History

Deborah was there because Rebecca was fulfilling a promise she made to Jacob 36 years earlier.

Overview The prophet Obadiah was a contemporary of Elijah the prophet. He lived in the days of King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel. In fact, he was the manager of their entire estate. We encounter him in the story of Elijah and his confrontations with K...

This is not the actual diary of Leah, wife of Jacob. To the best of my knowledge, no such document exists.

The angel tries to disentangle himself from Jacob but cannot do so. He is forced to beg Jacob to let him go.

The Destruction of Shechem, The War against the Seven Kings

Jacob Leaves Laban, Laban Instigates Esau to Make War on His Brother, Jacob’s Strategy, Jacob Wrestles with an Angel, Jacob’s Reconciliation with Esau, Jacob’s Arrival in Canaan, Rachel’s Death

The struggle between Jacob and the "angel of Esau", which "raised dust up to the Supernal Throne", is the cosmic struggle between the spirituality of Israel and the materiality of Edom (Rome). The struggle is conducted on two planes -- "with the divine an...

I doubt if the stirring cry "Never again," has, on its own, dissuaded even one young man or woman from assimilating. If the only message our children hear is "remain Jewish, because of the Holocaust" wouldn't this, if anything, propel the process of assim...

Why did Simeon and Levi kill the people of Shechem? Were their actions morally justified? Morally imperative? And why do they serve as the prototype for the law of bar mitzvah, the Jewish boy’s attainment of maturity and responsibility?

The classical interpretation is that Leah and Dinah’s behavior is being condemned as unbecoming the Jewish woman’s virtue of “innerness.” But a careful analysis of the source texts shows the very opposite to be the case . . .