Toldos Essays

[Reuven Chaim Klein]

NB: Please pray for my wife Shira Yael bas Shoshanah Chemdah for a refuah shleimah amongst all other ill people from the Jewish People. She is currently hospitalized in Shaarei Zedek in Jerusalem.

Essays from my What’s in a Word? series related to Parshas Toldos:

• The Unaffiliated Nations - About גוי, לאום, and עם.
• Noble Clothes - About אדרת, גלימא, and איצטלא.
• Smooth Sliding & Glad Gliding - About חלק and שייע.
• Boys and Girls (Part 1 | Part 2) - About נערה, בתולה, עלמה, ילדה, as well as נער, בחור, אלם, ילד, and רביא.
• Disgraceful Disparagement - About בזיון, קלון, גנות, and זלזול.
• The Doers and Fighters - About שתדלן, עסקן, and מאכער.

A collection of essays about the Jews (i.e., Abrahamic family) before the Sinaitic Revelation and whether they had the Halachic status of Noahides or Jews. These essays were published on a blog under the pseudonym "Reb Chaim HaQoton" (back when I was a teenager):

• Pre-Sinaitic Jewry
• Pre-Sinaitic Halacha
• Tithes and Charities
• Resting on the Seventh Day
• The Daughter of Abraham
• Relations of Humankind
• Eating the Nerve
• On the Road to Egypt
• Marriage and Divorce in Egypt
• Jochebed and the New King of Egypt 
• Understanding Proselytes
• Converting in Egypt
• Becoming a Jew
• Satmar and Slavery

Recordings from my Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer lectures related to this week's Parsha (available on many platforms including: YouTube, Google Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, TorahDownloads, OUTorah.org, Archive.org):

• Episode 62: Chapter 32b - Abraham's Ten Tests = How old was Rivkah when she married Yitzchak (1, 3, or 14)? / Targum Yonason: Rivkah was barren for 22 years / The 2 Hidden Years of Yitzchok's Life / A Pregnant Rebecca Consults with Shem / Yaakov & Eisav go in different directions / Who killed Nimrod (Esau or Abraham)? / How/why did Yitzchok become blind? / Isaac offers Blessings of Dew on Passover Night / Jacob brings his father 2 goats / The Voice of Jacob & the Hands of Eisav / Dew Rejuvenates and Resurrects
• Episode 63: Chapter 33a - Resurrection of the Dead = Yitzchak was not just a farmer, he instituted Maaser / Agriculture in Eretz Yisroel is a Mitzvah / Tzedakah has the power of Techiyas HaMeisim (Resurrecting the Dead) / Resurrection is an act of Gevurah / The Tzarfati Woman (mother of the prophet Yonah) hosts Eliyahu HaNavi / Casting Suspicions on Elijah the Prophets spurs him to pray for her dead son / How was Eliyahu allowed to live in the same courtyard as a widow? / Was Eliyahu HaNavi married? / If Eliyahu was a Kohen (Pinchas) how can he touch the body of the dead chld to become ritually impure (6 answers)?
• Episode 70: Chapter 35a - The Life of Jacob = Yaakov receives 2 sets of blessings from Yitzchak / Yacov = calm & humble, Esau = haughty & desirous / Eisav ate meat, Yaakov ate mushrooms / Edom because he was born red & desired red lentils / Red lentils are only red before cooked / Yaakov grabs Eisav's YOD (akev/heel) / Red is the color of hunger / Lentils as the food of mourning / Hevel & Haran die in their parents' lifetime / Avraham & Yitzchak dig wells / Who named the site Beer Sheva - Abraham or Isaac (5 answers)? / How to count the 7 wells that Yitzchok dug 

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

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