Questions tagged [jacob]
Biblical figure who is one of the main characters in the second half of the book of Genesis. The third of the Patriarchs, son of Isaac and Rebecca, grandson of Abraham and Sarah, husband of Leah and Rachel, and father of the twelve tribes.
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Malachim climbing ladders
When Yaakov Avinu has the dream of the malachim climbing the ladder,
Why do malachim need a ladder? Can't they fly or have some other form of supernatural transportation?
I thought that the reason ...
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Does this pasuk imply G-d will leave us?
Bereshit 28:15 has G-d telling Jacob that He will not forsake him until He fulfills what He promised to Abraham. Doesn’t this seem to imply G-d will leave us after that? Do any commentators say ...
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Where can I learn about Serach bat Asher?
Looking for any books on the topic that go into all the aspects to her. Thanks.
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What is the meaning of Genesis 28:14?
I love this forum because I learn too much with all you. One of the most enigmatic psukim in my view is Bereshit 28:14:
וְהָיָ֤ה זַרְעֲךָ֙ כַּעֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֔רֶץ וּפָרַצְתָּ֛ יָ֥מָּה וָקֵ֖דְמָה וְצָפֹ֣נָה ...
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Why was Yaackov punished for answering Pharaoh's Question, "How old are you?"
Why was Yaackov punished for answering Pharaoh the way he did when pharaoh asked him how old he was?
I am sure Yaakov knew how to answer this easy to figure out question quite well. Well enough not to ...
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Does the covenant with Abraham affect any of his children besides the children of Jacob?
If God established the covenant he made with Abraham first with Isaac, and then with Jacob, does that covenant have any effects at all upon the other children in the family of Abraham such as Ishmael ...
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Does the language of Genesis 31:38 - 41 allow for Jacob to be speaking of two seperate 20 year periods?
A few times, I've come across this idea that Jacob's two descriptions of the 20 year period he spent in Haran is actually describing two seperate periods of 20 years, to effect of extending his stay ...
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Did Jacob do right by Essau?
When a family member is on the brink of death and is desperate for food and drink it seems rather harsh to extort his birth-right from him. I would just share my food with the person if they are that ...
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What Rabbinic interpretations of the Garden of Eden narrative treat "the serpent" as more the protagonist, instead of the antagonist?
Most interpretations of the Garden narrative treat Adam and Even as protagonists, and the serpent as the antagonist. I am interested here in interpretations that flip some roles. As one example, I ...
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Is there significance in the Torah calling Yaakov "Yaakov" at the start of Miketz, then switching to "Yisrael" in the middle
In parsha Miketz, in chapter 42 Jacob is referred to by the name יעקב several times. then in chapter 43, starting in sentence 6, it switches to ישראל and uses that a couple of times. Is there any ...
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Yaakov's travel from Be'er Sheva to Haran: a spiritual journey?
The Torah tells us that Yaakov went from Be'er Sheva towards Haran (Bereishit 28:10).
If you look at the map, Haran is somewhere in modern day Turkey (if I'm correct), so the journey was upwards. When ...
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Was the man who wrestled with Jacob, God?
It seems to me that the most plain reading of the passage in Genesis 32:22-32 suggests the man who wrestled with Jacob was somehow God, as crazy or as insane as it may sound. I'm looking for ...
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Do Jews today not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip as per Genesis 32:32-33?
Genesis 32:32-33
Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
Is this still practiced by ...
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On tunneling to Israel after death
I don't understand this passage in the Talmud:
The righteous outside of Eretz Yisrael will be resurrected and roll [until they reach Eretz Yisrael]… Rabbi Abba Salla Rava strongly objects to this: ...
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Meaning of a verse in Miketz
In Miketz, we read:
וַיַּ֣רְא יַעֲקֹ֔ב כִּ֥י יֶשׁ־שֶׁ֖בֶר בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יַעֲקֹב֙ לְבָנָ֔יו לָ֖מָּה תִּתְרָאֽוּ׃
When Jacob saw that there was grain being sold in Egypt, he said to his sons,...
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Do the righteous care too much for their possessions?
The Torah says:
Jacob was left alone. [Genesis 32:25]
The Talmud adds:
Why was he left alone? Because he remained to retrieve some small jugs. From here we derive that the possessions of the ...
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What is the Zohar's explanation of: "And the children struggled together within her"?
In Parshat Toldot, Rebecca is pregnant with the twins Esau and Jacob and we read:
וַיִּתְרֹֽצֲצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ -- And the children struggled together within her. [Genesis 25:22].
There ...
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Connection and significance between Esav and Yaakov's 4 struggles and the 4 Exiles?
What is the significance between the struggles with Yaakov and Esav's physical body and the 4 exiles Daniel revealed from Nebuchadnezzer's dream?
... The first empire - the Babylonian Empire - ...
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How does "Israel" mean to struggle with G-d?
How does "Israel" mean to struggle with G-d? https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/israel-means-to-struggle-with-god/
This is what I could find in the Hebrew text:
בראשית לב כט
וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא ...
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What to we learn from וַיִּשַּׁק יַעֲקֹב לְרָחֵל? [duplicate]
The following is an (uncited) premise in learning torah that creates this question. Every word of the torah is measured (there are no extra words) and therefore important.
In parshas Yeyeitzei (...
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What is the first (or any) explicit source for Yaakov being epitome for "truth"?
This idea appears over and over again, and I failed to find where does it come from. I know that the sefirot are matched by the Ushpizin by the Arizal, Abraham stands for chesed, Yitzchak for gevurah/...
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Who is the Aramean and what did he do to Jacob?
A variant of this issue was discussed before, but it does not fully answer my specific question.
-Deut. 26:5 says: אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי.
-It is frequently translated as: "My father was a wandering ...
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Sources that Reuven slept with Bilah
Okay, so this is how it seems like the correct translation of this pasuk is:
that Reuven went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine…” (Bereshit 35:21-22) That would be an unbelievable act if ...
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Does the Midrash say we have guardian angels?
The Midrash quotes Rabbi Hama on the story where Jacob wrestled an angel but, not just any ordinary angel, but the guardian of Esau. Needless to say, Maimonides, I think said it was a symbolic ...
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Why didn't Yaakov bless Menashe and Efrayim with the tribes?
Yaakov told/commanded Yosef (not prophecized) that Yosef's two sons, Efrayim and Menashe, would become tribes on par with those of Yaakov's own sons (B'reshis 48:5):
וְעַתָּה שְׁנֵי־בָנֶיךָ ...
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Is the one who fights with Jacob in Genesis 32: 25-31 a simple emissary of Esau according to a current of Jewish tradition?
I am an Italian noahide.
I read the following words written by an Italian Orthodox Jew about the figure of one who fights with Jacob in Genesis 32: 25-31
This figure is defined by the tradition "...
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Why Yaakov suddenly hurried to have kids at 84?
On the Posuk (Gen 29,21) "וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל־לָבָן הָבָה אֶת־אִשְׁתִּי כִּי מָלְאוּ יָמָי וְאָבוֹאָה אֵלֶיהָ׃" Bereyshis Rabba 70,18 explains that Yaakov was 84 and knew that he's destined to have ...
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The fear and anxiety of Yaakov before meeting Eisav
Bereshit 32:8:
"וַיִּירָא יַעֲקֹב מְאֹד וַיֵּצֶר לוֹ וַיַּחַץ אֶת־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר־אִתּוֹ וְאֶת־הַצֹּאן וְאֶת־הַבָּקָר וְהַגְּמַלִּים לִשְׁנֵי מַחֲנוֹת׃"
"Jacob was greatly frightened; in ...
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Any connection between Isaiah 40:3 and the story of Ya'akov's name changed to Yisrael?
Regards the name changing from Ya'akov to Yisrael the Kli Yakar states that the name Yisrael comes from the word Yashar El, to be straight with G-d. This transformation is compared to Yeshayahu 40:4 '...
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With what and why did Ya’akov struggle?
Many times I came across teachings which stated that Ya’akov Avinu wrestled (struggled) with what could be described as something representative of Esav (I.e. Edom, Adam); of which it is said it was ...
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Why did Jacob not return to Israel?
Why did Jacob and his clan not return to the Land of Israel when the famine subsided, after their stay in Egypt? We might have avoided slavery. God did not tell Abraham his descendants would be ...
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Source that the word לשמי hints to the changing of Yaakov's name to Yisrael
In Genesis 32:30 after Ya’akov want’s to know the name of which he is wrestling with, the question is asked why he wants to know it’s name: (למה זה תשאל לשמי), I can’t find its source but I heard ...
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In religious tradition, is there a common matrilineal ancestor of the 12 tribes of Israel?
Does religious tradition hold that the 12 tribes of Israel share a common matrilineal ancestor, and if so who was she?
The tradition is that each tribe was descended from one of the 12 sons of Jacob, ...
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Sur meRah Mission
What does Sur meRah mean (sources please) in the context of Al Berko's answer to Why did Ya'akov work for Lavan for so long??
Associated: Why would Yaakov need to go looking for the Lavan in "...
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Did Jacob ever figure out what the Brothers did to Joseph?
It's a simple question that I thought about this past week (since the parashah was Mekeitz). Is there any evidence that Jacob could have figured out what happened to Joseph before they reunited in ...
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Why both a גל and a מצבה - Breishit 31:45 - 46?
In Breishit 31:45, Ya'akov takes a stone and creates a מצבה (my translation - "monument")
In verse 46, he takes several stones and creates a גל (my translation "heap").
Both of them were used as "...
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Places in Tanach where Yaakov & Eliyahu are spelled different than usual
Rashi in Parshas Bechukosai פרק כו פסוק מב says there are 5 places that Yaakov is spelled with a vav like this יעקוב & Eliyahu is spelled without a vav like this אליה.
The first full spelling of ...
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The Stones of Yaakov
the gemora in Chulin 91b comments on the pasuk in parsha vayetzei
Rabbi Yitzchak said: This tells us that all the stones gathered
themselves together into one place and each one said: 'Upon me ...
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Why did Yaakov Avinu not ask G-d about where Yosef was?
Why did Yaakov Avinu not ask G-d about the whereabouts of Yosef during the 22 years that he was away? We know that G-d regularly spoke to Yaakov, so why wouldn't he use one of those opportunities to ...
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Michoel/Gavriel Wrestling Yaakov
Although Rashi follows Chazal in identifying the angel which wrestled with Yaakov as the Sar (archangel) Shel Esav, the Yalkut Shimoni (132), Zohar Bo (51b), and the Pirkei D'Rav Elazar all identify ...
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Why did Yaakov buy the Bechora from Esav?
This question came up recently, and the immediate answer that I got from people around me is that Yaakov was securing the brachos which are due to the bechor.
However, the problem with this answer is ...
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Why was Yosef, and not Binyamin, the favored son?
Bereishit 37:3 says that the reason Yosef was Yaakov's favorite is "because he was a son of his old age". But while Yosef is a son of Yaakov's old age, so is his younger brother Binyamin. Further, ...
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Why did Yaakov wait to marry?
According to the Talmud in Megillah, and quoted in Rashi at the end of Toldos, Yaakov was 84 when he first married. Why did he wait so long?
I saw somewhere (don't remember where) that Avraham first ...
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Why did Hashem allow the angel fight with Yaakov?
Why did Hashem allow the angel to even fight with Yaakov in the first place?
Boby