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Jacob's Breeding Strategy
TANAKH
Jacob's strategic use of visual stimuli to influence the breeding patterns of his flocks is a mysterious episode in the patriarch's life. The book of Genesis recounts how Jacob used peeled rods to ensure his flocks produced streaked, speckled, and spotted offspring, securing his rightful wages from Laban.
Rods of Divine Judgement
KABBALAH
The process of the flocks conceiving before the rods has been interpreted as a mystical symbol relating to divine judgments. The Zohar, a foundational work of Jewish mysticism, offers a Kabbalistic interpretation of what the sticks represent and what Jacob was doing with them.
Unlocking Jacob's Breeding Secrets
COMMENTARY
Ibn Ezra offers a rational explanation for the biblical story of Jacob's breeding practices, suggesting it follows natural laws rather than being a miraculous event. Ibn Ezra, a medieval Jewish commentator, often sought to reconcile biblical narratives with natural laws, as seen in his commentary on Genesis 30:39.
Theories About the Breeding of Jacob's Flock
MIDRASH
How did the peeled sticks affect the briths of the flocks? Bereshit Rabbah, a talmudic-era midrashic work on the book of Genesis, provides a number of different explanations of the sheep and goat breeding described in Genesis 30.
The Ingenious Use of Sticks
COMMENTARY
The story of Jacob's sheep and goat breeding holds botanical clues, not only zoological ones. Radak, a medieval Jewish commentator and grammarian, analyzes the verses for an understanding of the nature of the sticks Jacob used and why.
Jacob increasing his flocks, from the Haggadah for Passover (the 'Sister Haggadah').Catalonia, mid 14th century
Jacob increasing his flocks, from the Haggadah for Passover (the 'Sister Haggadah').Catalonia, mid 14th century
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