Posts Tagged: Toldot
The Voice of Jacob
JNS.org - The Jewish world is grieving the horrific murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates. A gentle ambassador of Judaism, his...
Parshat Toldot: Love Heals the Lover and the Loved
It’s a haunting question. Why did Isaac love Esau? The verse says so explicitly: “Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebecca...
Parashat Toldot: Admitting a Mistake (Even God Does)
Nothing is more difficult than admitting a mistake, yet nothing is more human than making one. In several places, the Torah deals with the need for...
Parshat Toldot: The Courage of Persistence
There is a strange passage in the life of Isaac, ominous in its foreshadowing of much of later Jewish history. Like Abraham, Isaac finds himself...
Don’t Lower Expectations for Children
I have always been fascinated by the idea of a handicap in golf. It allows novices to get into the game on an equal footing...
Why Did Isaac Love Esau?
Even before they were born, Jacob and Esau struggled in the womb. They were destined, it seems, to be eternal adversaries. Not only were they...
A Father’s Love
“The boys grew up. Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the outdoors; but Jacob was a mild man who stayed at home among the...
Was Jacob Right to Take Esau’s Blessing?
Was Jacob right to take Esau's blessing in disguise? Was he right to deceive his father and to take from his brother the blessing Isaac...
The Price of Silence
In an earlier Covenant and Conversation, I quoted the Netziv (Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin, 1816-1893, dean of the yeshiva in Volozhin), who made the sharp observation...
