Rav Hirsch on the Torah

V. 1. בראשית ברא אלקים. The phonetic relation of ראש to רעש and רחש of which the one designates a physical movement and the other an internal one, teaches that …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 1:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. ויכלו. The root כלה combines two apparently opposing meanings, כלה means to be destroyed, completely cease to exist: כליתם ואתם בני יעקב לא (Malachi 3,6) “Ye sons of …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 2:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. The contrast to animals is the touchstone and the rock, by which, and on which, the morality of men proves itself or splits asunder. It was animal wisdom …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 3:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1.—2. קניתי איש את ה׳. The original conception of ownership rests on production. Man’s primary capital is his strength. Hence קנה in its first meaning is not acquisition by …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 4:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1—2. זה ספר תולדת אדם. This sentence, with which a new period in the history of the education of mankind is introduced, bears a marked similarity to the sentence …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 5:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1—2. Here we are shown the reason for the state of mankind growing worse as being due to the mixing of two classes, the בני אלקים and the בנות …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 6:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. Until this point everything has been related in the name of אלקים, related, how God, as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge of the world, separated out of the degenerated …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 7:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. זכר .ויזכור: (related to סכר, to lock up): to keep and hold fast in the memory. — אלקים. According to the sages this rescue and retoration was judged …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 8:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1—2. And now, on this earth, introduced with all these fresh conditions, ויברך, mankind receives God’s blessing a second time. The ויברך and the ויאמר are here, too, two …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 9:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. They themselves had lived before the Flood, but their children were already born under the influence of the new conditions. Now follows a list of the branches of …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 10:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. We have already seen above that from quite natural causes the people spread out in different groups, and in consequence acquired different לשונות. But these לשונות were not …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 11:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. לך לך. If all that this wanted to says was: Go from Aram to Canaan it would not say: לך לך but לך, or perhaps צא. But then …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 12:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1.—2. Driven by the famine, he had temporarily left his isolation and had moved into populous Egypt where matters had not been exactly pleasant for him. Now he moved …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 13:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. Here we have the oldest account of kings and wars which history has to relate. Let us consider the conditions in the world which the Torah here may …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 14:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. דבר ה׳ אל אברם במחזה. God has spoken to Abraham before, but we do not find the expression דבר ה׳ אל אברם used. Our sages find here a …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 15:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1.—2. By the plaintive cry: מה תתן לי “What is the use of Your giving me anything. I have no child, etc.” we can see how deeply Abraham felt …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 16:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. Abraham was already ninety-nine years old, a whole life lay already completed behind him, he could really have thought it was completed when he found out he was …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 17:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. וירא אליו. Gods Presence is everywhere, but it is not apparent to everybody. Only after an act of devotion such as Abraham had just performed, and as he …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 18:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1 ישב בשער העיר. The gate of a city was not the place where private people sat. Only of kings do we find it said they “sat in the …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 19:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. The reason for both these moves must be found. We have seen how Abraham considered it his duty at first to isolate himself and his household away from …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 20:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. פקד, as already mentioned, related to בגד, is mentally to clothe an object with its attributes; its conditions and relationship. Hence also, actually, to set somebody in some …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 21:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

(1) אחר הדברים. As in Ch. 15, 1 above (see there), these words introduce a crisis, a reversal of all that went before. Avraham had already proclaimed God as א׳ עולם, Yitzchak was born to him, the eldest son sent away for his sake, ביצחק in Yitzchak the seed of the future was to be carried on, and this future was already recognized in the present, the king had already concluded a treaty embracing not only Yitzchak himself but with his further descendants so that Yitzchak's promised future had already taken root in the present - and now comes the behest to break off everything that has happened so far! . הָאלקי׳, the same God who had revealed himself to Abraham by then, and had made Yitzchak the combination of the whole aim of Avraham's life. - נִסָה, related to נסע - moving on, נסח - flinging away, נשא - raising up, all three having the concept of bringing something to a further or higher position. Likewise נסה regarding physical or moral forces: to test, i.e. to give it such tasks to do which, up till now, it has not proved in its ability to accomplish.

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 22:1:1 · Sefaria Community Translation

V. 1. This is the only place in תנ״ך where the age of a woman is recorded. (The reason most probably being because the lives of the women are in …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 23:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. This introductory sentence contains the summary of the life of Abraham. He was בא בימים ,זקן and God had blessed him בכל. His life’s work was finished, he …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 24:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. That Abraham married again is not so surprising when we remember that he lived thirty-five years longer after Sarah’s death, more than the average length of married life …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 25:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. Since the land had been promised to Abraham for his ultimate possession, we see it repeatedly visited by famine, just the land which was destined to overflow with …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 26:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1 As repeatedly remarked, we follow the opinion of our sages, and do not consider it our task to be apologists for our great men and women, just as …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 27:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. ויברך אתו, now of his own free-will and with full consciousness. Rebecca’s medicine had completely opened his eyes.

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 28:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989

V. 1. Now he was quite a different person to what he was before, of whom it said ויצא וגו׳. Now it says “he lifted up his feet”. With such …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 29:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. הבה לי בנים. She probably thought that, as he was getting children anyway from Leah he did not very much mind her being barren, and consequently was not …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 30:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. Why does it speak here first of the sons and then of the father? It is possible that Laban’s former behaviour towards his father was revenged by the …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 31:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 2. Twenty years earlier when Jacob left his father’s house ויפגע במקום “he met the Divine”. Now, on his homecoming “angels met him”. Twenty years ago it was an …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 32:2:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. He saw Esau, not disarmed by the gifts, he had not disbanded his troops, so he divided etc. As our sages take this whole story as being the …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 33:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. “The daughter of Leah”, equally the child of Leah as are the greater portion of all future Jewish people; and “she was born unto Jacob”, Jacob’s spirit lived …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 34:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. The previous event had shown what a danger living together with the Canaanite inhabitants of the land was to the family of Jacob. Jacob should probably not have …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 35:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 6.—7. מפני מקניהם — מפני יעקב אחיו. Two reasons are given here for Esau’s moving away. מפני יעקב אחיו, in any case gives getting away from Jacob as one …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 36:6:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1.—2. ישב and גור are to a certain extent terms in contrast to each other. ישב is related to יצב .יצב is to stand firm and upright, and, indeed, …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 37:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. In this separation of Judah away from his brothers, we may see a sign of tension and disunion between the brothers which would then have arisen as a …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 38:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. It is repeatedly stressed, referring to Potiphar, that he was an איש מצרי an Egyptian, a speciality which would be self-understood in an official of the Egyptian court. …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 39:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1.—2. In the first verse they are simply called butler and baker, in the second, the “Prince” of the butlers, and the “Prince” of the bakers. Therein lies the …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 40:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. קץ ,מקץ from קצץ related to גזז to cut off, separate, also to כסס to fix the number and measure from which we get כס, a vessel of …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 41:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. וירא. It seems that Jacob had greater comprehension than his sons. He had heard that in Egypt they would only sell in retail to individual householders. The sons …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 42:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 3. עוד .העד העיד, to last, העיד, to bring about that something endures, hence to be a witness, i.e. to take notice of something, keep it in mind, and …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 43:3:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1.—2. גביע, goblet. גבע a hillock. Related to גבא, a collection of liquid, a pool. גבא to get money in, to collect. And similarly to a collection in the …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 44:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. Up till now he had been able to control his feelings in front of the large mass of people who stood about him in the sale room. He …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 45:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. Then Israel journeyed forth with all that he had, in the happiest frame of mind in the radiance and at the zenith of his whole life, his life …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 46:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. Joseph introduces his brothers to Pharaoh before his father. He probably knew quite well that Jacob, feeling his moral superiority would not bow his knees before a Pharaoh. …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 47:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. אחרי always introduces a turning-point, a crisis. ח- .חלה always expresses a check of an action, similarly to נוע and עלה .נוח is the independent raising, development, rising …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 48:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1.—2. האספו and הקבצו have by no means the same meaning. This is evident already from the fact that האסף can be said even of a single, individual, e.g. …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 49:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria

V. 1. “He threw himself on his father’s face”. Literally “he fell”, that expresses the deep emotional action where one more or less unconsciously “falls”. He fell on his father’s …

Rav Hirsch on Torah, Genesis 50:1:1 · The Pentateuch, rendered into English by Isaac Levy. Gateshead; Judaica Press, 1989 · excerpt; the full text is on Sefaria