YINR 929: Tanach Yomi

Abimelech and Abraham (Genesis 20–21)Abimelech’s first encounter with Abraham is marked by tension and confrontation. Abraham, fearing for his life, tells Abimelech that Sarah is his sister. Abimelech takes Sarah into his household, unaware of her marriage to Abraham. God intervenes in a dream, warning Abimelech that he is in danger for taking another man’s wife. Abimelech responds with alarm and...

“And Esav disdained the birthright.” וַיִּבֶז עֵשָׂו אֶת־הַבְּכֹרָה׃ (Bereishit 25:34) The word "וַיִּבֶז" (vayivez)—“he disdained”—is rare in Tanach. It appears only one other time, in Megillat Esther: “But he disdained to lay hands on Mordechai alone…” וַיִּבֶז בְּעֵינָיו לִשְׁלֹחַ יָד בְּמָרְדֳּכַי לְבַדּוֹ… (Esther 3:6) In Esther, Haman’s disdain for Mordechai leads to genocidal hatr...

Embedded in this long and repetitive chapter is our first introduction to Lavan, Rivka’s brother. While Lavan plays a much more central role in the Yaakov narrative (Bereishit 29–31), he is almost universally vilified by commentators and would likely make a “top five worst people in Torah” list for anyone who learned these stories in school. But the text itself is ambiguous. “Now Rebekah had a bro...

“Sarah died in Kiriath-arba—Chevron—in the land of Canaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah.” וַתָּ֤מָת שָׂרָה֙ בְּקִרְיַ֣ת אַרְבַּ֔ע הִ֖וא חֶבְר֑וֹן בְּאֶ֖רֶץ כְּנָֽעַן וַיָּבֹ֥א אַבְרָהָ֛ם לִסְפֹּ֥ד לְשָׂרָ֖ה וְלִבְכֹּתָֽהּ׃ (Bereishit 23:1) Why does Chevron have two names? Rashi gives two explanations: Kiryat-arba refers to the four (arba) giants who lived there. It refers to the four c...

Chapter 22 opens with Hashem’s emotional command: וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו הָאֱלֹקִים: קַח נָא אֶת־בִּנְךָ אֶת־יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתָּ אֶת־יִצְחָק וְלֶךְ־לְךָ אֶל־אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה וְהַעֲלֵהוּ שָׁם לְעֹלָה עַל אַחַד הֶהָרִים אֲשֶׁר אֹמַר אֵלֶיךָ׃ "Take your son, your favored one, whom you love, Isaac, and go to (lech lecha) the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the...

In chapter 17, ה׳ tells Abraham he will have a son: וַיִּפֹּ֥ל אַבְרָהָ֖ם עַל־פָּנָ֑יו וַיִּצְחָ֗ק וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ בְּלִבּ֔וֹ הַלְּבֶ֥ן מֵאָ֖ה שָׁנָ֣ה יִוָּלֵ֑ד וְאִם־שָׂרָ֥ה הֲבַת־תִּשְׁעִ֖ים שָׁנָ֥ה תֵּלֵֽד׃ “Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed (וַיִּצְחָק – vayitzchak), as he said to himself, ‘Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?’” (Genesi...

Once again, as in chapter 12, Avraham hides the fact that Sarah is his wife. This time, he tells Avimelech, king of the southern city-state of Gerer, that Sarah is his sister. There are several differences between the two stories. The major difference is that ה׳ has a much more active role in this chapter. ה׳ even appears to Avimelech in a dream: “וַיָּבֹ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים אֶל־אֲבִימֶ֙לֶךְ֙ בַּחֲלֹ֣ם הַ...

Chapter 19 is the rare chapter of the Torah where a main character is not the star. This is Lot’s chapter. Until this point, Lot has been mostly passive. He travels with his uncle out of Ur Casdim for unknown reasons. He follows him around and becomes wealthy. He requests to live in Sodom, but only because Avraham gives the option. After that, he is captured in a war and saved by his uncle. Now we...

We begin chapter 18 with the famous story of the three messengers. One of them tells Avraham that he will return in one year and Sarah will have a child. Hebrew: וַיֹּאמֶר שׁוֹב אָשׁוּב אֵלֶיךָ כָּעֵת חַיָּה, וְהִנֵּה־בֵן לְשָׂרָה אִשְׁתֶּךָ (בראשית יח:י) English: “He said, ‘I will surely return to you at this time next year, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.’” (Genesis 18:10) Sarah la...

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Eternal One appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am El Shaddai. Walk before Me and be blameless.’” Hebrew: _וַיְהִי אַבְרָם בֶּן־תִּשְׁעִים וָתֵשַׁע שָׁנָה, וַיֵּרָא ה' אֶל־אַבְרָם; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אֲנִי־אֵל שַׁדַּי, הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי וֶהְיֵה תָמִים׃ (בראשית יז:א) In this pivotal moment, the Divine Presence reveals Itself to Abram once again, but...

Why does Sarai initially urge Abram to cohabit with Hagar, only to regret it later? Why is Hagar’s Egyptian identity emphasized? Why does Sarai blame Abram for following her own instructions? Why does God send Hagar back to Sarai? And why does the divine messenger tell Hagar to name the child Ishmael, yet Abram is the one who ultimately names him? To begin unraveling this complex narrative, we mus...

In the previous chapter, Abram saved Lot, but he does not reunite with Lot. After securing his nephew’s freedom, Abram returns without Lot, removing himself from his father's family, achieving that elusive fourth goal discussed earlier. Withthe goals intact, God returns to Abram to make another grand promise in chapter 15. Abram’s offspring will be numerous like the stars in the sky and they w...

In בראשית פרק י״ד, after אברם’s victory over the coalition ofkings, we read: וּמַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם הוֹצִיא לֶחֶם וָיָיִןוְהוּא כֹהֵן לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן׃ And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was a priest ofGod Most High. וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ וַיֹּאמַר בָּרוּךְ אַבְרָם לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ׃ He blessed him, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Creator ofh...

After Abram’s departure from Egypt, the Torah tells us: וַיַּעַל־אַבְרָם מִמִּצְרַיִם הוּא וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ וְלוֹט עִמּוֹ הַנֶּגְבָה׃ "And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot withhim, to the Negev." (Genesis 13:1) It’s understandable that the Torah would emphasize that Sarai and Abram’s possessions accompanied him out of Egypt—there may have...

Genesis chapter 12 begins with one of the most iconic and transformative verses in the Torah: “לֶךְ־לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ” — “Go forth from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). In this single command, God outlines four distinct goals for Abram: to leave his land, his birthpla...

The last of the pre-Abraham stories in Genesis concerns the famous tower of Babel. Reading the text, however, we are faced with many questions:________________________________________1) When did this story happen? In the last verse of chapter 10 we are told: “These are the groupings of Noah’s descendants . . . [they] branched out over the earth after the Flood.” Hebrew (Genesis 10:32):אֵלֶּה מִשְׁ...

After the flood, the children of Noah begin to spread out and inhabit the known world. Chapter 10 lists the names of the descendants of each son. These lists read like a who’s who from the ancient world. Based on the children’s names, we can deduce that Yafet’s descendants inhabited Europe, Cham’s descendants inhabited Africa and the Levant and Shem’s children inhabited the Middle East. What’s fas...

After the flood, God promises that he will not destroy the world by showing Noah a rainbow. Why a rainbow? A rainbow appears when the light of the sun refracts through droplets of rain at different angles. The ever present white light is broken up and we get to see all the colors of the spectrum. God uses the tool of destruction- the rain- to send a message that he knows the world is more complex...

A staple of the Shabbat zemirot liturgy is a poem written by Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi: “Yonah Matzah Bo Manoach,” “The Dove found in it [Shabbat] rest.” This Shabbat lunchtime song has a recurring chorus about the dove finding a resting spot on Shabbat. The rest of the song, though, deals with the giving of the Torah. How does the author know the dove found the resting spot on Shabbat and what is the...

"This is the line of Noah.—Noah was righteous and blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God" (6:9). There is a debate among the commentators whether Noah was independently righteous or just in his generation. The verse itself is ambiguous. Some hold “in his generation” must be there to limit the description of Noah as righteous and blameless. The text explains that Noah was right...

Genesis 6 is the prelude to the flood story. Humankindhas spread across the land and immediately turns to evil. “The LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth,and how every plan devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time” וַיַּרְא יְהוָה כִּי רַבָּה רָעַת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ, וְכָל-יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע כָּל-הַיּוֹם (Genesis 6:5) God regrets having created man, and instead...

This week we will be reading about Noach and the flood. When reading the text, pay attention to the confusion in the story. When did Noach start building the ark? When did he enter the ark? Where did the waters come from? When did the rain start? When did it finish? The text itself seems like an amalgamation of various versions of the story. Some commentators, like Rashi, try to synthesize the mix...

“This is the book of Adam’s lineage.—When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God”זֶה סֵפֶר תּוֹלְדֹת אָדָם בְּיוֹם בְּרֹא אֱלֹהִים אָדָם בִּדְמוּת אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֹתוֹ (Genesis 5:1)We are five chapters into the Torah, and it sounds like we are starting over yet again. Jumping ahead 23 books, the I Chronicles starts in a similar fashion listing the lineage of Adam. Some commentators e...

Cain is the first farmer. He spends his days tilling thesoil—fulfilling the curse that God pronounced on Adam in chapter 3: “Cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it” כִּי אָרוּרָה הָאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ, בְּעִצָּבוֹן תֹּאכֲלֶנָּה  (Genesis3:17) Eve names him Cain because God has given her a male child. Cain, as Eve’s first child, was her first experience of the curse of Go...

Chapter three tells the famous story of the Garden of Eden. We also areintroduced to the first clever wordplay of Tanach. The chapter uses the Hebrewword  “עָרוּם (arum)”  to mean two different things in context. “Now theserpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the LORD God had made. Hesaid to the woman, ‘Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of thegarden?’” (verse 1) וְהַ...