Is public protest an effective means of bringing about change? While many insist on its value, some have argued that demonstrations on behalf of Jewish causes precipitate anti-Semitic backlash. The ...

Reluctant to engage with his militaristic opponent Esau, Jacob hopes negotiations will avert the need for an armed struggle. When forced to wrestle with an angel, however, Jacob, steeled with ...

These are the sons of Tziv’on: Ayah and Anah. It was Anah who discovered how to breed mules in the desert, when he was tending the donkeys for his father Tziv’on. ~ Genesis 36:24 So much innovation ...

THAT IS what happens in this week’s Torah portion. After his wrestling match with the stranger, Jacob undergoes a change of personality, a transformation. He gives back to Esau the blessing he took ...

Nationhood is hard. Forming a cohesive people able to take the reins of its own national promise is a tortuous journey. It typically entails internal battles within the polity, and external ones with ...

A young woman is gingerly applying lipstick for her upcoming date, unaware of the horrible fate awaiting her. This may sound like the description of a new Netflix drama but it’s actually a scene in a ...

The Biblical narrative of the relationship between Yaakov and Esav, who are depicted in post-Biblical Jewish literature as the prototypical Jew and gentile, is the most fertile story for understanding ...

How do we reconcile Jacob’s behavior, tricking his brother and lying to his father, with our vision of Yaakov as an ish emet, a man of truth? Through an analysis of several seemingly unimportant ...

And thou, do not fear, O My servant Jacob; neither be dismayed, O Israel; for, lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return and sit in quiet ...