Teaching Our Jacobs and Esaus

Teaching Our Jacobs and Esaus

Nov 9, 2002 By Steven Brown | Commentary | Toledot

Recounting the gestation, birth and maturation of the Bible’s most famous twins, Esau and Jacob, reminds me of a wonderful PBS film entitled, “How Difficult Can It Be? The F.A.T. City Workshop.” F.A.T. stands for Frustration, Anxiety, Tension. Through a series of simulations and exercises, Richard D. Lavoie, a gifted special education teacher, turns a group of highly accomplished adults into learning disabled students in a matter of minutes. He reminds us that children with learning differences or disabilities experience them not only in school, but twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, leading to daily frustration, anxiety and tension in their everyday lives. During a poignant moment in the film, Lavoie comments that fairness is not treating everyone the same, it’s giving everyone what she or he needs.

Read More
Drinking the Waters of Torah

Drinking the Waters of Torah

Nov 13, 2004 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Toledot

In rabbinic parlance, water stands for Torah.

Read More
A Dialogue Across the Ages

A Dialogue Across the Ages

Nov 29, 2003 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Toledot

Like his father Abraham, Isaac is driven by famine to take refuge in the city of Gerar, in the western Negev northwest of Be’er Sheva. The abundance of water for their large herds is what spurs them to relocate, and it is over water that both of the patriarchs contend with the locals. In the first instance, Abraham accuses the ruler of Gerar, Abimelech, that servants of the latter stripped him of a well that he had dug. Abimelech professes to be ignorant of the theft and willing to make amends; whereupon he and Abraham strike a pact. A gift of seven ewes by Abraham will serve to legally establish his claim of ownership of the well. Indeed, according to the biblical account, the pact gives rise to the name of Be’er Sheva, “the well of seven.” At the time, the dominion of Gerar must have stretched eastward to Be’er Sheva, which appears to have had no ruler of its own (21:22-32).

Read More
Food’s Symbolic Burden

Food’s Symbolic Burden

Dec 3, 2005 By David C. Kraemer | Commentary | Toledot

It has often been noted — and properly so — that Parashat Toledot is framed by two stories of deceit and dishonesty.

Read More
The Challenges and Joys of Parenting

The Challenges and Joys of Parenting

Nov 25, 2006 By Steven Brown | Commentary | Toledot

Parshat Toledot is the epitome of the challenges, struggles, ambivalences, and joys of parenting.

Read More
Torah As Water

Torah As Water

Nov 26, 2011 By Charlie Schwartz | Commentary | Text Study | Toledot

The metaphor of Torah as water has always resonated with me. With Torah as water, the idea of learning, engaging with, and living through our sacred texts comes into focus. Just as we cannot live for long without water, so too will our lives become desiccated and empty without the study of Torah.

Read More
Poor Isaac

Poor Isaac

Nov 7, 2007 By David M. Ackerman | Commentary | Toledot

Poor Isaac; wedged between “exemplary” Abraham and “vivid” Jacob, he exhibits very little personality of his own.

Read More
A Strong Woman in the Bible

A Strong Woman in the Bible

Nov 29, 2008 By Daniel Nevins | Commentary | Toledot

What do you make of our matriarch Rebecca? Certainly she is the boldest and most independent of the mothers. When as a girl she sees a stranger at the well, she rushes to water his caravan of thirsty camels, and then invites him to stay at her house. When offered the chance to travel with this man back to a distant land and a mysterious husband, she volunteers without hesitation. When her pregnancy becomes difficult, she seeks out God and challenges Him with the bold question, “Why do I need this?” When her husband seems ready to bless the wrong son, she quickly conspires to rearrange the action so that Jacob will receive the primary blessing. In all of these actions, Rebecca is seen as a woman of strength and decisiveness.

Read More