The first ethnic joke in the Bible is in chapter 25 of Genesis. Rebekah gives birth to twins, and the first comes out red and hairy all over, so she and Isaac name him Esau. They name him “Hairy.” ...

The fifth biblical man in this series is Jacob. Jacob is the second son of Isaac, and as such he started out without an inheritance of the promises given to Abraham and Isaac. When I think of Jacob, I ...

The adventures of Jacob and his children have served as a throughline in the genesis of America – from abolition to ...

This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent on Friday afternoons. Sign up here to get the Forward’s free newsletters delivered to your inbox. I was thrilled ...

Sometimes Torah simply refuses to give us the straight dope. Were man and woman created simultaneously from God’s command (Genesis 1:26-27)? Or did God sculpt Adam out of clay (Genesis 2:7) and then ...

(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’ ...

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The relationship between the brothers Jacob and Esau is shot through with dramatic tension: manipulation and deceit, violence and forced separation, conflict and unexpected rapprochement. So it seems ...

Chapter 31 So, I guess that whole “one God” concept hasn’t really taken with the patriarchal families. When Jacob and his family leave Laban’s house, Rachel steals her father’s “household idols,” ...

The fifth biblical man in this series is Jacob. Jacob is the second son of Isaac, and as such he started out without an inheritance of the promises given to Abraham and Isaac. When I think of Jacob, I ...