Torah Study Date Saturday, February 12, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 34:12-34:31 Next Session Saturday, February 19, 2022 Starting at Genesis 35:1 Last week we discussed Jacob’s sons speaking with guile when they answer Shechem and Hamor, and noted the term for guile, mirmah, was applied previously to Jacob when he took Esau’s birthright and […]
Struggling with God and People
Torah Study Date Saturday, January 15, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 32:22-32:33 Next Session Saturday, January 22, 2022 Starting at Genesis 33:1 Last week we discussed Jacob taking his maidservants, wives, and children and crossing the Jabbok ford and noted the text refers to eleven children when there actually were twelve (eleven sons and one […]
Jacob Faces Esau
Torah Study Date Saturday, January 8, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 32:2-21 Next Session Saturday, January 15, 2022 Starting at Genesis 32:22 We discussed Jacob going on his way, angels coming upon him and him seeing them and calling the place Mahanaim (a pair of camps), we discussed the dual (not singular or plural but […]
Sitting on the Gods
Torah Study Date Saturday, December 18, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 31:30 – 32:1 Next Session Saturday, January 8, 2022 Starting at Genesis 32:2 Starting with Genesis 31-29 –Laban says to Jacob, “I have the power to harm you, but the God of your father told me not to do you any harm.” We noted […]
Jacob’s Payback Scheme
Torah Study Date Saturday, December 4, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 30:33-31:3 Next Session Saturday, December 11, 2021 Starting at Genesis 31:4 Last week we continued to discuss Jacob’s scheme for ensuring that he gets the pay he deserves from Laban, the speckled-and-spotted-goat/brown-lamb scheme, in which he would only keep the latter from among the […]
Children Born and a Wage Strategized
Torah Study Date Saturday, November 20, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 30:17-30:32 Next Session Saturday, December 4, 2021 Starting at Genesis 30:33 Last session we discussed God hearing Leah, Leah conceiving, bearing and naming fifth and sixth sons, Issachar because God rewarded Leah and Zebulun because God gave her a choice gift and her husband […]
Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel
Torah Study Date Saturday, November 6, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 29:23-33 Next Session Saturday, November 13, 2021 Starting at Genesis 29:34 Last week we discussed the sex joke regarding Laban bringing Leah to Jacob and Jacob going into her, that it indicates the crude sexual act in which he does not see the woman […]
Jacob Loves Rachel
Torah Study Date Saturday, October 23, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 28:20-29:22 Next Session Saturday, November 6, 2021 Starting at Genesis 29:23 Last week we discussed the vow Jacob made in Beth El and its conditional nature (if God stays with me and watches me on my way, gives me bread and clothing, and I […]
Gender Queer Rebecca
Torah Study Date Saturday, July 3, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 24:50-61 Next Session Saturday, July 10, 2021 Starting at Genesis 24:62 Last week we discussed Laban and Bethuel telling Abraham’s servant to take Rebecca to be wife to Abraham’s son since the idea of doing so came from YHVH. We discussed Laban being the […]
Rebecca, the Strong
Torah Study Date Saturday, June 19, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 24:17-32 Next Session Saturday, June 26, 2021 Starting at Genesis 24:33 Last week we discussed Rebecca as a strong figure, queering the text by taking an active role, a male role (for the gender expectations of the time), Rebecca not only giving Abraham’s servant […]