The Torah does not have a word for ambivalence (the nearest is Elijah’s question to the Baal-worshipping Israelites: “How long will you waver between two opinions?”). It does, however, have a tune for it. This is the rare note known as the shalshelet. It appears three times in Bereishit, each time at a moment of crisis for the individual concerned….
…though he recognised them. But that is only the surface meaning. Deep down the book of Bereishit is exploring the most profound source of conflict in history. Freud thought the great symbol of conflict was Laius and Oedipus, the tension between fathers and sons. Bereishit thinks otherwise. The root of human conflict is sibling rivalry: Cain and Abel, Isaac and…
From Vayeshev to the end of the book of Bereishit we read the story of Joseph and his brothers. From the very beginning we are plunged into a drama of sibling rivalry that seems destined to end in tragedy. All the elements are there, and it begins with ominous parental favouritism. Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons. The…
Rebecca, hitherto infertile, became pregnant. Suffering acute pain, “she went to inquire of the Lord” [vatelech lidrosh et Hashem] (Bereishit 25:22). The explanation she received was that she was carrying twins who were contending in her womb. They were destined to do so long into the future: Two nations are in your womb, And two peoples from within you will…
…you are in the company of Jacob-who-became-Israel, the father-in-faith of us all. [1] Bereishit Rabbah 63:6. [2] Bereishit Rabbah 63:10. [3] Midrash Lekach Tov, Bereishit 47:18. [4] Bereishit Rabbah 65:17. [5] Bereishit Rabbah 63:13. [6] Bereishit Rabbah 65:8. [7] See Rashi to Gen. 25:27. [8] Baba Batra 16b. [9] Elsewhere in past ‘C&C’s on Toldot, I have pointed out that…
…is, a kingdom all of whose members are to be in some sense Priests, and a nation that is, in its entirety, holy. The first indication is much earlier still, in the first chapter of Bereishit, with its monumental statement, “God created mankind in His own image” (Bereishit 1:27). What is revolutionary in this declaration is not that a human…
…and I will bless you.” (Bereishit 12:2) [2] “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.” (Bereishit 13:16) [3] “Look up at the sky and count the stars — if indeed you can count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your…
…his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” Bereishit 45:4-8 This is very different to how Yosef explained these events to the chief butler in prison, when he said: “I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews. And here again, I have done nothing to deserve being placed in this dungeon.” Bereishit 40:15 Then, it was a story of…
…sat there at the gates of the city. His daughters had married local boys. He had arrived, he had assimilated, he had integrated. Abraham fought for his neighbours in Bereishit 14, prayed for them in Bereishit 18, [18:23] but he didn’t live like them. So here’s Abraham who lives by his own lights, fights for his contemporaries but doesn’t live…
…A: The words “vayigdal” – meaning “and he grew” – and “vayigdalu” – meaning “and they grew” are used in connection with Yitzchak (Bereishit 21:8); Yishmael (Bereishit 21:20); Ya’acov and Eisav (Bereishit 25:27); and Moshe (Shemot 2:10). Your family may have additional answers of people we see in the Torah growing and changing in different ways, such as through teshuvah….