Tag: jacob
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Understanding Jacob’s Name
As we read in the Book of Genesis, (25:19–26) our matriarch Rivka gives birth to twins. The first to emerge is covered with hair, and the Torah tells us, “They named him Esau,” a play on the Hebrew word se’ar, meaning “hair.” The second child appears grasping his brother’s heel, and he is named Yaakov…
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Praying Together or Alone?
The emphasis in Judaism tends to be on communal prayer. We need a “minyan”, a gathering of ten adults, in order to recite the mourner’s kaddish and other prayers in our liturgy. Jewish law states that one should make every attempt to pray in a synagogue with the community. The rabbis even maintain that one’s…
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Just Getting Even?
In our Torah reading for tomorrow, (Genesis 31:7-32:3) Jacob flees from Laban with his family and all of the wealth he has managed to accumulate in his years of service/servitude to his father-in-law. We learn that Rachel, Jacob’s wife (and Laban’s daughter), steals the household idols and brings them with her. The commentators wonder why…
Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 