My Hebrew name is Ya’akov, Hebrew for Jacob. When I celebrated becoming a bar mitzvah years ago at the age of 13, the observance coincidentally coincided with readings in the Torah about the life of ...

Jacob and Esau reunite after decades of separation following Jacob’s tricking Isaac into blessing him (while masquerading as Esau). Esau felt livid, cheated, and destroyed, determined to kill Jacob in ...

(Note that Esau did not inform Issac that earlier, Esau had “sold his birthright” to Jacob, who teased Esau with a bowl of fresh stew when his twin was “famished” after hunting.) Enter the twins’ ...