Say what you will about what Esau, it is hard to read this week’s sedra without feeling sorry for him. Having traded away his birthright, he now loses his blessing, as well. The Torah portrays the ...

This week's Dvar Torah is by Rabbi Yeroham Simsovic,former Rav shaliach in Oxford (2006-2007) and is currently teaching at Yeshivat Horev in Jerusalem In the issue of Isaac’s blessings to his sons, ...

(Note that Esau did not inform Issac that earlier, Esau had “sold his birthright” to Jacob, who teased Esau with a bowl of fresh stew when his twin was “famished” after hunting.) Enter the twins’ ...

Parashat Toldot includes one of my favorite parts of the Torah — specifically, the stealing of the blessing. We can see the warm relationship between Isaac and Esau. We see the comfort in their ...

In this week’s Torah portion, Jacob is grappling with fear at the prospect of returning home to his parents’ house more than 20 years after he left. Last he heard, his father Isaac was dying, his twin ...

It began with the first two human born into this world, the world’s first brothers. In the course of time, Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil. Abel, for his part, brought ...

But whose mouth? And what kind of love leaves one son hungry for a blessing, and the other aching to serve? It was near sundown. The sky hung low and red over the dry hills, and dust clung to the hem ...

One of the most anguished and compelling sections of the Book of Genesis tells the story of Jacob and Esau vying for their father’s blessing. As many of us know, Jacob—with the help of his mother, ...