JTS Torah Archive

A Bold Exegetical Gambit

Nov 2, 1995 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayetzei

Why does Jacob abandon the security of his parents home in Beer-sheba?

Behind God’s Names

Nov 20, 1993 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayetzei

Judaism is a wellspring that emits an endless profusion of names for God. The Bible contains some 70; rabbinic literature adds another 90 or more and no one as yet has bothered to tally the number added by Jewish mystics. As Gershom Scholem wrote more than a half-century ago: “In the last resort, the whole of the Torah [for the author of the Zohar] is nothing but the one great and holy Name of God.” The layers of names bespeak an unbroken dialogue driven by love and mystery.

Vayetzei

Jan 1, 1980

¹³ Then Jacob had to flee to the land of Aram;

There Israel served for a wife,
For a wife he had to guard [sheep].

Vayetzei

Jan 1, 1980

¹⁰ Jacob left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran.