What can Yaakov’s struggle teach us about the complexities of identity and faith? In this episode, Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Michael Hattin delve into Yaakov’s dramatic encounter with the mysterious “Ish” in Parshat Vayishlach. They explore themes of personal transformation,…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
What can a fraught meeting between brothers teach us about our own instincts? The events of October 7 shattered the worldview for many of us, and can cause us to approach how we understand the Torah differently. In this week’s…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
Yaakov returns from Lavan’s house to meet Esav, and he is petrified. Esav is coming with 400 men. Is he seething with hatred and violence, or has he possibly missed his brother and is instead coming to welcome him. The…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
Parashat Vayishlach 5782 – Cyclical History Description: Does History repeat itself? Nachmanides thinks it does! He reads the entire standoff between Jacob and Esau as a paradigm of future events – Isael and Rome, Judaism and Christianity. What are we…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
Jacob is a man divided within himself, as suggested by the paradoxical statement that “Jacob remained alone,” yet “a man struggled with him.” With an emphasis on the recurring “guiding words” in the text, we will explore the nature of…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
Are there meaningless verses in the Torah? Our dramatic parsha ends with a long and arduous list of the genealogy of Esau and his clan. The family tree is written in painstaking detail over forty-three verses. It is difficult to…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Educator resources, Meaning-making, Vayishlach
After 34 years as a fugitive on foreign soil, Yaakov returns home to resettle in his ancestral land. What makes him instigate a hazardous encounter with his brother Esav, who vowed to kill him for ‘stealing’ his blessing decades earlier?…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
It’s been 20 years since Yaakov fled from his brother Esav after stealing his birthright. Now Yaakov is going to see Esav again, and he is worried that his brother might kill him for what he did long ago. Yaakov…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Educator resources, Meaning-making, Vayishlach
Shimon and Levi avenge their sister’s rape by killing the inhabitants of Shechem. Was their violence justified or did they commit a massacre? In this podcast, Rabbi Israel discusses the parsha’s episode and enables us to reflect on the benefits…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
Parshat Vayishlach opens with Jacob’s intense fear of Esau’s murderous intentions. Jacob fears, “he will strike me down, mother and child alike.” (32:12) In traditional Jewish commentary, this encounter becomes paradigmatic; Esau becomes the eternal figure of the non-Jewish aggressor,…
Educator resources, Meaning-making, Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
The power to name is both human and Divine. In this podcast Rabbi Mike Feuer explores the nature of naming as a path to answering the question—what is Israel? Please let us know your comments and thoughts about the podcast,…
Personalities, Biblical personalities, Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
The Pardes Parsha Discussion is a new weekly series by faculty member Rabbi Alex Israel, designed to stimulate discussion around the Shabbat table, especially with teenagers. Click here to download and print this week’s Parsha Discussion on Vayishlach – The Morality of…
Educator resources, Meaning-making, Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Vayishlach
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