The first ethnic joke in the Bible is in chapter 25 of Genesis. Rebekah gives birth to twins, and the first comes out red and hairy all over, so she and Isaac name him Esau. They name him “Hairy.” ...

During my Bible reading, I came across something I would like to share. Hot off the press!! (No pun intended). It’s found in Genesis Chapter 33. It’s the story where ...

My Hebrew name is Ya’akov, Hebrew for Jacob. When I celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah years ago at the age of 13, the observance coincidentally coincided with readings in the Torah about the life of ...

Jacob spotted him first. From the kitchen window, he saw Esau stumble slightly on the path. His gait was slower than usual, ...

Indeed, Esau’s willingness to trade something eternal for something fleeting remains intact even after he is nourished. He is ...

The relationship between the brothers Jacob and Esau is shot through with dramatic tension: manipulation and deceit, violence and forced separation, conflict and unexpected rapprochement. So it seems ...

Have you ever read the same book or watched the same movie over and over again, and hope beyond hope that it has a different ending just this one time? As the Jewish community considers the Jacob and ...

The fifth biblical man in this series is Jacob. Jacob is the second son of Isaac, and as such he started out without an inheritance of the promises given to Abraham and Isaac. When I think of Jacob, I ...

Sometimes Torah simply refuses to give us the straight dope. Were man and woman created simultaneously from God’s command (Genesis 1:26-27)? Or did God sculpt Adam out of clay (Genesis 2:7) and then ...

Parashat Toldot includes one of my favorite parts of the Torah — specifically, the stealing of the blessing. We can see the warm relationship between Isaac and Esau. We see the comfort in their ...