Jacob Wrestles with Angel

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...

Just because 4,000 years ago one of my ancestors had a hip dislocated, I need to forgo a good rump steak?

We are far more willing to tolerate differences with those who validate us than with those who don't. In a friend's hands such trust can enhance a relationship; but in the hands of a foe such trust can be cunningly exploited...

How we inject spirituality into the butchering process

We also wrestle with spiritual doubts and conflicts.

In this world, we cannot attain absolute perfection, absolute truth, or absolute good. What is required of us is an incredibly difficult form of existence. We must live continually with partial truth, which stems from compromise.

Following an hours-long nocturnal struggle, as dawn breaks, a strange verbal exchange begins between Jacob and the mysterious creature that viciously attacked and maimed him. Fascinating analysis of the conversation’s contents lead us into a discovery of ...

After Yaakov transfers his family and belongings across the stream, he returns alone to retrieve small jars. This backtracking led to his dangerous encounter with the ministering angel of Eisav. Learn the classic commentaries and the deeper message on thi...

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

As a remembrance that Jacob's sciatic nerve was damaged in his wrestling match with an angel, the Torah forbids us from eating the sciatic nerve (gid hanashe) of an animal. Interestingly, this also shows us the extent to which every detail of our lives is...