Being in the Land

Nov 6, 2013 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayetzei

Parashat Vayetzei opens with Jacob’s flight from the Land of Israel.

Between Dante and Jacob

Dec 3, 2011 By Marc Wolf | Commentary | Vayetzei

For Parashat Va-yetzei, although the times are different, the convention is the same and, for us, the question all the more poignant: What is the role of Jacob’s romantic love for Rachel? Does romantic love set us up for an unfulfilled life?

Breaking Routine to Encounter God

Nov 21, 2012 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayetzei

With the threat of fratricide hanging over his head and in light of his parents’ wish, Jacob makes a quick exit from Beersheba and heads toward Haran, where he will presumably find a loving and loyal wife.

God in Our Midst

Dec 6, 2006 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayetzei

After Jacob steals Esav’s blessing, a deep rift develops between these two brothers.

Rachel Leans In

Nov 5, 2013 By Michal Raucher | Commentary | Vayetzei

Recent conversations in popular feminism revolve around trying to capture what it means to “have it all,” and, if that’s even possible, how to achieve it.

How Full of Awe Is This Place!

Nov 28, 2014 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Commentary | Vayetzei

In 1969, as a senior pursuing a BFA at the University of Memphis, my mother, Ann Kibel Schwartz, made a series of prints, including this one on themes from Genesis, as her senior thesis. She drew the images for these prints from magazines, newspapers, and print advertisements. The images were starkly modern, but their juxtaposition in collage, drawing on the ancient themes of the Torah, created an old-new whole.

Family

Nov 18, 2015 By Burton L. Visotzky | Commentary | Vayetzei

This week’s Torah reading, Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:2), opens and closes with flights of angels accompanying our forefather Jacob (aka Israel, though, he won’t get named that until next week), as he flees from and returns to the Promised Land. When Jacob leaves, he is running in fear for his life. For our father Jacob has cheated his macho older brother Esau once too often, so much so that he has threatened to kill him. Of course, Esau isn’t that much older, for the two brothers are twins. But as any set of twins will tell you, the one who came first, even if by mere seconds—that one is the elder. We might assume, along with the Bible, that birth-order matters. But Genesis is all about the younger supplanting the older and we are on solid ground suggesting that this sibling rivalry stuff is at the very heart of this week’s Torah lesson.