Venue: NYU Bronfman Center NYU Bronfman Center

Parsha:

Toldot 

Collections: R' Wolfson Bereishit

Description

Yaakov's taking of the beracha that was intended for Esav is one of the most challenging stories of the Torah. Where most approaches focus on questions of whether the ends justify the means, we will take a different track. We will look at the relationship dynamics of Rivka and Yitzchak, their difficulties of communication, and suggest that in fact Rivka had completely misunderstood Yitzchak's intention. The tragic irony of the story is that Yitzchak had always intended to give the bracha to Yaakov and that Rivka needlessly split the family apart to achieve an end that her husband would have readily agreed to. Inspired by, but differing from, Rav Yehuda Gilad's work in his work 'Et Kolcha Shamati'. Very text focused