Toldot 5784: The Challenge of Chosenness

The book of Bereishit, filled with the themes of covenant and birthright, tells the story of the progenitors of the Jewish people. Among the many characters we meet in the book are pairs of siblings of which one gets chosen as the inheritor of the covenant, while the other is subject to a different fate. Why was it that these forefathers were forced to choose only one of their children to continue the line of the Jewish people, and what does the Torah teach us about making such choices?

In Rabbi Haim Shalom’s debut appearance on Pardes from Jerusalem, we join him and host Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield for an exploration of Yitzchak’s choice between Esav and Ya’akov, followed by discussion on what it means to be a chosen people.

Credits: Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Haim Shalom - Pardes Faculty