Split Between the Lion and Wolf: Jerusalem Unites Rachel and Leah

In Yaakov’s blessing for his son Binyamin, he makes cryptic references to his youngest son as a “snatching wolf”. The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 99:3) seeks to understand the prophetic implications of this comparison. Hazal explain that this references Shaul, the first king of Israel, who hailed from Shevet Binyamin. He “snatched” away the kingship from […]

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A Eulogy in Jerusalem: the City that Unites Two Messiahs

In the summer of 1904, a memorial service was held for the recently deceased Theodor Herzl in the city of Yaffo. The newly minted chief rabbi of Yaffo, fresh off the boat from Lithuania, was asked to speak at the event. A young Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook delivered a “eulogy” in which he did […]

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