Parshah Columnists for Toldot

Each of the three forefathers typified something unique, a particular “brand” that was thereafter permanently imprinted into the Jewish DNA.

Indeed, everything we learn about Abraham and Isaac seems to cry out: Different! That if ever there were a father and son who seemed so unlike one another, it was these two highly individualized personalities.

Rather than reaching up for the Divine you went further down instead, digging wells, only to find that the waters down there have the same blueness of which the heavens are made. You extended the distance between the heavens and the earth; thus you established an outpost, promoting a vigorous circulation between the heavens and the new frontier

Esau is born red and as hairy as an adult, and so he remains—red, intense, driven, violent. Jacob is born with his issues as well. Timid, a bookworm, Mama’s boy. Yet he is willing to acknowledge and confront Esau...

What does well-digging look like in modern times?

Do you see your regular, everyday interactions as your own, unrelated to who you are as a spiritual person with a G‑dly mission?

Why would Abraham and Sarah choose the name “laughter” for their child, who was destined to be a deeply spiritual person and a patriarch of the Jewish people?

Can you imagine if Esau received those critical blessings and would have become one of our founding fathers? Oy vey!

I myself am lucky to be alive. I remember going to pay a house visit on a family in my congregation and being attacked by their young son who had an AK-47

Jewish teaching sees the life of the individual as expressing an inner struggle. One part of the person relates to Nature--untamed, uncontrolled, like natural forests and unclaimed fields. The other part has a Divine quality, expressing G-d Who created nature in order to make it His dwelling...

Esau’s Hittite wives, although they were in Isaac’s home, offered incense to idols. Rashi says that the smoke of this incense caused Isaac’s blindness.

There is nothing more gratifying than placing your trust in something you cannot see, and then having that trust validated.

Love for G-d is limited by its own size. When we confront an obstacle greater than our love, we need something stronger to catapult us. Isaac's abnegation of self and strict code of obedience shifted his focus from himself onto G-d. Thus he was able to "unplug" Abraham's wells

Esau was understandably perturbed over losing the blessing. But why was he suddenly concerned over his birthright? He had surrendered it with barely a protest years earlier, so what changed now?

Why didn't Jacob and his mother just march openly into Isaac's room, bring proof of Esau's wickedness and convince Isaac that Jacob was the more worthy candidate in the first place?

How should a person be judged—by what he or she is, or by what he or she can be? A mysterious Parshah commentary by Rashi, a Talmudic adage and a chapter from the chassidic work Tanya provide an unconventional formula.

Whatever for does Jacob need "the dew of heaven and the fat of the land," anyway?

Why did Isaac love Esau? Did he not know about Rebecca’s oracle?

The future is never as straightforward as we are led to believe. Abraham is promised many children, but has to wait years before Isaac is born. The patriarchs are promised a land, but do not acquire it in their lifetimes. The Jewish journey, though it has a destination, is long, and has many digressions and setbacks.

Our society is full of boxes and conformist qualities necessary to achieve specific ideals.

Bloodshed, conquest, genocide, terrorisms, pogroms and all the synonyms of hatred. The hands seem more popular than the voice.

We have to ask, if not demand, G‑d’s open and revealed love, that He send Moshiach and put an end to this dark exile.

You can only fix the world by being part of it.