Jacob
What Only a Father Can Do
Father’s Day is a delightful blend of a secular and religious holiday, combining consumerism with the Biblical mandate to “Honor thy father.” But is it artificially amplified? Are fathers really that important? Mothers are clearly...
Jacob’s deathbed vision of Shiloh; a glimpse of Messiah
Before dying, Jacob blesses his sons in a burst of prophetic vision, blessing Judah as the father of the Davidic dynasty by saying, “The scepter shall not depart from Yehuda, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet; So that tribute...
Counting Jacob’s Blessings
Before he leaves the world, Jacob blesses his sons (Genesis 49). Similarly, Moses also blesses the tribes before he dies (Deuteronomy 33). But the two sets of blessings are very different. Not all of Jacob’s blessings are positive. It is,...
Did Joseph sin by having his father’s body embalmed?
After Jacob died, Joseph ordered his physicians to embalm his father. This is shocking to many as embalming is forbidden by Jewish law, and the only other mention of embalming in the Bible was performed on Joseph just a few years later...
Where is Goren ha-Atad?
When Jacob passes away, Joseph requests permission from Pharaoh to travel to Israel to carry out his oath to his father to bury him in Hebron. All of the dignitaries from Egypt join Joseph and his brothers as they travel to Israel, though...
Jacob’s Redeeming Angel
More than any other character in the Bible, Jacob encounters angels. In his nighttime vision after fleeing Esau, Jacob sees angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven. Upon returning, he has a far more direct encounter with an...
Why do we bless our children to be like Ephraim and Manasseh?
The Torah portion of Vayechi (Genesis 47:28–50:26) tells of the end of Jacob’s life. He lives the last 17 years of his life in Egypt. When he is about to leave the world, Joseph brings his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to his father to...
Sheol: The Grave or so Much More?
The meeting between Joseph and Judah was fraught with import for all present, but also impacted the house of Jacob and all the future generations of Israel to come. But Judah is concerned for his father, stating that if they return...
How Many People Really Descended to Egypt with Jacob?
The Torah states three times that seventy people from the house of Jacob went down into Egypt; Genesis 46:27, Exodus 1:1,5, and Deuteronomy 10:22. Genesis specifies that Jacob’s household when he descended into Egypt numbered 70. This...
Jacob or Israel: What’s in a Name?
Names, especially names of Biblical characters, are very significant. The granting of a name is a divine gift bestowed upon Adam, giving him an active role in Creation Genesis 2:19: And Hashem formed out of the earth all the wild beasts...
