This week’s Torah portion is Shemot, which means “names”. It is the first of the book of Exodus. There are many things to talk about in the portion but we will start with Rashi and Pharaoh’s three advisors and see where we go from there. At the very beginning of Exodus it tells us that …
This week’s Torah portion is Miketz, the continuing dramatic saga of the life of Joseph. This portion begins with the phrase “at the end of two years.” Now Joseph has already been in prison for ten years for a crime he did not commit. Two years before we pick up the story the chief cupbearer …
This week we studied the portion vayeitzei in which Jacob dreams of a ladder to heaven. In the very first verse of this portion we learn that Jacob has left Bersheva, travelling to Haran, so we know he is on a journey. The rabbis, the ancient sages of Israel, tell us that when a righteous …
So this last week we studied Toldot, the narrative with the most famous interaction between the brothers Jacob and Esau – in which Esau sells his birthright for a bowl of lentils. If you grew up Christian as I did, it might seem that Jacob is the villain of the story, the deceiver, somehow tricking …
