Torah Study Date Saturday, May 14, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 39:19-40:5 Next Session Saturday, May 21, 2022 Starting at Genesis 36:6 Last week we discussed Joseph’s lord getting angry when his wife said Joseph had assaulted her but that the text does not say at whom or what the anger was directed (was he […]
Joseph: Hesitation and Resistance
Torah Study Date Saturday, May 7, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 39:7-39:18 Next Session Saturday, May 14, 2022 Starting at Genesis 39:19 Last week we discussed Potiphar’s wife telling Joseph to lie with her, that the text describes her as his (Joseph’s) master’s wife perhaps indicating the power relation that would make it inadvisable for […]
Tamar and Judah (2)
Torah Study Date Saturday, April 30, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 38:24 – 39:6 Next Session Saturday, May 7, 2022 Starting at Genesis 39:7 Last week we discussed Judah being told that his daughter-in-law Tamar had whored and was pregnant from whoring, Judah saying to bring her out and let her be burned and that […]
Tamar and her Husbands
Torah Study Date Saturday, April 9, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 38:6-38:12 Next Session Saturday, April 23, 2022 Starting at Genesis 38:13 At the last session we discussed Judah getting a wife, Tamar, for Er, Judah’s first-born, and then YHVH killing Er. We wondered about YHVH and the killing or almost killing of sons, such […]
Joseph’s Dreams Arouse Hatred
Torah Study Date Saturday, March 19, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 37:6-19 Next Session Saturday, March 26, 2022 Starting at Genesis 37:20 Last week we discussed Joseph’s first two dreams. In the first one, we noted, Joseph says, behold, when we were binding sheaves in the field, behold, my sheaf rose–and stood up, too—and, behold, […]
Birth and Death
Torah Study Date Saturday, February 26, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 35:13 – 35:29 Next Session Saturday, March 5, 2022 Starting at Genesis 36:1 Last week we discussed God being on Jacob (“And God went up from on him…”) and wondered if that meant Jacob experienced God’s presence more than others (the shekhinah, the immanence […]
Purification and Name Change
Torah Study Date Saturday, February 19, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 35:1-35:12 Next Session Saturday, February 26, 2022 Starting at Genesis 35:13 Last week we discussed God telling Jacob to go up to Bethel, live there, and build an altar to God. We discussed the significance of building an altar and wondered whether we have […]
Reconciliation and Degradation
Torah Study Date Saturday, January 29, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 33:10-34:2 Next Session Saturday, February 5, 2022 Starting at Genesis 34:3 Last week we discussed Jacob asking Esau to accept his gift and the fact that, more literally, he asked Esau to accept his blessing and we wondered about that blessing, what it was […]
Jacob and Esau Kiss
Torah Study Date Saturday, January 22, 2022 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 33:1-9 Next Session Saturday, January 29, 2022 Starting at Genesis 33:10 Last week we discussed Jacob seeing Esau coming with 400 men and then dividing the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maids. We wondered if that was tantamount to using them as […]
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 […]