Old Testament: III. Isaac and Jacob."
''The Biblical World'', volume 29, number 3 (March 1907): pages 219–30.
*
"Archaeology and the Book of Genesis."
''The Biblical World'', volume 46, number 1 (July 1915): pages 25–32. *Alexander Alan Steinbach. ''Sabbath Queen: Fifty-four Bible Talks to the Young Based on Each Portion of the Pentateuch'', pages 17–19. New York: Behrman's Jewish Book House, 1936. *Irving Fineman. ''Jacob, An Autobiographical Novel'', pages 11–13, 16–18. New York: Random House, 1941. *
*
"Jacob and Esau in ‘Finnegans Wake.’"
''Modern Philology'', volume 52, number 2 (November 1954): pages 123–30. *David Noel Freedman, David N. Freedman. "The Original Name of Jacob." ''Israel Exploration Journal'', volume 13 (1963): pages 125–26. *Walter Orenstein and Hertz Frankel. ''Torah and Tradition: A Bible Textbook for Jewish Youth: Volume I: Bereishis'', pages 61–71. New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1964. *Delmore Schwartz
"Jacob."
In ''Selected Poems: Summer Knowledge'', pages 233–35. New York: New Directions, 1967. *Samuel Greengus
"Sisterhood Adoption at Nuzi and the ‘Wife-Sister’ in Genesis."
''Hebrew Union College Annual'', volume 46 (1975): pages 5–31. *Seän M. Warner
“The Patriarchs and Extra-Biblical Sources.”
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 1, number 2 (June 1976): pages 50–61. *J. Maxwell Miller (biblical scholar), J. Maxwell Miller
“The Patriarchs and Extra-Biblical Sources: a Response.”
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 1, number 2 (June 1976): pages 62–66. *John R. Bartlett
“The Brotherhood of Edom.”
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 2, number 4 (February 1977): pages 2–27. (Genesis 25:19–24; 27:27–29, 39-40) *Mitchell Dahood
"Poetry versus a Hapax in Genesis 27,3."
''Biblica (journal), Biblica'', volume 58, number 3 (1977): pages 422–23. *Peter D. Miscall
“The Jacob and Joseph Stories as Analogies.”
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 3, number 6 (April 1978): pages 28–40. *Donald Wiseman, Donald J. Wiseman. "They Lived in Tents." In ''Biblical and Near Eastern Studies: Essays in Honor of William Sanford La Sor''. Edited by Gary A. Tuttle, pages 195–200. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978. *C.G. Allen. "On Me Be the Curse, My Son." In ''Encounter with the Text: Form and History in the Hebrew Bible''. Edited by Martin J. Buss, pages 159–72. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979. *Michael Fishbane. "Genesis 25:19–35:22/The Jacob Cycle." In ''Text and Texture: Close Readings of Selected Biblical Texts'', pages 40–62. New York: Schocken Books, 1979. *John G. Gammie. "Theological Interpretation by Way of Literary and Tradition Analysis: Genesis 25–36." In ''Encounter with the Text: Form and History in the Hebrew Bible''. Edited by Martin J. Buss, pages 117–34. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979. *Reuben Ahroni. "Why Did Esau Spurn the Birthright? A Study in Biblical Interpretation." ''Judaism'', volume 29 (1980): pages 323–31. *Roland de Vaux. "The Separate Traditions of Abraham and Jacob." ''Biblical Archaeology Review'', volume 6, number 4 (July/August 1980). *Katherine Paterson. ''Jacob Have I Loved''. New York: HarperCollins, 1980. *Amy K. Blank. ''"I Know Four" and Other Things''. 1981. (poem about Rebekah). *Nechama Leibowitz, Neḥama Leibowitz. ''Studies in Bereshit (Genesis)'', pages 257–97. Jerusalem: The World Zionist Organization, 1981. Reprinted as ''New Studies in the Weekly Parasha''. Lambda Publishers, 2010. *
"The Wells of Gerar."
''Near Eastern Archaeology (journal), The Biblical Archaeologist'', volume 49, number 2 (June 1986): pages 118–26. *Pinchas Hacohen Peli, Pinchas H. Peli. ''Torah Today: A Renewed Encounter with Scripture'', pages 25–28. Washington, D.C.: B'nai B'rith Books, 1987.
*Louis Feldman, Louis H. Feldman
"Josephus' Portrait of Jacob."
''The Jewish Quarterly Review'', New Series, volume 79, number 2/3 (October 1988–January 1989): pages 101–51. *Marc Gellman. "The Strong Man Who Cried." In ''Does God Have a Big Toe? Stories About Stories in the Bible'', pages 57–59. New York: HarperCollins, 1989. *Nahum M. Sarna. ''The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation'', pages 177–97, 396–403. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989. *Mark E. Biddle
"The ‘Endangered Ancestress’ and Blessing for the Nations."
''Journal of Biblical Literature'', volume 109, number 4 (Winter 1990): pages 599–611. *Ktziah Spanier
"Rachel's Theft of the Teraphim: Her Struggle for Family Primacy."
''Vetus Testamentum'', volume 42, number 3 (July 1992): pages 404–12. *Susan Ackerman (biblical scholar), Susan Ackerman. "Child Sacrifice: Returning God's Gift: Barren women give birth to exceptional children." ''Bible Review'', volume 9, number 3 (June 1993). *Robert Hayward
"Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Genesis 27:31."
''The Jewish Quarterly Review'', volume 84, number 2/3 (October 1993–January 1994): pages 177–88. *Aaron Wildavsky. ''Assimilation versus Separation: Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel'', pages 5–6, 8, 13, 15, 17–29. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993. *Judith S. Antonelli. "Rivkah: Existential Struggle." In ''In the Image of God: A Feminist Commentary on the Torah'', pages 60–71. Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson, 1995. *Naomi H. Rosenblatt and Joshua Horwitz. ''Wrestling With Angels: What Genesis Teaches Us About Our Spiritual Identity, Sexuality, and Personal Relationships'', pages 228–58. Delacorte Press, 1995. *Savina J. Teubal. "Naming is Creating: Biblical women hold the power." ''Bible Review'', volume 11, number 4 (August 1995). *Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg. ''The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis'', pages 144–79. New York: Image Books/Doubelday, 1995. *Ellen Frankel. ''The Five Books of Miriam: A Woman’s Commentary on the Torah'', pages 39–48. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1996. *Marc Gellman. "Bless Me, Too!" In ''God's Mailbox: More Stories About Stories in the Bible'', pages 75–79. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1996. *Gunther Plaut, W. Gunther Plaut. ''The Haftarah Commentary'', pages 54–63. New York: UAHC Press, 1996.
*Sorel Goldberg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden. ''Teaching Torah: A Treasury of Insights and Activities'', pages 39–45. Denver: A.R.E. Publishing, 1997.
*Elie Wiesel. "Supporting Roles: Esau." ''Bible Review'', volume 14, number 2 (April 1998).
*Jack Miles. "Supporting Roles: Jacob's Wrestling Match: Was it an angel or Esau?" ''Bible Review'', volume 14, number 5 (October 1998).
*Susan Freeman. ''Teaching Jewish Virtues: Sacred Sources and Arts Activities'', pages 69–84, 136–48. Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey, Springfield, New Jersey: A.R.E. Publishing, 1999. (Genesis 26:12; 27:19).
*John S. Kselman. "Genesis." In ''The HarperCollins Bible Commentary''. Edited by James Luther Mays, James L. Mays, pages 97–100. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, revised edition, 2000.
*Tamara Goshen-Gottstein. “The Souls that They Made: Physical Infertility and Spiritual Fecundity.” In ''Torah of the Mothers: Contemporary Jewish Women Read Classical Jewish Texts''. Edited by Ora Wiskind Elper and Susan Handelman, pages 123–54. New York and Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2000. (Genesis 25:21).
*Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. "Searching for the Patriarchs." In ''The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts'', pages 27–47. New York: Free Press (publisher), The Free Press, 2001.
*Tamar Hordes, Ami Hordes, and Joel B. Wolowelsky
"Kibbud Av and Kibbud Avot."
''Tradition (journal), Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought'', volume 35, number 2 (Summer 2001): pages 91–94. *Lainie Blum Cogan and Judy Weiss. ''Teaching Haftarah: Background, Insights, and Strategies'', pages 602–09. Denver: A.R.E. Publishing, 2002. *Michael Fishbane. ''The JPS Bible Commentary: Haftarot'', pages 34–40. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2002. *Tikva Frymer-Kensky. "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle: The Rivka Stories." In ''Reading the Women of the Bible'', pages 5–23. New York: Schocken Books, 2002. *Peter Addinall
"Genesis XLVI 8–27."
''Vetus Testamentum'', volume 54, number 3 (July 2004): pages 289–300. *
"The Watcher at the Window: Cultural Poetics of a Biblical Motif."
''Prooftexts (journal), Prooftexts'', volume 24, number 1 (Winter 2004): pages 1–50. *''Professors on the Parashah: Studies on the Weekly Torah Reading'' Edited by Leib Moscovitz, pages 54–55. Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2005 *Frank Anthony Spina. "Esau: The Face of God." In ''The Faith of the Outsider: Exclusion and Inclusion in the Biblical Story'', pages 14–34. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005. *W. Gunther Plaut. ''The Torah: A Modern Commentary: Revised Edition''. Revised edition edited by David E. Stern, David E.S. Stern, pages 172–93. New York: Union for Reform Judaism, 2006. *Suzanne A. Brody. "Esau's Prediction." In ''Dancing in the White Spaces: The Yearly Torah Cycle and More Poems'', page 67. Shelbyville, Kentucky: Wasteland Press, 2007. *James Kugel, James L. Kugel. ''How To Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now'', pages 39, 101, 133–51, 166, 197, 524. New York: Free Press, 2007. *Susan Niditch. ''"My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man": Hair and Identity in Ancient Israel''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. *Dennis Sylva
"The Blessing of a Wounded Patriarch: Genesis 27.1–40."
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 32, number 3 (March 2008): pages 267–86. *Joachim J. Krause
"Tradition, History, and Our Story: Some Observations on Jacob and Esau in the Books of Obadiah and Malachi."
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 32, number 4 (June 2008): pages 475–86.
*''The Torah: A Women's Commentary''. Edited by Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea Weiss (rabbi), Andrea L. Weiss, pages 133–56. New York: Union for Reform Judaism, URJ Press, 2008.
*Jonathan Goldstein (author), Jonathan Goldstein. "Jacob and Esau." In ''Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible!'' pages 79–114. New York: Riverhead Books, 2009.
*Reuven Hammer. ''Entering Torah: Prefaces to the Weekly Torah Portion'', pages 35–39. New York: Gefen Publishing House, 2009.
*Sarra Lev. "Esau’s Gender Crossing: Parashat Toldot (Genesis 25:19–28:9)." In ''Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible''. Edited by Gregg Drinkwater, Joshua Lesser, and David Shneer; foreword by Judith Plaskow, pages 38–42. New York: New York University Press, 2009.
*Jonathan Sacks. ''Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Genesis: The Book of Beginnings'', pages 145–75. New Milford, Connecticut: Maggid Books, 2009.
*Carolyn J. Sharp. "Pharaoh and Abimelech as Innocents Ensnared." In ''Irony and Meaning in the Hebrew Bible'', pages 51–54. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2009.
*John H. Walton. "Genesis." In ''Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary''. Edited by John H. Walton, volume 1, pages 104–06. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009.
*Raymond Westbrook. "Good as His Word: Jacob Manipulates Justice." ''Biblical Archaeology Review'', volume 35, number 3 (May/June 2009): pages 50–55, 64.
*Bradford A. Anderson
“The Inversion of the Birth Order and the Title of the Firstborn.”
''Vetus Testamentum'', volume 60, number 4 (2010): pages 655–58. *David J. Zucker
"The Deceiver Deceived: Rereading Genesis 27."
''Jewish Bible Quarterly'', volume 39, number 1 (January–March 2011): pages 46–58. *Calum Carmichael. ''The Book of Numbers: A Critique of Genesis'', pages 4, 19–20, 91, 100–01, 103–05, 110, 112, 114–15, 118, 120–21, 123–24, 126–27, 130, 132, 135–36, 147, 149, 156, 162–63. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. *William G. Dever. ''The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel: When Archaeology and the Bible Intersect'', page 173. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012. *Chee-Chiew Lee
"Once Again: The Niphal and the Hithpael of in the Abrahamic Blessing for the Nations."
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 36, number 3 (March 2012): pages 279–96. (Genesis 26:4).
*Shmuel Herzfeld. "A Crowning Achievement." In ''Fifty-Four Pick Up: Fifteen-Minute Inspirational Torah Lessons'', pages 29–34. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2012.
*Jonathan Sacks. ''Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible'', pages 27–30. New Milford, Connecticut: Maggid Books, 2015.
*"The Hittites: Between Tradition and History." ''Biblical Archaeology Review'', volume 42, number 2 (March/April 2016): pages 28–40, 68.
*Jean-Pierre Isbouts. ''Archaeology of the Bible: The Greatest Discoveries From Genesis to the Roman Era'', pages 58–62. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, National Geographic, 2016.
*Jonathan Sacks. ''Essays on Ethics: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible'', pages 33–39. New Milford, Connecticut: Maggid Books, 2016.
*Shai Held. ''The Heart of Torah, Volume 1: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion: Genesis and Exodus'', pages 49–59. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2017.
*Steven Levy and Sarah Levy. ''The JPS Rashi Discussion Torah Commentary'', pages 18–20. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2017.
*Jeffrey K. Salkin. ''The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary'', pages 25–30. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2017.
*Liana Finck. ''Let There Be Light: The Real Story of Her Creation'', pages 237–48. New York: Random House, 2022.
Masoretic text and 1917 JPS translationHear the parashah chanted
Academy for Jewish Religion, CaliforniaAcademy for Jewish Religion, New YorkAmerican Jewish University—Ziegler School of Rabbinic StudiesChabad.orgHadar InstituteJewish Theological SeminaryMyJewishLearning.comPardes from JerusalemReconstructing JudaismUnion for Reform JudaismUnited Synagogue of Conservative JudaismYeshiva University
{{Book of Genesis Weekly Torah readings in Cheshvan Weekly Torah readings from Genesis
. '' peh'')). Parashat Toledot has three "closed portion" (, ''setumah'') divisions (abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (''
samekh
Samekh or samech is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician ''sāmek'' 𐤎, Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew ''sāmeḵ'' , Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic ''samek'' 𐡎, and Syriac alphabet, Syr ...
'')), that further divide the second open portion. The first open portion divides the first reading. The second open portion spans the balance of the parashah. Two closed portion divisions further divide the fifth reading, setting apart the discussion of Esau's marriage to the two Hittite women.
First reading—Genesis 25:19–26:5
In the first reading, Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah, and when the couple proved unable to conceive, Isaac pleaded withGod
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
on Rebekah's behalf, and God allowed Rebekah to conceive. As twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...
s struggled in her womb, she inquired of God, who answered her that two separate nations were in her womb, one mightier than the other, and the older would serve the younger. When Rebekah gave birth, the first twin emerged red and hairy, so they named him Esau, and his brother emerged holding Esau's heel, so they named him Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born. Esau became a skillful hunter
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...
and outdoorsman, but Jacob was a mild man and camp-bound. Isaac favored Esau for his game, but Rebekah favored Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking, Esau returned to the camp famished and demanded some of Jacob's red stew. Jacob demanded that Esau first sell him his birthright, and Esau did so with an oath, spurning his birthright. The first open portion ends here with the end of chapter 25.
As the reading continues in chapter 26, another famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
struck the land, and Isaac went to the house of the Philistine
Philistines (; Septuagint, LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia.
There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philist ...
King Abimelech
Abimelech (also spelled Abimelek or Avimelech; ) was the generic name given to all Philistine kings in the Hebrew Bible from the time of Abraham through King David. In the Book of Judges, Abimelech, son of Gideon, of the Tribe of Manasseh, is ...
in Gerar. God told Isaac not to go down to Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, but to stay in the land that God would show him, for God would remain with him, bless him, and assign the land to him and his numerous heirs, as God had sworn to Abraham
Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...
, who had obeyed God and kept God's commandments. The first reading ends here.
Second reading—Genesis 26:6–12
In the second reading, Isaac settled in Gerar, and when the men of Gerar asked Isaac about his beautiful wife, he said that she was his sister out of fear that the men might kill him on account of her. But looking out of the window, Abimelech saw Isaac fondling Rebekah, and Abimelech summoned Isaac to complain that Isaac had called her his sister. Isaac explained that he had done so to save his life. Abimelech complained that one of the people might have lain with her, and Isaac would have brought guilt upon the Philistines, and Abimelech charged the people not to molest Isaac or Rebekah, on pain of death. God blessed Isaac, who reaped bountiful harvests. The second reading ends here.
Third reading—Genesis 26:13–22
In the third reading, Isaac grew very wealthy, to the envy of the Philistines. The Philistines stopped up all the wells that Abraham's servants had dug, and Abimelech sent Isaac away, for his household had become too big. So Isaac left to settle in the wadi of Gerar, where he dug anew the wells that Abraham's servants had dug and called them by the same names that his father had. But when Isaac's servants dug two new wells, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and claimed them for their own, so Isaac named those wells Esek and Sitnah. Isaac moved on and dug a third well, and they did not quarrel over it, so he named it Rehoboth. The third reading ends here.Fourth reading—Genesis 26:23–29
In the fourth reading, Isaac went toBeersheba
Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...
, and that night God appeared to Isaac, telling Isaac not to fear, for God was with him, and would bless him and increase his offspring for Abraham's sake. So Isaac built an altar and invoked the Lord by name.. And Isaac pitched his tent there and his servants began digging a well. Then Abimelech, Ahuzzath his councilor, and Phicol his general came to Isaac, and Isaac asked them why they had come, since they had driven Isaac away. They answered that they now recognized that God had been with Isaac, and sought a treaty that neither would harm the other. The fourth reading ends here.
Fifth reading—Genesis 26:30–27:27
In the fifth reading, Isaac threw a feast for the Philistines, and the next morning, they exchanged oaths and the Philistines departed from him in peace. Later in the day, Isaac's servants told him that they had found water, and Isaac named the well Shibah, so that place became known as Beersheba. A closed portion ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, ''Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis'', page 145. In the continuation of the reading, when Esau was 40 years old, he married two Hittite women,Judith
The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Christian Old Testament of the Bible but Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, excluded from the ...
and Basemath, causing bitterness for Isaac and Rebekah. Another closed portion ends here with the end of chapter 26.
As the reading continues in chapter 27,
when Isaac was old and his sight had dimmed, he called Esau and asked him to hunt some game and prepare a dish, so that Isaac might give him his innermost blessing before he died. Rebekah had been listening, and when Esau departed, she instructed Jacob to fetch her two choice kids so that she might prepare a dish that Jacob could take to Isaac and receive his blessing. Jacob complained to Rebekah that since Esau was hairy, Isaac might touch him, discover him to be a trickster, and curse him. But Rebekah called the curse upon herself, insisting that Jacob do as she directed. So Jacob got the kids, and Rebekah prepared a dish, had Jacob put on Esau's best clothes, and covered Jacob's hands and neck with the kid's skins. When Jacob went to Isaac, he asked which of his sons had arrived, and Jacob said that he was Esau and asked for Isaac's blessing. Isaac asked him how he had succeeded so quickly, and he said that God had granted him good fortune. Isaac asked Jacob to come closer that Isaac might feel him to determine whether he was really Esau. Isaac felt him and wondered that the voice was Jacob's, but the hands were Esau's. Isaac questioned if it was really Esau, and when Jacob assured him, Isaac asked for the game and Jacob served him the kids and wine. Isaac bade his son to come close and kiss him, and Isaac smelled his clothes, remarking that he smelled like the fields. The fifth reading ends here.
Sixth reading—Genesis 27:28–28:4
In the sixth reading, Isaac blessed Jacob, asking God to give him abundance, make peoples serve him, make him master over his brothers, curse those who cursed him, and bless those who blessed him. Just as Jacob left, Esau returned from the hunt, prepared a dish for Isaac, and asked Isaac for his blessing. Isaac asked who he was, and Esau said that it was he. Isaac trembled and asked who it was then who had served him, received his blessing, and now must remain blessed. Esau burst into sobbing, and asked Isaac to bless him too, but Isaac answered that Jacob had taken Esau's blessing with guile. Esau asked whether Jacob had been so named that he might supplant Esau twice, first taking his birthright and now his blessing. Esau asked Isaac whether he had not reserved a blessing for Esau, but Isaac answered that he had made Jacob master over him and sustained him with grain and wine, and asked what, then, he could still do for Esau. Esau wept and pressed Isaac to bless him, too, so Isaac blessed him to enjoy the fat of the earth and the dew of heaven, to live by his sword and to serve his brother, but also to break his yoke. Esau harbored a grudge against Jacob, and told himself that he would kill Jacob upon Isaac's death. When Esau's words reached Rebekah, she told Jacob to flee toHaran
Haran or Aran ( ''Hārān'') is a man in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. He was a son of Terah, brother of Abraham, and father of son Lot and daughters Milcah and Iscah. He died in Ur of the Chaldees. Through Lot, Haran was the ance ...
and her brother Laban and remain there until Esau's fury subsided and Rebekah fetched him from there, so that Rebekah would not lose both sons in one day. Rebekah told Isaac her disgust with the idea that Jacob might marry a Hittite woman, so Isaac sent for Jacob, blessed him, and instructed him not to take a Canaan
CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...
ite wife, but to go to Padan-aram and the house of Bethuel
Bethuel ( – ''Bəṯūʾēl''), in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man, the youngest son of Nahor and Milcah, the nephew of Abraham, and the father of Laban and Rebecca.
Bethuel was also a town in the territory of the tribe of Simeon, ...
to take a wife from among Laban's daughters. And Isaac blessed Jacob with fertility and the blessing of Abraham, that he might possess the land that God had assigned to Abraham. The sixth reading ends here.
Seventh reading—Genesis 28:5–9
In the seventh reading, when Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and charged him not to take a Canaanite wife, Esau realized that the Canaanite women displeased Isaac, and Esau marriedIshmael
In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs.
Within Isla ...
's daughter Mahalath. The seventh reading, a closed portion, the closing '' maftir'' () reading of Genesis 28:7–9, and the parashah all end here.
Readings according to the triennial cycle
Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:In inner-biblical interpretation
The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:Genesis chapter 25
Genesis 25:26 reports that Rebekah "went to inquire (, ''lidrosh'') of the Lord."1 Samuel
The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological ...
9:9 explains, "Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire (, ''lidrosh'') of God, he said: 'Come and let us go to the seer'; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer."
Hosea
In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; ), also known as Osee (), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BC prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the first of the Twelve Minor Prophets, whose collective writing ...
taught that God once punished Jacob for his conduct, requiting him for his deeds, including that (as reported in Genesis 25:26) in the womb he tried to supplant his brother.
Genesis chapter 26
In Genesis 26:4, God reminded Isaac that God had promised Abraham that God would make his heirs as numerous as the stars. In Genesis 15:5, God promised that Abraham's descendants would as numerous as the stars of heaven. Similarly, in Genesis 22:17, God promised that Abraham's descendants would as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore. In Genesis 32:13, Jacob reminded God that God had promised that Jacob's descendants would be as numerous as the sands. In Exodus 32:13, Moses reminded God that God had promised to make the Patriarch's descendants as numerous as the stars. In Deuteronomy 1:10, Moses reported that God had multiplied the Israelites until they were then as numerous as the stars. In Deuteronomy 10:22, Moses reported that God had made the Israelites as numerous as the stars. And Deuteronomy 28:62 foretold that the Israelites would be reduced in number after having been as numerous as the stars. God's reference to Abraham as "my servant" (, ''avdi'') in Genesis 26:24 is echoed in God's application of the same term toMoses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
, Caleb
Caleb ( ; , Tiberian vocalization: , Modern Israeli Hebrew: ) is a figure who appears in the Hebrew Bible as a representative of the Tribe of Judah during the Israelites' journey to the Promised Land.
Following the Israelite conquest of Ca ...
, David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
, Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...
, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...
, Zerubbabel
Zerubbabel ( from ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a governor of the Achaemenid Empire's province of Yehud Medinata and the grandson of Jeconiah, penultimate king of Judah. He is not documented in extra-biblical documents, and is considered ...
, the Branch, and Job
Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...
.
Genesis chapter 27–28
In Genesis 27–28, Jacob receives three blessings: (1) by Isaac when Jacob is disguised asEsau
Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the minor prophet, prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The story of Jacob and Esau reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming ...
in Genesis 27:28–29, (2) by Isaac when Jacob is departing for Haran in Genesis 28:3–4, and (3) by God in Jacob's dream at Bethel
Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
Bet ...
in Genesis 28:13–15. Whereas the first blessing is one of material wellbeing and dominance, only the second and third blessings convey fertility and the Land of Israel. The first and the third blessings explicitly designate Jacob as the conveyor of blessing, although arguably the second blessing does that as well by giving Jacob "the blessing of Abraham." (See Genesis 12:2–3.) Only the third blessing promises God's Presence with Jacob.
In classical rabbinic interpretation
The parashah is discussed in theserabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
nic sources from the era of the Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...
and the Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
:
Genesis chapter 25
A Midrash cited Genesis 25:19 to illustrate that there is double rejoicing in the case of a righteous one who is the child of a righteous one. Rabbi Levi taught that Isaac's face looked so exactly like Abraham's that everyone said (in the words of Genesis 25:19), "Abraham fathered Isaac." Rabbi Judah taught that Rebekah was barren for 20 years. After 20 years, Isaac took Rebekah to Mount Moriah, to the place where he had been bound, and he prayed on her behalf concerning conception, as Genesis 25:21 says, "And Isaac entreated the Lord." Rava argued that one may deduce from Isaac's example that a man may remain for 20 years with an infertile wife. For of Isaac, Genesis 25:20 says, "And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah . . . to be his wife," and Genesis 25:26 says, "And Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them." Rav Naḥman replied that Isaac was infertile (and he knew that the couple was childless because of him). Rabbi Isaac deduced that Isaac was infertile from Genesis 25:21, which says, "And Isaac entreated the Lord opposite his wife." Rabbi Isaac noted that Genesis 25:21 does not say "''for'' his wife" but "''opposite'' his wife" and deduced from this that both were infertile (as Isaac had to pray for himself as well as Rebekah). TheGemara
The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemore) is an essential component of the Talmud, comprising a collection of rabbinical analyses and commentaries on the Mishnah and presented in 63 books. The term is derived from the Aram ...
countered that if this were so, then Genesis 25:21 should not read, "And the Lord let Himself be entreated ''by him''," but rather should read, "And the Lord let Himself be entreated ''by them''" (as Isaac's prayer was on behalf of them both). But the Gemara explained that Genesis 25:21 reads, "And the Lord let Himself be entreated ''by him''," because the prayer of a righteous person who is the child of a righteous person (Isaac son of Abraham) is even more effective than the prayer of a righteous person who is the child of a wicked person (Rebekah daughter of Bethuel). Rabbi Isaac taught that the Patriarchs and Matriarchs were infertile because God longs to hear the prayer of the righteous.
Reading Genesis 25:20, "Isaac . . . took Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, from Padan Aram, sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife," Rabbi Isaac asked: Since the verse already said that Rebekah was "from Padan Aram," why does the verse also say "sister of Laban the Aramean (, ''ha-arami'')"? Rabbi Isaac concluded that the verse thus teaches that her father was a charlatan (, ''ramai''), her brother was a charlatan, and the residents of Padan Aram were charlatans, but Rebekah was a righteous woman who emerged from their midst like a "lily among the thorns" (in the words of Song of Songs 2:2).
Noting that the three-letter root used in Genesis 25:21 can mean either "entreat" or "pitchfork," Rabbi Eleazar (or others say Rabbi Isaac or Resh Lakish) taught that the prayers of the righteous are like a pitchfork. Just as the pitchfork turns grain from place to place in a barn, so the prayers of the righteous turn the mind of God from harshness to mercy.
Rabbi Joḥanan interpreted the words "And Isaac entreated (, ''vaye'tar'') the Lord" in Genesis 25:21 to mean that Isaac poured out petitions in abundance (as in Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
, , tar'', means "wealth"). The Midrash
''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...
taught that the words "for (, ''lenokhach'') his wife" taught that Isaac prostrated himself in one spot and Rebekah in another (opposite him), and he prayed to God that all the children whom God would grant him would come from this righteous woman, and Rebekah prayed likewise. Reading the words, "Because she was barren," in Genesis 25:21, Rabbi Judan said in the name of Resh Lakish that Rebekah lacked an . ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...
ovary
The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...
, whereupon God fashioned one for her. And reading the words, "And the Lord let Himself be entreated (, ''vayei'ater'') of him," in Genesis 25:21, Rabbi Levi compared this to the son of a king who was digging through to his father to receive a pound of gold from him, and thus the king dug from inside while his son dug from outside.
The Pesikta de-Rav Kahana taught that Rebekah was one of seven barren women about whom Psalm 113:9 says (speaking of God), "He . . . makes the barren woman to dwell in her house as a joyful mother of children." The Pesikta de-Rav Kahana also listed Sarah
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch, prophet, and major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious woma ...
, Rachel
Rachel () was a Bible, Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph (Genesis), Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban (Bible), Laban. Her older siste ...
, Leah
Leah () appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son Reuben. She has thr ...
, Manoah's wife, Hannah, and Zion
Zion (; ) is a placename in the Tanakh, often used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole.
The name is found in 2 Samuel (), one of the books of the Tanakh dated to approximately the mid-6th century BCE. It o ...
. The Pesikta de-Rav Kahana taught that the words of Psalm 113:9, "He . . . makes the barren woman to dwell in her house," apply to Rebekah, for Genesis 25:21 reports that "Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren." And the words of Psalm 113:9, "a joyful mother of children," apply to Rebekah, as well, for Genesis 25:21 also reports that "the Lord let Himself be entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived."
Rabbi Berekiah and Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Ḥama ben Ḥaninah taught that God answered Isaac's prayer for children in Genesis 25:21, rather than the prayer of Rebekah's family in Genesis 24:60. Rabbi Berekiah in Rabbi Levi's name read Job 29:13 to say, "The blessing of the destroyer (, ''oved'') came upon me," and interpreted "The blessing of the destroyer (, ''oved'')" to allude to Laban the Syrian. Rabbi Berekiah in Rabbi Levi's name thus read Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament.
Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...
26:5 to say, "An Aramean
The Arameans, or Aramaeans (; ; , ), were a tribal Semitic people in the ancient Near East, first documented in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. Their homeland, often referred to as the land of Aram, originally covered ce ...
(Laban) sought to destroy (, ''oved'') my father (Jacob)." (Thus Laban sought to destroy Jacob by, perhaps among other things, cheating Jacob out of payment for his work, as Jacob recounted in Genesis 31:40–42. This interpretation thus reads , ''oved'', as a transitive verb.) Rabbi Berekiah and Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Ḥama ben Ḥaninah thus explained that Rebekah was remembered with the blessing of children only after Isaac prayed for her, so that the heathens in Rebekah's family might not say that their prayer in Genesis 24:60 caused that result. Rather, God answered Isaac's prayer, as Genesis 25:21 reports, "And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife . . . and his wife Rebekah conceived."
It was taught in Rabbi Nehemiah's name that Rebekah merited that the twelve tribes should spring directly from her.Genesis Rabbah 63:6Reading the words of Genesis 25:22, "and the children struggled together with in her," a Midrash taught that they sought to run within her. When she stood near synagogues or schools, Jacob struggled to come out, while when she passed idolatrous temples, Esau struggled to come out. Reading Rebekah's lament in Genesis 25:22, "why am I like this?" Rabbi Isaac taught that Rebekah went to other women's houses and asked them whether they had experienced such suffering. Reading the words, "and she went to inquire of the Lord," in Genesis 25:22, a Midrash wondered how Rebekah asked God about her pregnancy, and whether there were synagogues and houses of study in those days. The Midrash taught that Rebekah went to the school of
Shem
Shem (; ''Šēm''; ) is one of the sons of Noah in the Bible ( Genesis 5–11 and 1 Chronicles 1:4).
The children of Shem are Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to unnamed daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Christ ...
and Eber
Eber (; ; ) is an ancestor of the Ishmaelites and the Israelites according to the Generations of Noah in the Book of Genesis () and the Books of Chronicles ().
Lineage
Eber (Hebrew: Ever) was a great-grandson of Noah's son Shem and the father ...
to inquire. The Midrash concluded that to visit a Sage is like visiting the Divine Presence.
Reading Genesis 25:23, "the Lord said to her," Rabbi Iddi taught that God spoke to her through the medium of an angel. Rabbi Ba bar Kahana said that God’s word came to her through an intermediary. Rabbi Haggai said in Rabbi Isaac's name that Rebekah was a prophet, as were all of the matriarchs.
The Rabbis of the Talmud read Edom
Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomi ...
to stand for Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. Thus, Rav Naḥman bar Isaac interpreted the words, "and the one people shall be stronger than the other people," in Genesis 25:23 to teach that at any one time, one of Israel and Rome will be ascendant, and the other will be subjugated.
Reading the words of Genesis 25:23, "Two nations (, ''goyim'') are in your womb," the Gemara suggested that one not read the word as , ''goyim'', "nations," but as , ''gayim'', "proud ones." And Rav Judah said that Rav said that this verse was fulfilled in two great individuals who descended from Rebekah—Antoninus (who descended from Esau) and Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi
Judah ha-Nasi (, ''Yəhūḏā hanNāsīʾ''; Yehudah HaNasi or Judah the Prince or Judah the President) or Judah I, known simply as Rebbi or Rabbi, was a second-century rabbi (a tanna of the fifth generation) and chief redactor and editor of ...
(who descended from Jacob), both of whose tables, because of their wealth, never lacked for radishes, lettuce, or cucumbers—either in summer or in the rainy season.
Reading the words of Genesis 25:23, "Two peoples shall be separated from your body," a Midrash taught that Jacob was born circumcised.Genesis Rabbah 63:7Rabbi Huna interpreted the words of Genesis 25:23, "the older shall serve the younger," to mean that if Jacob merited, then Esau would serve, but if not, then Esau would be served. Noting that in Genesis 25:24, regarding Jacob and Esau, the word "twins" is written , defectively (without an or a ), whereas in Genesis 38:27, regarding Peretz and Zeraḥ, the word "twins" is written , more completely (with an and a ), a Midrash taught that the text signals that Peretz and Zeraḥ were both righteous, but Jacob was righteous and Esau was wicked. Reading the words of Genesis 25:27, "And Esau was a cunning hunter," a Midrash taught that Esau ensnared people by their words. Reading the words, "and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents," the Midrash taught that Jacob dwelt in two tents, the academy of Shem and the academy of Eber. And reading the words of Genesis 25:28, "And Rebekah loved Jacob," the Midrash taught that the more Rebekah heard Jacob's voice (engaged in study), the stronger her love grew for him.
Rabbi Ḥaninah taught that Esau paid great attention to his parent (''horo''), his father, whom he supplied with meals, as Genesis 25:28 reports, "Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his venison." Rabbi Samuel the son of Rabbi Gedaliah concluded that God decided to reward Esau for this. When Jacob offered Esau gifts, Esau answered Jacob in Genesis 33:9, "I have enough (, ''rav''); do not trouble yourself." So God declared that with the same expression that Esau thus paid respect to Jacob, God would command Jacob's descendants not to trouble Esau's descendants, and thus God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 2:3, "You have circled this mountain (, ''har'') long enough (, ''rav'')."
Bar Kappara
Bar Kappara () was a Jewish scholar of the late second and early third century CE (i.e., during the period between the tannaim and amoraim). He was active in Caesarea Maritima, the capital of the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, from around 18 ...
and Rabbi Jose bar Patros referred to Genesis 25:28 to explain why, in Genesis 46:1, just before heading down to Egypt, Jacob "offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac," and not to the God of Abraham and Isaac. Bar Kappara discussed the question with Rabbi Jose bar Patros. One of them said that Jacob declared that as Isaac had been eager for his food (for, as Genesis 25:28 reports, Isaac loved Esau because Esau brought Isaac venison), so Jacob was eager for his food (and thus was headed to Egypt to avoid the famine). The other explained that as Isaac had distinguished between his sons (as Genesis 25:28 reports, loving Esau more than Jacob), so Jacob would distinguish among his sons (going to Egypt for Joseph's account alone). But then Jacob noted on reconsideration that Isaac was responsible for only one soul, whereas Jacob was responsible for 70 souls.Genesis Rabbah 94:5
A Tanna taught in a Baraita
''Baraita'' ( "external" or "outside"; pl. ''bārayāṯā'' or in Hebrew ''baraitot''; also baraitha, beraita; Ashkenazi pronunciation: berayse) designates a tradition in the Oral Torah of Rabbinical Judaism that is not incorporated in the Mi ...
that the day recounted in Genesis 25:29–34 on which Esau spurned his birthright was also the day on which Abraham died, and Jacob was cooking lentils to comfort Isaac. In the Land of Israel, they taught in the name of Rabbah bar Mari that it was appropriate to cook lentils because just as the lentil has no mouth (no groove like other legumes), so the mourner has no mouth to talk but sits silently. Others explained that just as the lentil is round, so mourning comes round to all people. A Midrash also taught that these lentils had aspects of both mourning and rejoicing—mourning because Abraham died, and rejoicing because Jacob secured the birthright.
Rabbi Joḥanan taught that Esau committed five sins on the day recounted in Genesis 25:29–34. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from the similar use of the words "the field" in Genesis 25:29 and in connection with the betrothed maiden in Deuteronomy 22:27 that Esau dishonored a betrothed maiden. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from the similar use of the word "faint" in Genesis 25:29 and in connection with murderers in Jeremiah 4:31 that Esau committed a murder. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from the similar use of the word "this" in Genesis 25:32 and in the words "This is my God" in Exodus 15:2 that Esau denied belief in God. Rabbi Joḥanan deduced from Esau's words, "Behold, I am on the way to die," in Genesis 25:32 that Esau denied the resurrection of the dead. And for Esau's fifth sin, Rabbi Joḥanan cited Genesis 25:34, that "Esau despised his birthright."
Reading Genesis 25:30, "Esau said to Jacob: 'Feed me now from that red, red dish,'" Rabbi Ze’eira said that Esau opened his mouth wide like a camel and told Jacob, "I will open my mouth and you continuously pour."
A Midrash taught that Jacob dedicated himself to acquiring the birthright because before the Tabernacle was established, private altars were permitted and service was performed by the firstborn, and Jacob did not want Esau to conduct the sacrificial services.
Genesis chapter 26
The Tosefta deduced from the contrast between the plenty indicated in Genesis 24:1 and the famine indicated in Genesis 26:1 that God gave the people food and drink and a glimpse of the world to come while the righteous Abraham was alive, so that the people might understand what they had lost when he was gone. The Tosefta reported that when Abraham was alive, the wells gushed forth water, but the Philistines filled the wells with earth (as reported in Genesis 26:15), for after Abraham died the wells no longer gushed forth water, and the Philistines filled them so that they would not provide cover for invaders. But when Isaac came along, the wells gushed water again (as indicated in Genesis 26:18–19) and there was plenty again (as indicated in Genesis 26:12) A Midrash counted the famine in Genesis 26:1 among ten famines cited in Scripture. Interpreting God's command to Isaac in Genesis 26:2 not to go to Egypt, Rabbi Hoshaya taught that God told Isaac that he was (by virtue of his near sacrifice in Genesis 22) a burnt-offering without blemish, and as a burnt offering became unfit if it was taken outside of the Temple grounds, so would Isaac become unfit if he went outside of the Promised Land. The Gemara cited the accounts of Genesis 26 to demonstrate Isaac's unquestioning loyalty to God. The Gemara taught that God punished Moses for complaining to God in Exodus 5:23, "Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, neither have You delivered Your people at all." The Gemara told that God replied to Moses by lamenting that the Patriarchs were gone, as several times God had revealed God's Self to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai), and they did not question God's ways as Moses had. With regard to Isaac, God noted that God had promised Isaac (in Genesis 26:3): "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you." But Isaac's servants sought water to drink and they did not find it until they started a quarrel, as Genesis 26:20 says, "And the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen saying: 'The water is ours,'" and still Isaac did not question God's ways. Rabbi Joḥanan in the name of Rabbi Jose cited Genesis 26:3 as part of his argument that the delight of the Sabbath is specifically the portion of the descendants of Israel, not those of Abraham or Isaac. Rabbi Joḥanan taught in the name of Rabbi Jose that God gives a boundless portion—a very large reward—to anyone who delights in the Sabbath, for Isaiah 58:13–14 promises: "If you keep your feet from violating the Sabbath, from pursuing your affairs on My holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, the Lord's holy day honored, and you honor it by not going your own way, or attending to your own matters or speaking idle words, then you shall delight in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the world, and to feast on ''the inheritance of Jacob your father'', as the mouth of God has spoken." The reward for delighting in the Sabbath is thus specifically the portion of Jacob, not that of Abraham, about whom Genesis 13:17 says, "Rise, walk through the land through its length and its width because I have given it to you"—that is, the land of Israel alone. And not that of Isaac, about whom Genesis 26:3 says, "Dwell in this land and I will be with you and I will bless you because I will give all of these lands to you and your offspring"—meaning those lands and no others. Rather, it is the inheritance of Jacob, about whom Genesis 28:14 says, "And your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all of the families of the land will be blessed through you and your offspring"—implying that there are no boundaries to Jacob's portion. Reading Genesis 26:5, "Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws," the Mishnah,Tosefta
The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''.
Background
Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...
, and Talmud deduced that Abraham kept the entire Torah even before it was revealed. Rav (or some say Rav Ashi) noted that Genesis 26:5 says that Abraham kept "My Torahs"—in the plural—and concluded that Abraham kept two Torahs—both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah
According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law () are statutes and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the Written Torah (), and which are regarded by Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jews as prescriptive ...
. Reading "Because (, ''ekev'') Abraham obeyed My voice," Rabbi Ami bar Abba concluded that Abraham recognized his Creator at the age of 3 years, for the numerical value (gematria
In numerology, gematria (; or , plural or ) is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word, or phrase by reading it as a number, or sometimes by using an alphanumeric cipher. The letters of the alphabets involved have standar ...
) of the letters of the word , ''ekev'', is 172, and Rabbi Ami inferred from this that Abraham observed the commandments for 172 years. As Genesis 25:7 tells that Abraham lived until he was 175 years old, Abraham's first recognition of the Creator must have been at the age of 3.
Rabbi Eliezer taught that the five Hebrew letters of the Torah that alone among Hebrew letters have two separate shapes (depending whether they are in the middle or the end of a word)— (Kh, M, N, P, Z)—all relate to the mystery of the redemption, including to Isaac's redemption from the Philistines in Genesis 26:16. With the letter ''kaph
Kaph (also spelled kaf) is the eleventh letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ''kāp'' 𐤊, Hebrew ''kāp̄'' , Aramaic ''kāp'' 𐡊, Syriac ''kāp̄'' ܟ, and Arabic ''kāf'' (in abjadi order). It is also related to the Anc ...
'' (), God redeemed Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees
Ur Kasdim (), commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldees, is a city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the birthplace of Abraham, the Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Israelites and the Ishmaelites. In 1862, Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, Hen ...
, as in Genesis 12:1, God says, "Get you (, ''lekh lekha'') out of your country, and from your kindred . . . to the land that I will show you." With the letter '' mem'' (), Isaac was redeemed from the land of the Philistines, as in Genesis 26:16, the Philistine king Abimelech told Isaac, "Go from us: for you are much mightier (, ''mimenu m'od'') than we." With the letter ''nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...
'' (), Jacob was redeemed from the hand of Esau, as in Genesis 32:12, Jacob prayed, "Deliver me, I pray (, ''hazileini na''), from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau." With the letter ''pe'' (), God redeemed Israel from Egypt, as in Exodus 3:16–17, God told Moses, "I have surely visited you, (, ''pakod pakadeti'') and (seen) that which is done to you in Egypt, and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt." With the letter ''tsade
Tsade (also spelled , , , , tzadi, sadhe, tzaddik) is the eighteenth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician ''ṣādē'' 𐤑, Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew ''ṣādī'' , Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic ''� ...
'' (), God will redeem Israel from the oppression of the kingdoms, and God will say to Israel, I have caused a branch to spring forth for you, as Zechariah 6:12 says, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch (, ''zemach''); and he shall grow up (, ''yizmach'') out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord." These letters were delivered to Abraham. Abraham delivered them to Isaac, Isaac delivered them to Jacob, Jacob delivered the mystery of the Redemption to Joseph, and Joseph delivered the secret of the Redemption to his brothers, as in Genesis 50:24, Joseph told his brothers, "God will surely visit (, ''pakod yifkod'') you." Jacob's son Asher delivered the mystery of the Redemption to his daughter Serah. When Moses and Aaron
According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...
came to the elders of Israel and performed signs in their sight, the elders told Serah. She told them that there is no reality in signs. The elders told her that Moses said, "God will surely visit (, ''pakod yifkod'') you" (as in Genesis 50:24). Serah told the elders that Moses was the one who would redeem Israel from Egypt, for she heard (in the words of Exodus 3:16), "I have surely visited (, ''pakod pakadeti'') you." The people immediately believed in God and Moses, as Exodus 4:31 says, "And the people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel."
Reading Genesis 26:12, “And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in that year a hundredfold (, ''she'arim''),” a Midrash taught that the words, “a hundred , ''she'arim''” indicate that they estimated it, but it produced a hundred times the estimate, for blessing does not rest upon that which is weighed, measured, or counted. They measured solely on account of the tithes.
Rabbi Dosetai ben Yannai said in the name of Rabbi Meir
Rabbi Meir () was a Jewish sage who lived in the time of the Mishnah. He was one of the Tannaim of the fourth generation (139–163), and a disciple of Rabbi Akiva. He is the second most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah and is mentioned ...
that when God told Isaac that God would bless him for Abraham's sake (in Genesis 26:24), Isaac interpreted that one earns a blessing only through one's actions, and he arose and sowed, as reported in Genesis 26:12.
A Midrash reread Genesis 26:26, "Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar (, ''mi-gerar'')," to say that Abimelech came "wounded" (, ''megorar''), teaching that ruffians entered Abimelech's house and assailed him all night. Alternatively, the Midrash taught that he came "scraped" (, ''megurad''), teaching that eruptions broke out on Abimelech and he kept scraping himself.
The Sifre
Sifre (; ''siphrēy'', ''Sifre, Sifrei'', also, ''Sifre debe Rab'' or ''Sifre Rabbah'') refers to either of two works of '' Midrash halakha'', or classical Jewish legal biblical exegesis, based on the biblical books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.
...
cited Isaac's reproof of Abimelech, Ahuzzath, and Phicol in Genesis 26:27 as an example of a tradition of admonition near death. The Sifre read Deuteronomy 1:3–4 to indicate that Moses spoke to the Israelites in rebuke. The Sifre taught that Moses rebuked them only when he approached death, and the Sifre taught that Moses learned this lesson from Jacob, who admonished his sons in Genesis 49 only when he neared death. The Sifre cited four reasons why people do not admonish others until the admonisher nears death: (1) so that the admonisher does not have to repeat the admonition, (2) so that the one rebuked would not suffer undue shame from being seen again, (3) so that the one rebuked would not bear ill will to the admonisher, and (4) so that the one may depart from the other in peace, for admonition brings peace. The Sifre cited as further examples of admonition near death: (1) when Abraham reproved Abimelech in Genesis 21:25, (2) when Isaac reproved Abimelech, Ahuzzath, and Phicol in Genesis 26:27, (3) when Joshua
Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
admonished the Israelites in Joshua 24:15, (4) when Samuel
Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...
admonished the Israelites in 1 Samuel 12:34–35, and (5) when David admonished Solomon
Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...
in 1 Kings 2:1. In Isaac's case, the Sifre read the report of Genesis 26:31 to teach that Abimelech, Ahuzzath, and Phicol made peace with Isaac because Isaac had justly reproved them.
Reading the verb "to see" repeated (, ''ra'o ra'iynu'') in the passage "We saw plainly" in Genesis 26:28, a Midrash taught that Abimelech and his party had seen two things—Isaac's deeds and the deeds of his parents.
A Midrash taught that Abimelech first sent Phicol, the captain of his host, but he was unable to pacify Isaac. Then Abimelech sent his friend Ahuzzath, but Isaac still remained unpacified. When Abimelech then went himself, Isaac allowed himself to be appeased. Hence, the Sages taught that one need not ask another's forgiveness more than three times. If the other does not forgive the third time, then the other becomes the wrongdoer.
The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer (, 'Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer'; abbreviated , 'PRE') is an aggadic-midrashic work of Torah exegesis and retellings of biblical stories. Traditionally, the work is attributed to the tanna Eliezer ben Hurcanus and his scho ...
told how Isaac made a covenant with the Philistines, when he sojourned there. Isaac noticed that the Philistines turned their faces away from him. So Isaac left them in peace, and Abimelech and his magnates came after him. Paraphrasing Genesis 26:27, the Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer told that Isaac asked them why they came to him, after having turned aside their faces from him. Paraphrasing Genesis 26:28, the Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer told that the Philistines replied that they knew that God would give the Land of Israel to Isaac's descendants, and thus they asked him to make a covenant with them that his descendants would not take possession of the land of the Philistines. And so Isaac made a covenant with them. He cut off one cubit
The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding Noah ...
of the bridle of the donkey upon which he was riding, and he gave it to them so that they might thereby have a sign of the covenant.
Reading the report of Esau's marriage to two Hittite women in Genesis 26:34, a Midrash found signs of the duplicity of Esau and his spiritual descendants, the Romans. Rabbi Phinehas (and other say Rabbi Helkiah) taught in Rabbi Simon's name that Moses and Asaph (author of Psalm 80) exposed the Romans' deception. Asaph said in Psalm 80:14: "The boar of the wood ravages it." While Moses said in Deuteronomy 14:7–8: "you shall not eat of . . . the swine, because he parts the hoof but does not chew the cud." The Midrash explained that Scripture compares the Roman Empire to a swine, because when the swine lies down, it puts out its parted hoofs, as if to advertise that it is clean. And so the Midrash taught that the wicked Roman Empire robbed and oppressed, yet pretended to execute justice. So the Midrash taught that for 40 years, Esau would ensnare married women and violate them, yet when he reached the age of 40, he compared himself to his righteous father Isaac, telling himself that as his father Isaac was 40 years old when he married (as reported in Genesis 25:19), so he too would marry at the age of 40.
Genesis chapter 27
Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥaninah taught that our ancestors were never without a scholars' council. Abraham was an elder and a member of the scholars' council, as Genesis 24:1 says, "And Abraham was an elder (, ''zaken'') well stricken in age."Eliezer
Eliezer () was the name of at least three different individuals in the Hebrew Bible.
Eliezer of Damascus
Eliezer of Damascus () was, according to Targum Jonathan Bereishit, 14:14, the son of Nimrod. As mentioned in Lech-Lecha#Sixth_reading— ...
, Abraham's servant, was an elder and a member of the scholars' council, as Genesis 24:2 says, "And Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all he had," which Rabbi Eleazar explained to mean that he ruled over—and thus knew and had control of—the Torah of his master. Isaac was an elder and a member of the scholars' council, as Genesis 27:1 says: "And it came to pass when Isaac was an elder (, ''zaken'')." Jacob was an elder and a member of the scholars' council, as Genesis 48:10 says, "Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age (, ''zoken'')." In Egypt they had the scholars' council, as Exodus 3:16 says, "Go and gather the elders of Israel together." And in the Wilderness, they had the scholars' council, as in Numbers 11:16, God directed Moses to "Gather . . . 70 men of the elders of Israel."
Rabbi Eleazar taught that Isaac's blindness, reported in Genesis 27:1, was caused by his looking at the wicked Esau. But Rabbi Isaac taught that Abimelech's curse of Sarah caused her son Isaac's blindness. Rabbi Isaac read the words, "it is for you a covering (''kesut'') of the eyes," in Genesis 20:16 not as ''kesut'', "covering," but as ''kesiyat'', "blinding." Rabbi Isaac concluded that one should not consider a small matter the curse of even an ordinary person. Alternatively, a Midrash interpreted the words "his eyes were dim from seeing" in Genesis 27:1 to teach that Isaac's eyesight dimmed as a result of his near sacrifice in Genesis 22, for when Abraham bound Isaac, the ministering angels wept, as Isaiah 33:7 says, "Behold, their valiant ones cry without, the angels of peace weep bitterly," and tears dropped from the angels' eyes into Isaac's, leaving their mark and causing Isaac's eyes to dim when he became old.
Rabbi Eleazar taught that deceptive speech is like idolatry. Rabbi Eleazar deduced the similarity from the common use of the word "deceiver" to describe Jacob's deception his father in Genesis 27:12, where Jacob says, "I shall seem to him as a deceiver," and to describe idols in Jeremiah 10:15, where idols are described as "the work of deceivers."
But the Gemara cited Jacob as the exemplar of one who, in the words of Psalm 15:3, "has no slander on his tongue," as Jacob's protest to Rebekah in Genesis 27:12, "I shall seem to him as a deceiver," demonstrated that Jacob did not take readily to deception.
Rabbi Joḥanan taught that when Jacob explained his rapid success in obtaining the meat by saying in Genesis 27:20 that it was "because the Lord your God sent me good speed," he was like a raven bringing fire to his nest, courting disaster. For when Jacob said "the Lord your God sent me good speed," Isaac thought to himself that he knew that Esau did not customarily mention the name of God, and if the person before him did so, he must not have been Esau but Jacob. Consequently, Isaac told him in Genesis 27:21, "Come near, I pray, that I may feel you, my son."
Reading Isaac's observation in Genesis 27:27, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed," Rav Judah the son of Rav Samuel bar Shilat said in the name of Rav that Jacob smelled like an apple orchard.
Rabbi Judah ben Pazi interpreted Isaac's blessing of Jacob with dew in Genesis 27:28 merely to pass along to his son what God had deeded to his father Abraham for all time. And Rabbi Ishmael deduced from Isaac's curse of those who cursed Jacob and blessing of those who blessed Jacob in Genesis 27:29 that Jews need not respond to those who curse or bless them, for the Torah has already decreed the response.
Rabbi Judan said that Jacob declared that Isaac blessed him with five blessings, and God correspondingly appeared five times to Jacob and blessed him (Genesis 28:13–15, 31:3, 31:11–13, 35:1, and 35:9–12). And thus, in Genesis 46:1, Jacob "offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac," and not to the God of Abraham and Isaac. Rabbi Judan also said that Jacob wanted to thank God for permitting Jacob to see the fulfillment of those blessings. And the blessing that was fulfilled was that of Genesis 27:29, "Let people serve you, and nations bow down to you," which was fulfilled with regard to Joseph. (And thus Jacob mentioned Isaac then on going down to witness Joseph's greatness.)
The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer saw in Isaac's two blessings of Jacob in Genesis 27:28–29 and 28:1–4 an application of the teaching of Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes ( ) is one of the Ketuvim ('Writings') of the Hebrew Bible and part of the Wisdom literature of the Christian Old Testament. The title commonly used in English is a Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ...
7:8, "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning." The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer noted that the first blessings with which Isaac blessed Jacob in Genesis 27:28–29 concerned dew and grain—material blessings. The final blessings in Genesis 28:1–4 concerned the foundation of the world, and were without interruption either in this world or in the world to come, for Genesis 28:3 says, "And God Almighty bless you." And Isaac further added the blessing of Abraham, as Genesis 28:4 says, "And may He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you." Therefore, the Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer concluded that the end of the thing—Isaac's final blessing of Jacob—was better than the beginning of it.
Interpreting why in Genesis 27:33 "Isaac trembled very exceedingly," Rabbi Joḥanan observed that it was surely unusual for a man who has two sons to tremble when one goes out and the other comes in. Rabbi Joḥanan taught that Isaac trembled because when Esau came in, Gehenna
Gehenna ( ; ) or Gehinnom ( or ) is a Biblical toponym that has acquired various theological connotations, including as a place of divine punishment, in Jewish eschatology.
The place is first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as part of the border ...
came in with him. Rabbi Aha said that the walls of the house began to seethe from the heat of Gehenna. Hence Genesis 27:33 asks, "who then (, ''eifo'')?" for Isaac asked who would be roast (''leafot'') in Gehenna, him or Jacob?Genesis Rabbah 67:2Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥaninah interpreted the question "who then?" in Genesis 27:33 to ask who then intervened between Isaac and God that Jacob should receive the blessings. Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥaninah taught that Isaac thereby hinted at Rebekah's intervention. The Gemara read Isaac's words in Genesis 27:33, "And I have eaten from everything," to support the Sages' teaching that God gave three people in this world a taste of the
World To Come
The world to come, age to come, heaven on Earth, and the Kingdom of God are eschatology, eschatological phrases reflecting the belief that the World (theology), current world or Dispensation (period), current age is flawed or cursed and will be r ...
—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of Abraham, Genesis 24:1 says, "And the Lord blessed Abraham with everything." And of Jacob, Genesis 33:11 says, "Because I have everything." Thus, already in their lifetimes, they merited everything, perfection. The Gemara read these three verses also to teach that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were three people over whom the evil inclination had no sway, as Scripture says about them, respectively, "with everything," "from everything," and "everything," and the completeness of their blessings meant that they did not have to contend with their evil inclinations. And the Gemara read these same three verses to teach that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were three of six people over whom the Angel of Death had no sway in their demise—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. As Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were blessed with everything, the Gemara reasoned, they were certainly spared the anguish of the Angel of Death.
Rabbi Tarfon
Rabbi Tarfon or Tarphon (, from the Greek Τρύφων ''Tryphon'' literally "one who lives in luxury" Trifon), a Kohen, was a member of the third generation of the Mishnah sages, who lived in the period between the destruction of the Second Te ...
taught that Isaac's blessing of Esau in Genesis 27:40, "By your sword shall you live," helped to define Edom's character. Rabbi Tarfon taught that God came from Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the Mount Sinai (Bible), biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the thre ...
(or others say Mount Seir) and was revealed to the children of Esau, as Deuteronomy 33:2 says, "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them," and "Seir" means the children of Esau, as Genesis 36:8 says, "And Esau dwelt in Mount Seir." God asked them whether they would accept the Torah, and they asked what was written in it. God answered that it included (in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17), "You shall do no murder." The children of Esau replied that they were unable to abandon the blessing with which Isaac blessed Esau in Genesis 27:40, "By your sword shall you live." From there, God turned and was revealed to the children of Ishmael, as Deuteronomy 33:2 says, "He shined forth from Mount Paran," and "Paran" means the children of Ishmael, as Genesis 21:21 says of Ishmael, "And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran." God asked them whether they would accept the Torah, and they asked what was written in it. God answered that it included (in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17), "You shall not steal." The children of Ishamel replied that they were unable to abandon their fathers’ custom, as Joseph
Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...
said in Genesis 40:15 (referring to the Ishamelites’ transaction reported in Genesis 37:28), "For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews." From there, God sent messengers to all the nations of the world asking them whether they would accept the Torah, and they asked what was written in it. God answered that it included (in Exodus 20:3) and Deuteronomy 5:7), "You shall have no other gods before me." They replied that they had no delight in the Torah, therefore let God give it to God's people, as Psalm 29:11 says, "The Lord will give strength dentified with the Torahto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace." From there, God returned and was revealed to the children of Israel, as Deuteronomy 33:2 says, "And he came from the ten thousands of holy ones," and the expression "ten thousands" means the children of Israel, as Numbers 10:36 says, "And when it rested, he said, ‘Return, O Lord, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.’" With God were thousands of chariots and 20,000 angels, and God’s right hand held the Torah, as Deuteronomy 33:2 says, "At his right hand was a fiery law to them."
The Midrash Tehillim told the circumstances in which Esau sought to carry out his desire that Genesis 27:41 reports, "Let the days of mourning for my father be at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob." The Midrash Tehillim interpreted Psalm 18:41, "You have given me the necks of my enemies," to allude to Judah, because Rabbi Joshua ben Levi reported an oral tradition that Judah slew Esau after the death of Isaac. Esau, Jacob, and all Jacob's children went to bury Isaac, as Genesis 35:29 reports, "Esau, Jacob, and his sons buried him," and they were all in the Cave of Machpelah
The Cave of the Patriarchs or Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Jews by its Biblical name Cave of Machpelah () and to Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham (), is a series of caves situated south of Jerusalem in the heart of the Old City of Hebr ...
sitting and weeping. At last Jacob's children stood up, paid their respects to Jacob, and left the cave so that Jacob would not be humbled by weeping exceedingly in their presence. But Esau reentered the cave, thinking that he would kill Jacob, as Genesis 27:41 reports, "And Esau said in his heart: ‘Let the days of mourning for my father be at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.’" But Judah saw Esau go back and perceived at once that Esau meant to kill Jacob in the cave. Quickly Judah slipped after him and found Esau about to slay Jacob. So Judah killed Esau from behind. The neck of the enemy was given into Judah’s hands alone, as Jacob blessed Judah in Genesis 49:8 saying, "Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies." And thus David declared in Psalm 18:41, "You have given me the necks of my enemies," as if to say that this was David's patrimony, since Genesis 49:8 said it of his ancestor Judah.
Reading Genesis 27:41, Rabbi Eleazar contrasted Esau's jealousy with Reuben's magnanimity. As Genesis 25:33 reports, Esau voluntarily sold his birthright, but as Genesis 27:41 says, "Esau hated Jacob," and as Genesis 27:36 says, "And he said, ‘Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he has supplanted me these two times.'" In Reuben's case, Joseph
Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...
took Reuben's birthright from him against his will, as 1 Chronicles 5:1 reports, "for as much as he defiled his father's couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph." Nonetheless, Reuben was not jealous of Joseph, as Genesis 37:21 reports, "And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand."
In Genesis 27:46, where Rebekah expresses her displeasure, the is small.
Genesis chapter 28
A Tanna taught in a Baraita that the exalted position of a groom atones for his sins. The Gemara cited Genesis 28:9 as a proof text. The Gemara noted that Genesis 28:9 reports that "Esau went to Ishmael, and took Machalat the daughter of Ishmael, as a wife," but Genesis 36:3 identifies Esau's wife as "Basemat, Ishmael's daughter." The Gemara explained that the name Machalat is cognate with the Hebrew word for forgiveness, ''mechilah'', and thus deduced that Genesis 28:9 teaches that Esau's sins were forgiven upon his marriage. The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer expanded on the circumstances under which Esau went to be with Ishmael, as reported in Genesis 28:9. Expanding on Genesis 35:27, the Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer told that Jacob took his sons, grandsons, and wives, and went to Kiryat Arba to be near Isaac. Jacob found Esau and his sons and wives there dwelling in Isaac's tents, so Jacob spread his tent apart from Esau's. Isaac rejoiced at seeing Jacob. Rabbi Levi said that in the hour when Isaac was dying, he left his cattle, possessions, and all that he had to his two sons, and therefore they both loved him, and thus Genesis 35:29 reports, "And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him." The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer told that after that, Esau told Jacob to divide Isaac's holdings into two portions, and Esau would choose first between the two portions as a right of being the older. Perceiving that Esau had his eye set on riches, Jacob divided the land of Israel and the Cave of Machpelah in one part and all the rest of Isaac's holdings in the other part. Esau went to consult with Ishmael, as reported in Genesis 28:9. Ishmael told Esau that the Amorite and the Canaanite were in the land, so Esau should take the balance of Isaac's holdings, and Jacob would have nothing. So Esau took Isaac's wealth and gave Jacob the land of Israel and the Cave of Machpelah, and they wrote a perpetual deed between them. Jacob then told Esau to leave the land, and Esau took his wives, children, and all that he had, as Genesis 36:6 reports, "And Esau took his wives . . . and all his possessions which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob." As a reward, God gave Esau a hundred provinces from Seir to Magdiel, as Genesis 36:43 reports, and Magdiel is Rome. Then Jacob dwelt safely and in peace in the land of Israel. Notwithstanding Esau's conflicts with Jacob in Genesis 25–33, a Baraita taught that the descendants of Esau's descendantHaman
Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian empire under King Ahasuerus#Book of Esther, Ahasuerus, comm ...
studied Torah in Benai Berak.
In medieval Jewish interpretation
The parashah is discussed in these medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
Jewish sources:
Genesis chapter 25
Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
read the words "And she went to inquire of the Lord" in Genesis 25:22 as an example of a phrase employed by the Torah where a person was not really addressed by the Lord, and did not receive any prophecy, but was informed of a certain thing through a prophet. Maimonides cited the explanation of the Sages that Rebekah went to the college of Eber, and Eber gave her the answer, and this is expressed by the words, "And the Lord said to her" in Genesis 25:23. Maimonides noted that others have explained these words by saying that God spoke to Rebekah through an angel. Maimonides taught that by "angel" Eber is meant, as a prophet is sometimes called an "angel." Alternatively, Maimonides taught that Genesis 25:23 may refer to the angel that appeared to Eber in his vision.
Genesis chapter 27
In the ''Zohar
The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...
'', Rabbi Simeon saw a reference to Isaac's blessing of Jacob in Isaiah 58:14, "Then shall you delight in the Lord, and I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father." Rabbi Simeon interpreted the words of Genesis 27:28, "And God give you of the dew of heaven," to mean "the heritage of Jacob" in Isaiah 58:14. Rabbi Simeon taught that with these words, Isaac indicated that Jacob's children would rise again from the dead at the time to come, by means of heavenly dew that shall issue forth from God. Rabbi Abba responded to Rabbi Simeon that there was more significance to Isaac's blessing than he had thought.
Naḥmanides taught that from the moment that Isaac blessed Jacob, Isaac knew from Divine inspiration that his blessing rested on Jacob. This was then the reason for his violent trembling, for he knew that his beloved son Esau had lost the blessing forever. After he said (in Genesis 27:33) "Who then is he who came," Isaac realized that Jacob had been the one who came before him to receive the blessing.
Notwithstanding Esau's conflicts with Jacob in Genesis 25–33, the Baal HaTurim
Jacob ben Asher (c. 1270–1340), also known as Ba'al ha-Turim as well as Yaakov ben haRosh, was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Ba'al ha-Turim ("Author of the ''Turim''"), after his main work, the ''A ...
, reading the Priestly Blessing
The Priestly Blessing or priestly benediction (; translit. ''birkat kohanim''), also known in rabbinic literature as raising of the hands (Hebrew ''nesiat kapayim''), rising to the platform (Hebrew ''aliyah ledukhan''), ''dukhenen'' (Yiddish fro ...
of Numbers 6:24–26, noted that the numerical value (gematria) of the Hebrew word for "peace" (, ''shalom'') equals the numerical value of the word "Esau" (, ''Eisav''). The Baal HaTurim concluded that this hints at the Mishnaic dictum (in the Pirkei Avot
Pirkei Avot (; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth'', also ''Abhoth''), which translates into English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from Rabbinic Jewis ...
) that one should always reach out to be the first to greet any person, even an adversary.
In modern interpretation
The parashah is discussed in these modern sources:
Genesis chapters 25–33
Hermann Gunkel wrote that the legend cycle of Jacob-Esau-Laban divided clearly into the legends (1) of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:19–34; 27:1–45; 27:46–28:9; 32:3–21; 33:1–17), (2) of Jacob and Laban (Genesis 29:1–30; 30:25–31:55), (3) of the origin of the twelve tribes (Genesis 29:31–30:24), and (4) of the origin of ritual observances (Genesis 28:10–22; 32:1–2, 22–32).Walter Brueggemann
Walter Albert Brueggemann (March 11, 1933 – June 5, 2025) was an American Christian scholar and theologian who is widely considered an influential Old Testament scholar. His work often focused on the Hebrew prophetic tradition and the sociop ...
suggested a chiastic structure
Chiastic structure, or chiastic pattern, is a literary technique in motif (narrative), narrative motifs and other textual passages. An example of chiastic structure would be two ideas, A and B, together with variants A' and B', being presented as ...
to the Jacob narrative (shown in the chart below), moving from conflict with Esau to reconciliation with Esau. Within that is conflict with Laban moving to covenant with Laban. And within that, at the center, is the narrative of births, in which the birth of Joseph (at Genesis 30:24) marks the turning point in the entire narrative, after which Jacob looks toward the Land of Israel and his brother Esau. In the midst of the conflicts are the two major encounters with God, which occur at crucial times in the sequence of conflicts.
Acknowledging that some interpreters view Jacob's two encounters with God in Genesis 28:10–22 and 32–33:17 as parallel, Terence Fretheim argued that one may see more significant levels of correspondence between the two Bethel stories in Genesis 28:10–22 and 35:1–15, and one may view the oracle to Rebekah in Genesis 29:23 regarding "struggling" as parallel to Jacob's struggle at the Jabbok
The Zarqa River (, ''Nahr az-Zarqāʾ'', lit. "the River of the Blue ity) is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmouk River. It is the third largest river in the region by annual discharge and its watershed enc ...
in Genesis 32–33:17. Fretheim concluded that these four instances of Divine speaking link to each other in complex ways.
Genesis chapter 25
James Kugel wrote that Gunkel's concept of the etiological tale led 20th century scholars to understand the stories of the rivalry of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25:19–26, Genesis 25:29–34, and Genesis 27 to explain something about the national character (or national stereotype) of Israel and Edom at the time of the stories’ composition, a kind of projection of later reality back to the "time of the founders." In this etiological reading, that Esau and Jacob were twins explained the close connection between Edom and Israel, their similar dialects, and cultural and kinship ties, while the competition between Esau and Jacob explained the off-and-on enmity between Edom and Israel in the Biblical period. Kugel reported that some biblical scholars saw an analogue in Israelite history: Esau's descendants, the Edomites, had been a sovereign nation while the future Israel was still in formation (see Genesis 36:31), making Edom the "older brother" of Israel. But then, in the 10th century BCE, David unified Israel and conquered Edom (see 2 Samuel 8:13–14; 1 Kings 11:15–16; and 1 Chronicles 18:12–13), and that is why the oracle Genesis 25:23 gave Rebekah during her pregnancy said that "the older will end up serving the younger." Kugel reported that scholars thus view the stories of the young Jacob and Esau as created to reflect a political reality that came about in the time of David, indicating that these narratives were first composed in the early 10th century BCE, before the Edomites succeeded in throwing off their Israelite overlords, at that time when Israel might feel "like a little kid who had ended up with a prize that was not legitimately his." When Edom regained its independence, the stolen blessing story underwent a change (or perhaps was created out of whole cloth to reflect Edom's resurgence). For while Israel still dominated Edom, the story ought to have ended with Isaac's blessing of Jacob in Genesis 27:28. But Isaac's blessing of Esau in Genesis 27:40, "By your sword you will live, and you will indeed serve your brother; but then it will happen that you will break loose and throw his yoke from off your neck," reflects a reformulation (or perhaps new creation) of the story in the light of the new reality that developed half a century later.
Gary Rendsburg read in Genesis 25:19–29—which personifies Edom, a Transjordanian state ruled by David and Solomon, as the brother of Jacob/Israel—to indicate that the author of Genesis sought to portray the ancestor of this country as related to the patriarchs in order to justify Israelite rule over Edom. Rendsburg noted that during the United Monarchy, Israel governed most firmly the nations geographically closest to Israel. 2 Samuel reports that while Israel permitted the native kings of Moab and Ammon to rule as tributary vassals, Israel deposed the king of Edom, and David and Solomon exercised direct rule over their southeastern neighbor. Rendsburg deduced that this explains why Edom, in the character of Esau, is seen as a twin brother of Israel, in the character of Jacob, while Moab and Ammon, as portrayed in Genesis 19:30–38 by Lot's two sons, were more distantly related. Rendsburg also noted that in Genesis 27:40, Isaac predicted that Esau would throw off the yoke of Jacob, reflecting the Edomite rebellion against Israel during Solomon's reign reported in 1 Kings 11:14–22. Rendsburg concluded that royal scribes living in Jerusalem during the reigns of David and Solomon in the tenth century BCE were responsible for Genesis; their ultimate goal was to justify the monarchy in general, and the kingship of David and Solomon in particular; and Genesis thus appears as a piece of political propaganda.
Rendsburg noted that Genesis often repeats the motif of the younger son. God favored Abel
Abel ( ''Hébel'', in pausa ''Hā́ḇel''; ''Hábel''; , ''Hābēl'') is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within the Abrahamic religions. Born as the second son of Adam and Eve, the first two humans created by God in Judaism, God, he ...
over Cain in Genesis 4; Isaac superseded Ishmael in Genesis 16–21; Jacob superseded Esau in Genesis 25–27; Judah (fourth among Jacob's sons, last of the original set born to Leah) and Joseph (eleventh in line) superseded their older brothers in Genesis 37–50; Perez superseded Zerah in Genesis 38 and Ruth 4; and Ephraim
Ephraim (; , in pausa: ''ʾEp̄rāyīm'') was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath, as well as the adopted son of his biological grandfather Jacob, making him the progenitor of the Tribe of Ephrai ...
superseded Manasseh
Manasseh () is both a given name and a surname. Its variants include Manasses and Manasse.
Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), Singaporean rice and opium merchant and hotelier
* Jacob Manasseh ( ...
in Genesis 48. Rendsburg explained Genesis's interest with this motif by recalling that David was the youngest of Jesse’s seven sons (see 1 Samuel 16), and Solomon was among the youngest, if not the youngest, of David’s sons (see 2 Samuel 5:13–16). The issue of who among David’s many sons would succeed him dominates the Succession Narrative in 2 Samuel 13 through 1 Kings 2. Amnon
Amnon ( ''’Amnōn'', "faithful") was, in the Hebrew Bible, the oldest son of King David and his second wife, Ahinoam of Jezreel. He was born in Hebron during his father's reign in Judah. He was the heir apparent to the throne of Israel until ...
was the firstborn, but was killed by his brother Absalom
Absalom ( , ), according to the Hebrew Bible, was an Israelite prince. Born to David and Maacah, who was from Geshur, he was the only full sibling of Tamar. He is described in the Hebrew Bible as being exceptionally beautiful, as is his siste ...
(David’s third son) in 2 Samuel 13:29. After Absalom rebelled, David’s general Joab
Joab (; ), the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army according to the Hebrew Bible.
Name
The name Joab is, like many other Hebrew names, theophoric—derived from Yahweh (), the name of the God of Israel, ...
killed him in 2 Samuel 18:14–15. The two remaining candidates were Adonijah
According to 2 Samuel, Adonijah (, ''’Ǎḏōnīyyā''; "my lord is Yah") was the fourth son of King David. His mother was Haggith as recorded in the book of . Adonijah was born at Hebron during the long conflict between David and the House o ...
(David’s fourth son) and Solomon, and although Adonijah was older (and once claimed the throne when David was old and feeble in 1 Kings 1), Solomon won out. Rendsburg argued that even though firstborn royal succession was the norm in the ancient Near East, the authors of Genesis justified Solomonic rule by imbedding the notion of ultimogeniture into Genesis’s national epic. An Israelite could thus not criticize David’s selection of Solomon to succeed him as king over Israel, because Genesis reported that God had favored younger sons since Abel and blessed younger sons of Israel—Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Perez, and Ephraim—since the inception of the covenant.
Reading the words of Genesis 25:22, "why do I live," Robert Alter
Robert Bernard Alter (born 1935) is an American professor emeritus of Hebrew language, Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He has published two dozen books, including an aw ...
wrote that Rebekah's "cry of perplexity and anguish" over her difficult pregnancy was "terse to the point of being elliptical." Alter suggested that Rebekah's words might even be construed as a broken-off sentence—"Then why am I . . . ?"
Fretheim observed an ambiguity in the language of Genesis 25:23: The brother who would be stronger was not necessarily the brother who would be served. Fretheim wrote that Genesis 25:23 predicted either that the older (Esau) would be the weaker of the two and would serve the younger (Jacob), or, more likely, that the older would be the stronger and would serve the younger.
And Richard Elliott Friedman
Richard Elliott Friedman (born May 5, 1946) is an American biblical scholar, theologian, and translator who currently serves as the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia.
Life and career
Friedman was born in ...
noted that readers usually take Genesis 25:23 to convey that God told Rebekah that her younger son, Jacob, would dominate her older son, Esau. Thus, some have argued that Rebekah did not manipulate the succession when she sent Jacob to pose as Esau, but simply fulfilled God's will. But Friedman called this reading of Genesis 25:23 a misunderstanding of the "subtle, exquisitely ambiguous" wording of the verse. Friedman wrote that in Biblical Hebrew, the subject may either precede or follow the verb, and the object may either precede or follow the verb. Thus, Friedman argued that it is sometimes impossible to tell which word is the subject and which is the object, especially in poetry. Friedman argued that this is the case in Genesis 25:23, which he argued can mean either, "the elder will serve the younger," or, "the elder, the younger will serve." Friedman concluded that "like the Delphic oracles in Greece, this prediction contains two opposite meanings, and thus the person who receives it—Rebekah—can hear whatever she wants (consciously or subconsciously) to hear."
Ephraim Speiser wrote that originally the name Jacob, rather than as explained in Genesis 25:26, was likely from ''Y‘qb-'l'', and meant something like "may God protect."
Reading the characterization of Jacob as "a simple man" (, ''ish tam'') in Genesis 25:27, Alter suggested that the Hebrew adjective "simple" (, ''tam'') suggests integrity or even innocence. Alter pointed out that in Biblical idiom, as in Jeremiah 17:9, the heart can be "crooked" (, ''‘akov''), the same root as Jacob's name, and the idiomatic antonym is "pureness" or "innocence"—, ''tam''—of heart, as in Genesis 20:5. Alter concluded that there may well be a complicating irony in the use of this epithet for Jacob in Genesis 25:27, as Jacob's behavior is far from simple or innocent as Jacob bargains for Esau's birthright in the very next scene.
Reading Genesis 25:29, "Jacob cooked food," Ohr ha-Chaim suggested that Jacob did so because he saw how effective Esau's providing Isaac with delicious meals had been in cementing Isaac's love for Esau, and thus Jacob tried to emulate Esau's success.
Genesis chapter 26
In Genesis 26:4, God reminded Isaac that God had promised Abraham that God would make his heirs as numerous as the stars. In Genesis 15:5, God promised that Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven. In Genesis 22:17, God promised that the Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore.Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...
reported that there are more stars in the universe than sands on all the beaches on the Earth.
Baruch Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
read the report of Genesis 26:5 that Abraham observed the worship, precepts, statutes, and laws of God to mean that Abraham observed the worship, statutes, precepts, and laws of king Melchizedek
In the Hebrew Bible, Melchizedek was the king of Salem and priest of (often translated as 'most high God'). He is first mentioned in Genesis 14:18–20, where he brings out bread and wine and then blesses Abraham, and El Elyon or "the Lord, Go ...
. Spinoza read Genesis 14:18–20 to relate that Melchizedek was king of Jerusalem and priest of the Most High God, that in the exercise of his priestly functions (like those Numbers 6:23 describes) he blessed Abraham, and that Abraham gave to this priest of God a tithe of all his spoils. Spinoza deduced from this that before God founded the Israelite nation, God constituted kings and priests in Jerusalem, and ordained for them rites and laws. Spinoza deduced that while Abraham sojourned in the city, he lived scrupulously according to these laws, for Abraham had received no special rites from God.
Reading the three instances of the wife-sister motif in (a) Genesis 12:10–20; (b) Genesis 20:1–18; and (c) Genesis 26:6–11, Speiser argued that in a work by a single author, these three cases would present serious contradictions: Abraham would have learned nothing from his narrow escape in Egypt, and so tried the same ruse in Gerar; and Abimelech would have been so little sobered by his perilous experience with Abraham and Sarah that he fell into the identical trap with Isaac and Rebekah. Speiser concluded (on independent grounds) that the Jahwist
The Jahwist, or Yahwist, often abbreviated J, is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist, the Priestly source and the Elohist. The existence of the Jahwist text is somewhat controver ...
was responsible for incidents (a) and (c), while the Elohist
According to the documentary hypothesis, the Elohist (or simply E) is one of four source documents underlying the Torah, together with the Jahwist (or Yahwist), the Deuteronomist and the Priestly source. The Elohist is so named because of its ...
was responsible for incident (b). If the Elohist had been merely an annotator of the Jahwist, however, the Elohist would still have seen the contradictions for Abimelech, a man of whom the Elohist clearly approved. Speiser concluded that the Jahwist and the Elohist therefore must have worked independently.
Genesis chapter 27
Speiser read the details of Jacob's behavior in Genesis 27:1–40 to show that, although the outcome favored Jacob, the Jahwist's personal sympathies lay with Isaac and Esau, the victims of the ruse. Speiser read the unintended blessing of Jacob by Isaac in Genesis 27 to teach that no one may grasp God's complete design, which remains reasonable and just no matter who the chosen agent may be at any given point.
Gunther Plaut
Wolf Gunther Plaut, (November 1, 1912 – February 8, 2012) was an American Reform rabbi and writer who was based in Canada. Plaut was the rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto for several decades and since 1978 was its senior scholar.
...
argued that Isaac was not really deceived. Reading the story with close attention to the personality of Isaac, Plaut concluded that throughout the episode, Isaac was subconsciously aware of Jacob's identity, but, as he was unable to admit this knowledge, he pretended to be deceived. Plaut thus saw a plot within a plot, as Rebekah and Jacob laid elaborate plans for deceiving Isaac, while unknown to them Isaac looked for a way to deceive himself, in order to carry out God's design to bless his less-loved son. Plaut argued that Isaac was old but not senile. In his heart, Isaac had long known that Esau could not carry on the burden of Abraham and that, instead, he had to choose his quiet and complicated younger son Jacob. In Plaut's reading, weak and indecisive man and father that Isaac was, he did not have the courage to face Esau with the truth. His own blindness and Rebekah's ruse came literally as a godsend. Plaut noted that Isaac did not reprimand Jacob. Plaut concluded that no one, not even Esau, was deceived, for even Esau knew that Jacob was the chosen one.
Noting that the name Jacob can mean "he will deceive" and that in Genesis 27:35, Jacob's father Isaac accused Jacob of acting "deceitfully" (, ''bemirmah''), a word that derives from the same root as the adjective "crafty" (, ''arum'') applied to the serpent in Genesis 3:1, Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong (born 14 November 1944) is a British author and commentator known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and Christian mysticism, mystical ...
argued that Jacob's example makes clear that God does not choose one person over another because of the person's moral virtue.
Commandments
According to Maimonides andSefer ha-Chinuch
''Sefer ha-Chinuch'' (, "Book of Education") is a rabbinic text which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was written in 13th-century Spain by an anonymous "Levite of Barcelona".
Content
The work's enumeration of th ...
, there are no commandments in the parashah.
In the liturgy
In the Blessing after Meals (''Birkat Hamazon
Birkat Hamazon ( "The Blessing of the Food"), known in English as the Grace After Meals ( "to bless", Yinglish: Bentsching), is a set of Hebrew language, Hebrew blessings that Halakha, Jewish law prescribes following a meal that includes at le ...
''), at the close of the fourth blessing (of thanks for God's goodness), Jews allude to God's blessing of the Patriarchs described in Genesis 24:1, 27:33, and 33:11.
The Weekly Maqam
In the Weekly Maqam,Sephardi Jews
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
each week base the songs of the services on the content of that week's parashah. For Parashat Toledot, Sephardi Jews apply Maqam Mahour, the maqam that portrays emotional instability and anger. This maqam is similar to Maqam Rast in tone. It is appropriate, because in this parashah, Esau portrays these character traits as he loses out on the major blessings.See Mark L. Kligman, "The Bible, Prayer, and Maqam: Extra-Musical Associations of Syrian Jews," ''Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
'', volume 45, number 3 (Autumn 2001): pages 443–479; Mark L. Kligman, ''Maqam and Liturgy: Ritual, Music, and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn'' (Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
: Wayne State University Press
Wayne State University Press (or WSU Press) is a university press that is part of Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 186 ...
, 2009).
Haftarah
Ahaftarah
The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', ) "parting," "taking leave" (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros''), is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Pr ...
is a text selected from the books of Nevi'im
The (; ) is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the () and (). The Nevi'im are divided into two groups. The Former Prophets ( ) consists of the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings ...
("The Prophets") that is read publicly in the synagogue after the reading of the Torah on Sabbath and holiday mornings. The haftarah usually has a thematic link to the Torah reading that precedes it.
The specific text read following Parashat Toledot varies according to different traditions within Judaism. Examples are:
:*for Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...
and Sephardi Jews: Malachi 1:1–2:7
:*for Karaite Jews
Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a non-Rabbinical Jewish sect characterized by the recognition of the written Tanakh alone as its supreme authority in ''halakha'' (religious law) and theology. Karaites believe that all of the divine commandme ...
: Isaiah 65:23–66:18
Connection to the parshah
Malachi 1 opens with God noting "I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau," before promising retribution on Esau's descendants, the people ofEdom
Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomi ...
.
Notes
Further reading
The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:Biblical
*Genesis 15:5 (numerous as stars); 22:17 (numerous as stars). *Deuteronomy 1:10 (numerous as stars); 17:16 (not to go to Egypt). *Joshua 24:4. *Jeremiah 42:13-22 (not to go to Egypt). *Malachi 1:2–3.Early nonrabbinic
*Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
. ''Antiquities of the Jews
''Antiquities of the Jews'' (; , ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. It cont ...
'1:18:1–2, 4–8
Circa 93–94. In, e.g., ''The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition''. Translated by
William Whiston
William Whiston (9 December 166722 August 1752) was an English theologian, historian, natural philosopher, and mathematician, a leading figure in the popularisation of the ideas of Isaac Newton. He is now probably best known for helping to inst ...
. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987.
* Romans 9:6–13.
*Hebrews
The Hebrews (; ) were an ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic-speaking people. Historians mostly consider the Hebrews as synonymous with the Israelites, with the term "Hebrew" denoting an Israelite from the nomadic era, which pre ...
11:20; 12:16–17.
Classical rabbinic
*Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...
: Mishnah Kiddushin 4:14. Land of Israel, circa 200 C.E. In, e.g., ''The Mishnah: A New Translation''. Translated by Jacob Neusner
Jacob Neusner (July 28, 1932 – October 8, 2016) was an American academic scholar of Judaism. He was named as one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books.
Neusner's application of form criticism� ...
, page 499. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.
*Tosefta
The Tosefta ( "supplement, addition") is a compilation of Jewish Oral Law from the late second century, the period of the Mishnah and the Jewish sages known as the '' Tannaim''.
Background
Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were cha ...
: Berakhot 6:8; Sotah 10:5–6; Kiddushin 5:21. Land of Israel, circa 250 C.E. In, e.g., ''The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction''. Translated by Jacob Neusner, volume 1, pages 39, 876, 947. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002.
*Sifre
Sifre (; ''siphrēy'', ''Sifre, Sifrei'', also, ''Sifre debe Rab'' or ''Sifre Rabbah'') refers to either of two works of '' Midrash halakha'', or classical Jewish legal biblical exegesis, based on the biblical books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.
...
to Deuteronomy 2:3. Land of Israel, circa 250–350 C.E. In, e.g., ''Sifre to Deuteronomy: An Analytical Translation''. Translated by Jacob Neusner, volume 1, page 26. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987.
*Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...
: Berakhot 55b, 85bBikkurim 23b
Sukkah 21a; Taanit 1b, 27b; Megillah 16a, 17b; Sotah 28b, 31b; Sanhedrin 62a; Avodah Zarah 3a.
Tiberias
Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...
, Land of Israel, circa 400 CE. In, e.g., ''Talmud Yerushalmi''. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, volumes 2, 12, 22, 25–26, 36–37, 45, 47. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2006–2020.
*Genesis Rabbah
Genesis Rabbah (, also known as Bereshit Rabbah and abbreviated as GenR) is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is an expository midrash comprising a collection of ...
br>60:13Land of Israel, 5th Century. In, e.g., ''Midrash Rabbah: Genesis''. Translated by Harry Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. *Babylonian
Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
Berakhot 5b
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
, 6th Century. In, e.g., ''Talmud Bavli''. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 volumes. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2006.
Medieval
*Rashi
Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi ().
Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...
. ''Commentary''Genesis 25–28
Troyes
Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...
, France, late 11th Century. In, e.g., Rashi. ''The Torah: With Rashi's Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated''. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, volume 1, pages 271–307. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1995.
*Rashbam
Samuel ben Meir (Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as the "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi".
Biography
He was born in the vicinity of ...
. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Troyes, early 12th century. In, e.g., ''Rabbi Samuel Ben Meir's Commentary on Genesis: An Annotated Translation''. Translated by Martin I. Lockshin, pages 130–62. Lewiston, New York
Lewiston is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Niagara County, New York, Niagara County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named aft ...
: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1989.
*Judah Halevi
Judah haLevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; ; ; c. 1075 – 1141) was a Sephardic Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets and is celebrated for his secular and religious poems, many of whic ...
. '' Kuzari''. 2:80. Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. In, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. ''Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel.'' Introduction by Henry Slonimsky, page 128. New York: Schocken, 1964.
*Abraham ibn Ezra
Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra (, often abbreviated as ; ''Ibrāhim al-Mājid ibn Ezra''; also known as Abenezra or simply ibn Ezra, 1089 / 1092 – 27 January 1164 / 23 January 1167)''Jewish Encyclopedia''online; '' Chambers Biographical Dictionar ...
. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Mid-12th century. In, e.g., ''Ibn Ezra's Commentary on the Pentateuch: Genesis (Bereshit)''. Translated and annotated by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver, pages 247–73. New York: Menorah Publishing Company, 1988.
*Hezekiah ben Manoah Hezekiah ben Manoah, or Hezekiah bar Manoah, was a French rabbi and Bible commentator of the 13th century. He is generally known by the title of his commentary, Chizkuni ().
In memory of his father, who lost his right hand through his steadfastness ...
. ''Hizkuni''. France, circa 1240. In, e.g., Chizkiyahu ben Manoach. ''Chizkuni: Torah Commentary''. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 1, pages 187–214. Jerusalem: Ktav Publishers, 2013.
* Naḥmanides. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Jerusalem, circa 1270. In, e.g., ''Ramban (Nachmanides): Commentary on the Torah: Genesis.'' Translated by Charles B. Chavel, volume 1, pages 313–48. New York: Shilo Publishing House, 1971.
*''Midrash ha-Ne'lam (The Midrash of the Concealed)''. Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, 13th century. In, e.g., ''Zohar'', part 1, pages 134b–40a. Mantua
Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
, 1558–1560. In, e.g., ''The Zohar: Pritzker Edition''. Translation and commentary by Nathan Wolski, volume 10, pages 402–24. Stanford, California
Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University, after which it was named. The CDP's population was 21,150 at the United States Census, ...
: Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It is currently a member of the Ass ...
, 2016.
*''Zohar
The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...
'', part 1, pages 134a–46b. Spain, late 13th Century. In, e.g., ''The Zohar''. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 volumes. London: Soncino Press, 1934.
*"Collection for the Poll Tax." Egypt, 14th century. In Mark R. Cohen. ''The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages: An Anthology of Documents from the Cairo Geniza'', page 174. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.
* Nissim of Gerona (The Ran). ''Derashos HaRan (Discourses of the Ran)'', discourse 2. Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
, 14th century. In, e.g., Yehuda Meir Keilson. ''Derashos HaRan: Discourses of the Ran, Rabbeinu Nissim ben Reuven of Gerona, Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated''. Volume 1, pages 110–97. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2019.
*Mattathias Yizhari. "Sermon on ''Toledot''." Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, circa 1400. In Marc Saperstein. ''Jewish Preaching, 1200–1800: An Anthology'', pages 156–66. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
* Isaac ben Moses Arama. ''Akedat Yizhak (The Binding of Isaac)''. Late 15th century. In, e.g., Yitzchak Arama. ''Akeydat Yitzchak: Commentary of Rabbi Yitzchak Arama on the Torah''. Translated and condensed by Eliyahu Munk, volume 1, pages 177–95. New York, Lambda Publishers, 2001.
Modern
* Isaac Abravanel. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Italy, between 1492 and 1509. In, e.g., ''Abarbanel: Selected Commentaries on the Torah: Volume 1: Bereishis/Genesis''. Translated and annotated by Israel Lazar, pages 147–84. Brooklyn: CreateSpace, 2015. *Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno
Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno (Obadja Sforno, Hebrew: עובדיה ספורנו) was an Italian rabbi, Biblical commentator, philosopher and physician. A member of the Sforno family, he was born in Cesena about 1475 and died in Bologna in 1549.
Bi ...
. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Venice, 1567. In, e.g., ''Sforno: Commentary on the Torah''. Translation and explanatory notes by Raphael Pelcovitz, pages 130–47. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997.
*Solomon ben Isaac Levi. "Sermon on ''Toledot''." Salonika
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
, 1573. In Marc Saperstein. ''Jewish Preaching, 1200–1800: An Anthology'', pages 240–52. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
* Moshe Alshich. ''Commentary on the Torah''. Safed
Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel.
Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...
, circa 1593. In, e.g., Moshe Alshich. ''Midrash of Rabbi Moshe Alshich on the Torah''. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 1, pages 163–83. New York, Lambda Publishers, 2000.
*Avraham Yehoshua Heschel. ''Commentaries on the Torah''. Cracow, Poland, mid 17th century. Compiled as ''Chanukat HaTorah''. Edited by Chanoch Henoch Erzohn. Piotrkow, Poland, 1900. In Avraham Yehoshua Heschel. ''Chanukas HaTorah: Mystical Insights of Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel on Chumash''. Translated by Avraham Peretz Friedman, pages 70–77. Southfield, Michigan
Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Southfield borders Detroit to the north, roughly northwest of downtown Downtown Detroit, Detroit. As of the 2020 Uni ...
: Targum Press/Feldheim Publishers
Feldheim Publishers (or Feldheim) is an American Orthodox Jewish publisher of Torah books and literature. Its extensive catalog of titles includes books on Jewish law, Torah, Talmud, Jewish lifestyle, Shabbat and Jewish holidays, Jewish history, ...
, 2004.
*Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan (Hobbes book), Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered t ...
. ''Leviathan
Leviathan ( ; ; ) is a sea serpent demon noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, and the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. Leviathan is of ...
'', 3:36. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, page 460. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982.
* Chaim ibn Attar. ''Ohr ha-Chaim''. Venice, 1742. In Chayim ben Attar. ''Or Hachayim: Commentary on the Torah''. Translated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 1, pages 200–34. Brooklyn: Lambda Publishers, 1999.
* Samuel David Luzzatto (Shadal). ''Commentary on the Torah.'' Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
, 1871. In, e.g., Samuel David Luzzatto. ''Torah Commentary''. Translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk, volume 1, pages 241–71. New York: Lambda Publishers, 2012.
* Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter. ''Sefat Emet''. Góra Kalwaria (Ger), Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, before 1906. Excerpted in ''The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of Sefat Emet''. Translated and interpreted by Arthur Green, pages 37–41. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1998. Reprinted 2012.
* John E. McFadyen"Expository Studies in the Old Testament: III. Isaac and Jacob."
''The Biblical World'', volume 29, number 3 (March 1907): pages 219–30.
*Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbina ...
. ''The Moral Principles''. Early 20th Century. In ''Abraham Isaac Kook: the Lights of Penitence, the Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness, Essays, Letters, and Poems''. Translated by Ben Zion Bokser, pages 142, 162. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press 1978.
* Lewis Bayles Paton"Archaeology and the Book of Genesis."
''The Biblical World'', volume 46, number 1 (July 1915): pages 25–32. *Alexander Alan Steinbach. ''Sabbath Queen: Fifty-four Bible Talks to the Young Based on Each Portion of the Pentateuch'', pages 17–19. New York: Behrman's Jewish Book House, 1936. *Irving Fineman. ''Jacob, An Autobiographical Novel'', pages 11–13, 16–18. New York: Random House, 1941. *
David Daube
David Daube (8 February 1909, in Freiburg, Germany – 24 February 1999, in Berkeley, California) was the twentieth century's preeminent scholar of ancient law. He combined a familiarity with many legal systems, particularly Roman law and biblic ...
. "How Esau Sold his Birthright." ''Cambridge Law Journal
''The Cambridge Law Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic law journal, and the principal academic publication of the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge. It is published by Cambridge University Press, and is the longest established university ...
'', volume 8 (1942): pages 70–75.
*Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
. ''Joseph and His Brothers''. Translated by John E. Woods (translator), John E. Woods, pages 37, 91, 97–100, 103–08, 113–14, 116–17, 134, 150, 153–73, 192–94, 242, 257, 298–99, 335, 340–41, 404, 414, 417, 428–30, 449, 524, 538, 669–70, 693, 806, 809. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Originally published as ''Joseph und seine Brüder''. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.
*Josiah Mitchell Morse, J. Mitchell Morse"Jacob and Esau in ‘Finnegans Wake.’"
''Modern Philology'', volume 52, number 2 (November 1954): pages 123–30. *David Noel Freedman, David N. Freedman. "The Original Name of Jacob." ''Israel Exploration Journal'', volume 13 (1963): pages 125–26. *Walter Orenstein and Hertz Frankel. ''Torah and Tradition: A Bible Textbook for Jewish Youth: Volume I: Bereishis'', pages 61–71. New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1964. *Delmore Schwartz
"Jacob."
In ''Selected Poems: Summer Knowledge'', pages 233–35. New York: New Directions, 1967. *Samuel Greengus
"Sisterhood Adoption at Nuzi and the ‘Wife-Sister’ in Genesis."
''Hebrew Union College Annual'', volume 46 (1975): pages 5–31. *Seän M. Warner
“The Patriarchs and Extra-Biblical Sources.”
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 1, number 2 (June 1976): pages 50–61. *J. Maxwell Miller (biblical scholar), J. Maxwell Miller
“The Patriarchs and Extra-Biblical Sources: a Response.”
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 1, number 2 (June 1976): pages 62–66. *John R. Bartlett
“The Brotherhood of Edom.”
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 2, number 4 (February 1977): pages 2–27. (Genesis 25:19–24; 27:27–29, 39-40) *Mitchell Dahood
"Poetry versus a Hapax in Genesis 27,3."
''Biblica (journal), Biblica'', volume 58, number 3 (1977): pages 422–23. *Peter D. Miscall
“The Jacob and Joseph Stories as Analogies.”
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 3, number 6 (April 1978): pages 28–40. *Donald Wiseman, Donald J. Wiseman. "They Lived in Tents." In ''Biblical and Near Eastern Studies: Essays in Honor of William Sanford La Sor''. Edited by Gary A. Tuttle, pages 195–200. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978. *C.G. Allen. "On Me Be the Curse, My Son." In ''Encounter with the Text: Form and History in the Hebrew Bible''. Edited by Martin J. Buss, pages 159–72. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979. *Michael Fishbane. "Genesis 25:19–35:22/The Jacob Cycle." In ''Text and Texture: Close Readings of Selected Biblical Texts'', pages 40–62. New York: Schocken Books, 1979. *John G. Gammie. "Theological Interpretation by Way of Literary and Tradition Analysis: Genesis 25–36." In ''Encounter with the Text: Form and History in the Hebrew Bible''. Edited by Martin J. Buss, pages 117–34. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979. *Reuben Ahroni. "Why Did Esau Spurn the Birthright? A Study in Biblical Interpretation." ''Judaism'', volume 29 (1980): pages 323–31. *Roland de Vaux. "The Separate Traditions of Abraham and Jacob." ''Biblical Archaeology Review'', volume 6, number 4 (July/August 1980). *Katherine Paterson. ''Jacob Have I Loved''. New York: HarperCollins, 1980. *Amy K. Blank. ''"I Know Four" and Other Things''. 1981. (poem about Rebekah). *Nechama Leibowitz, Neḥama Leibowitz. ''Studies in Bereshit (Genesis)'', pages 257–97. Jerusalem: The World Zionist Organization, 1981. Reprinted as ''New Studies in the Weekly Parasha''. Lambda Publishers, 2010. *
Walter Brueggemann
Walter Albert Brueggemann (March 11, 1933 – June 5, 2025) was an American Christian scholar and theologian who is widely considered an influential Old Testament scholar. His work often focused on the Hebrew prophetic tradition and the sociop ...
. ''Genesis: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching'', pages 204–41. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.
*Izak Cornelius. "Genesis XXVI and Mari: The Dispute over Water and the Socio-Economic Way of Life of the Patriarchs." ''Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages'', volume 12 (1984): pages 53–61.
*Frederick Buechner. ''The Magnificent Defeat'', pages 10–18. Seabury Press, 1966. Reprinted San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985.
*Carl D. Evans. "The Jacob Cycle in Genesis: The Patriarch Jacob—An ‘Innocent Man': Moral ambiguity in the biblical portrayal." ''Bible Review'', volume 2, number 1 (Spring 1986).
*Victor H. Matthews"The Wells of Gerar."
''Near Eastern Archaeology (journal), The Biblical Archaeologist'', volume 49, number 2 (June 1986): pages 118–26. *Pinchas Hacohen Peli, Pinchas H. Peli. ''Torah Today: A Renewed Encounter with Scripture'', pages 25–28. Washington, D.C.: B'nai B'rith Books, 1987.
*Louis Feldman, Louis H. Feldman"Josephus' Portrait of Jacob."
''The Jewish Quarterly Review'', New Series, volume 79, number 2/3 (October 1988–January 1989): pages 101–51. *Marc Gellman. "The Strong Man Who Cried." In ''Does God Have a Big Toe? Stories About Stories in the Bible'', pages 57–59. New York: HarperCollins, 1989. *Nahum M. Sarna. ''The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation'', pages 177–97, 396–403. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989. *Mark E. Biddle
"The ‘Endangered Ancestress’ and Blessing for the Nations."
''Journal of Biblical Literature'', volume 109, number 4 (Winter 1990): pages 599–611. *Ktziah Spanier
"Rachel's Theft of the Teraphim: Her Struggle for Family Primacy."
''Vetus Testamentum'', volume 42, number 3 (July 1992): pages 404–12. *Susan Ackerman (biblical scholar), Susan Ackerman. "Child Sacrifice: Returning God's Gift: Barren women give birth to exceptional children." ''Bible Review'', volume 9, number 3 (June 1993). *Robert Hayward
"Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Genesis 27:31."
''The Jewish Quarterly Review'', volume 84, number 2/3 (October 1993–January 1994): pages 177–88. *Aaron Wildavsky. ''Assimilation versus Separation: Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel'', pages 5–6, 8, 13, 15, 17–29. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993. *Judith S. Antonelli. "Rivkah: Existential Struggle." In ''In the Image of God: A Feminist Commentary on the Torah'', pages 60–71. Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson, 1995. *Naomi H. Rosenblatt and Joshua Horwitz. ''Wrestling With Angels: What Genesis Teaches Us About Our Spiritual Identity, Sexuality, and Personal Relationships'', pages 228–58. Delacorte Press, 1995. *Savina J. Teubal. "Naming is Creating: Biblical women hold the power." ''Bible Review'', volume 11, number 4 (August 1995). *Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg. ''The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis'', pages 144–79. New York: Image Books/Doubelday, 1995. *Ellen Frankel. ''The Five Books of Miriam: A Woman’s Commentary on the Torah'', pages 39–48. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1996. *Marc Gellman. "Bless Me, Too!" In ''God's Mailbox: More Stories About Stories in the Bible'', pages 75–79. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1996. *Gunther Plaut, W. Gunther Plaut. ''The Haftarah Commentary'', pages 54–63. New York: UAHC Press, 1996.
*Sorel Goldberg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden. ''Teaching Torah: A Treasury of Insights and Activities'', pages 39–45. Denver: A.R.E. Publishing, 1997.
*Elie Wiesel. "Supporting Roles: Esau." ''Bible Review'', volume 14, number 2 (April 1998).
*Jack Miles. "Supporting Roles: Jacob's Wrestling Match: Was it an angel or Esau?" ''Bible Review'', volume 14, number 5 (October 1998).
*Susan Freeman. ''Teaching Jewish Virtues: Sacred Sources and Arts Activities'', pages 69–84, 136–48. Springfield Township, Union County, New Jersey, Springfield, New Jersey: A.R.E. Publishing, 1999. (Genesis 26:12; 27:19).
*John S. Kselman. "Genesis." In ''The HarperCollins Bible Commentary''. Edited by James Luther Mays, James L. Mays, pages 97–100. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, revised edition, 2000.
*Tamara Goshen-Gottstein. “The Souls that They Made: Physical Infertility and Spiritual Fecundity.” In ''Torah of the Mothers: Contemporary Jewish Women Read Classical Jewish Texts''. Edited by Ora Wiskind Elper and Susan Handelman, pages 123–54. New York and Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2000. (Genesis 25:21).
*Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman. "Searching for the Patriarchs." In ''The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts'', pages 27–47. New York: Free Press (publisher), The Free Press, 2001.
*Tamar Hordes, Ami Hordes, and Joel B. Wolowelsky"Kibbud Av and Kibbud Avot."
''Tradition (journal), Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought'', volume 35, number 2 (Summer 2001): pages 91–94. *Lainie Blum Cogan and Judy Weiss. ''Teaching Haftarah: Background, Insights, and Strategies'', pages 602–09. Denver: A.R.E. Publishing, 2002. *Michael Fishbane. ''The JPS Bible Commentary: Haftarot'', pages 34–40. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2002. *Tikva Frymer-Kensky. "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle: The Rivka Stories." In ''Reading the Women of the Bible'', pages 5–23. New York: Schocken Books, 2002. *Peter Addinall
"Genesis XLVI 8–27."
''Vetus Testamentum'', volume 54, number 3 (July 2004): pages 289–300. *
Robert Alter
Robert Bernard Alter (born 1935) is an American professor emeritus of Hebrew language, Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He has published two dozen books, including an aw ...
. ''The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary'', pages 129–48. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2004.
*Jon D. Levenson. "Genesis." In ''The Jewish Study Bible''. Edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, pages 53–58. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
*Don Seeman"The Watcher at the Window: Cultural Poetics of a Biblical Motif."
''Prooftexts (journal), Prooftexts'', volume 24, number 1 (Winter 2004): pages 1–50. *''Professors on the Parashah: Studies on the Weekly Torah Reading'' Edited by Leib Moscovitz, pages 54–55. Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2005 *Frank Anthony Spina. "Esau: The Face of God." In ''The Faith of the Outsider: Exclusion and Inclusion in the Biblical Story'', pages 14–34. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005. *W. Gunther Plaut. ''The Torah: A Modern Commentary: Revised Edition''. Revised edition edited by David E. Stern, David E.S. Stern, pages 172–93. New York: Union for Reform Judaism, 2006. *Suzanne A. Brody. "Esau's Prediction." In ''Dancing in the White Spaces: The Yearly Torah Cycle and More Poems'', page 67. Shelbyville, Kentucky: Wasteland Press, 2007. *James Kugel, James L. Kugel. ''How To Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now'', pages 39, 101, 133–51, 166, 197, 524. New York: Free Press, 2007. *Susan Niditch. ''"My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man": Hair and Identity in Ancient Israel''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. *Dennis Sylva
"The Blessing of a Wounded Patriarch: Genesis 27.1–40."
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 32, number 3 (March 2008): pages 267–86. *Joachim J. Krause
"Tradition, History, and Our Story: Some Observations on Jacob and Esau in the Books of Obadiah and Malachi."
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 32, number 4 (June 2008): pages 475–86.
*''The Torah: A Women's Commentary''. Edited by Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea Weiss (rabbi), Andrea L. Weiss, pages 133–56. New York: Union for Reform Judaism, URJ Press, 2008.
*Jonathan Goldstein (author), Jonathan Goldstein. "Jacob and Esau." In ''Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible!'' pages 79–114. New York: Riverhead Books, 2009.
*Reuven Hammer. ''Entering Torah: Prefaces to the Weekly Torah Portion'', pages 35–39. New York: Gefen Publishing House, 2009.
*Sarra Lev. "Esau’s Gender Crossing: Parashat Toldot (Genesis 25:19–28:9)." In ''Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible''. Edited by Gregg Drinkwater, Joshua Lesser, and David Shneer; foreword by Judith Plaskow, pages 38–42. New York: New York University Press, 2009.
*Jonathan Sacks. ''Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Genesis: The Book of Beginnings'', pages 145–75. New Milford, Connecticut: Maggid Books, 2009.
*Carolyn J. Sharp. "Pharaoh and Abimelech as Innocents Ensnared." In ''Irony and Meaning in the Hebrew Bible'', pages 51–54. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2009.
*John H. Walton. "Genesis." In ''Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary''. Edited by John H. Walton, volume 1, pages 104–06. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009.
*Raymond Westbrook. "Good as His Word: Jacob Manipulates Justice." ''Biblical Archaeology Review'', volume 35, number 3 (May/June 2009): pages 50–55, 64.
*Bradford A. Anderson“The Inversion of the Birth Order and the Title of the Firstborn.”
''Vetus Testamentum'', volume 60, number 4 (2010): pages 655–58. *David J. Zucker
"The Deceiver Deceived: Rereading Genesis 27."
''Jewish Bible Quarterly'', volume 39, number 1 (January–March 2011): pages 46–58. *Calum Carmichael. ''The Book of Numbers: A Critique of Genesis'', pages 4, 19–20, 91, 100–01, 103–05, 110, 112, 114–15, 118, 120–21, 123–24, 126–27, 130, 132, 135–36, 147, 149, 156, 162–63. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. *William G. Dever. ''The Lives of Ordinary People in Ancient Israel: When Archaeology and the Bible Intersect'', page 173. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012. *Chee-Chiew Lee
"Once Again: The Niphal and the Hithpael of in the Abrahamic Blessing for the Nations."
''Journal for the Study of the Old Testament'', volume 36, number 3 (March 2012): pages 279–96. (Genesis 26:4).
*Shmuel Herzfeld. "A Crowning Achievement." In ''Fifty-Four Pick Up: Fifteen-Minute Inspirational Torah Lessons'', pages 29–34. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2012.
*Jonathan Sacks. ''Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible'', pages 27–30. New Milford, Connecticut: Maggid Books, 2015.
*"The Hittites: Between Tradition and History." ''Biblical Archaeology Review'', volume 42, number 2 (March/April 2016): pages 28–40, 68.
*Jean-Pierre Isbouts. ''Archaeology of the Bible: The Greatest Discoveries From Genesis to the Roman Era'', pages 58–62. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, National Geographic, 2016.
*Jonathan Sacks. ''Essays on Ethics: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible'', pages 33–39. New Milford, Connecticut: Maggid Books, 2016.
*Shai Held. ''The Heart of Torah, Volume 1: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion: Genesis and Exodus'', pages 49–59. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2017.
*Steven Levy and Sarah Levy. ''The JPS Rashi Discussion Torah Commentary'', pages 18–20. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2017.
*Jeffrey K. Salkin. ''The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary'', pages 25–30. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2017.
*Liana Finck. ''Let There Be Light: The Real Story of Her Creation'', pages 237–48. New York: Random House, 2022.
External links
Texts
Masoretic text and 1917 JPS translation
Commentaries
Academy for Jewish Religion, California
{{Book of Genesis Weekly Torah readings in Cheshvan Weekly Torah readings from Genesis