[Unbracketed commentary and chapter title are from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz. An update about this particular commentary in case you, reader, have not read it in previous posts: P&H is a composite/collection of many commentators, and so many names are mentioned .  The editor, Dr. Hertz, makes clear that the best of Jewish scholars […]

[This was first posted September 2012; revised and updated for reposting. The first commentary is from S6K discussions of the chapter;  additionally we feature three commentaries which overlap sometimes, but complement each other most of the time.  Why three (which means more work for admin1)? There is much to learn from all of them even […]

We wrote this commentary introducing Chapter 25 in July 2012: This chapter is supposed to be concerned with Isaac but it is dominated by Eliezer, the faithful servant who is commissioned by Abraham to bring back a wife from the land of his birth and from among his kindred. It is obvious Eliezer’s God is […]

[We have a post on this chapter as part of the Journey of Faith Abraham series which reflects our Sinaite’s interpretation:  Journey of Faith: YHWH, Abraham and “3 men”. This post features our usual commentaries: unbracketted comments are from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz; EF/Everett Fox and RA/Robert Alter, both published translations with commentary with the […]

[Translation:  EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses; this translation is downloadable from http://toby.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/4/8/2748917/everett_foxxstorah.pdf.   The commentary is from a Sinaite’s perspective. —Admin1.]   ————————–   Christian prooftexts list Genesis 18 among the ‘pre-incarnation’ appearances of Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity who is said to be the active member of the Godhead from OT to NT and […]

[Esau . . . the last words we heard from his mouth was revenge:   27:41 Now Esav held a grudge against Yaakov because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. Esav said in his heart: Let the days of mourning for my father draw near and then I will kill Yaakov my brother!  […]

[Read the title of this post, who would you think spoke these words to Yaakov? Surprise, surprise, his two sister-wives Leah and Rachel, vs. 16..  Actually it should not be a surprise: Adam listened to Eve’s voice, Abram listened to Sarai’s voice, Yaakov listened to Rebekah’s voice.  This is contrary to the status of women […]

[The title of this post states exactly what this chapter is about: One.  Yaakov’s sister-wives try to out-baby each other going to the point of using their maidservants as surrogate mothers. What is it about having babies that obsess these rival sister-wives? It couldn’t possibly be a scramble to fulfill prophecy; it must simply be […]

[Let us not forget why Yaakov is on this journey . . . search for a wife is the official reason, but mother Rebekah has decided it would be best for her favored twin to be away from father Yitzchak they both had deceived and twin Esau who was angry over losing his birthright.  The […]

[Seriously, my first exposure to this story is through what used to be called “Negro Spirituals”; the lyrics went like this:  “Jacob dreamt he saw a ladder reachin’ to the sky;  angels comin’ up and downin’;  climb up chil’lun climb!” I’m not sure if race sensitivity has changed what is considered as offensive language from “Negro […]