1930 Jewish ABEL PANN Bezalel ART Bible HAND SIGNED w/PENCIL Original LITHOGRAPH

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1930 Jewish ABEL PANN Bezalel ART Bible HAND SIGNED w/PENCIL Original LITHOGRAPH:
$175.50

DESCRIPTION : Here for sale is a an ORIGINAL HAND SIGNED ( With pencil ) LITHOGRAPH of exquisite BEAUTY and ARTISTIC IMPORTANCE . The ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPH was created and HAND SIGNED by the BEZALEL ARTIST , The legendary painter , Bible interpreter ABEL PANN. The ORIGINAL LITHOGRAPH is SIGNED TWICE - It is HAND SIGNED with PENCIL \"ABEL PANN\" and alsoSIGNED IN THE PLATE by Pann. Kindly note that most PANN lithographs in the market are signed only in the plate - This LITHOGRAPH is personaly HAND SIGNED by PANN with PENCIL. The LITHOGRAPH was published around 80 years ago ( Ca 1930\'s ) in Eretz Israel ( Then also refered to as Palestine ) as a part of a cycle of BIBLICAL SCENES and HEROES . It depicts a scene with JACOB and LEAH from the book of GENESIS. The LITHOGRAPH is of EXQUISITE BEAUTY . Biblical quotations/Captures in Hebrew and English , Being quotes from the Biblical book of GENESIS. PORTFOLIO- FILE of folded thin cardboard . Very good used condition . Slight wear and foxing of margins. ( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images ) . Will be sent inside a protective rigidpackaging . AUTHENTICITY : Thisis a ca 1930\'s ORIGINAL HAND SIGNED LITHOGRAPH , Not a recent reproduction ,It holds alife long GUARANTEE for its AUTHENTICITY and ORIGINALITY.PAYMENTS : Payment method accepted : Paypal.SHIPPMENT : SHIPP worldwide via registered airmail is $ 18. Will be sent inside a protective rigid envelope . Handling within 3-5 days after payment. Estimated Int\'l duration around 14 days.

Abel Pann (1883–1963), born Abba Pfeffermann in Latvia[1] or in Kreslawka, Vitebsk, Belarus,[2] sources vary, was a European Jewish artist who spent most of his adult life in Jerusalem.Early career and war paintingsPann studied the fundamentals of drawing for three months with the painter Yehuda Pen of Vitebsk, who also taught Marc Chagall.[1] In his youth, he traveled in Russia and Poland, earning a living mainly as an apprentice in sign workshops.[1] In 1898 he went south to Odessa where he was accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts.[1] In 1903, he was in Kishinev where he documented the Kishinev pogrom with drawings; an effort that is thought to have contributed to his self-definition as an artist who chronicles Jewish history.[1] Still in 1903, he moved to Paris, where he rented rooms in La Ruche, a Parisian building (which still exists) where Modigliani, Chagall, Chaim Soutine and other Jewish artists also lived.[1] Pann studied at the French Academy under William-Adolphe Bouguereau.[3] He earned his living primarily by drawing pictures for the popular illustrated newspapers of the era.[1] In 1912, Boris Schatz, founder and director of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design visited Pann in Paris and invited him to come work in Jerusalem.[1][2]In 1913, after traveling in Southern Europe and Egypt, Pann arrived in Jerusalem where he had decided to settle for life.[1][3] Pann went to see Schatz and it was decided that he would head the painting department at the Bezalel Academy for several months while Schatz embarked on an extensive overseas fund-raising trip.[1] According to Haaretz art critic Smadar Sheffi, a work form this period with the simple title \"Jerusalem\" shows a cluster of buildings at sunset \"with a sky in blazing orange.\" The painting is \"more expressive and abstract that is typical of his work,\" and Sheffi speculates that \"the encounter with the city\" of Jerusalem was a \"strong emotional experience\" for the artist.[1]Pann returned to Europe to arrange his affairs before moving permanently to the British Mandate of Palestine, but was caught on the continent by World War I.[1] Pann\'s wartime paintings would prove to be among \"the most important\" of his career.[1] He made many posters to support the French war effort.[1] He also made a series of fifty drawings showing the extreme suffering of Jewish communities caught in the fighting between Germany, Poland and Russia.[1] Art critic Smadar Sheffi regards them as \"the most important part of his oeuvre.\"[1] These \"shocking\" drawings put modern viewers in mind of depictions of the Holocaust.[1] Pann\'s drawings were intended as journalistic documentation of the fighting and were successfully exhibited in the United States during the War.[1] According to Pann\'s autobiography, the Russians, who were allied with the French, refused to allow a wartime exhibition of the drawings in France.[1] According to the New York Times, the drawings were published in Paris during the war, but the government intervened ot block their distribution on the grounds that they \"reflected damagingly upon an ally\" (Russia).[4]Mid-career and Bible paintingsUpon his post-war return to Jerusalem in 1920, Pann took up a teaching position at the Bezalel Academy and wrote that he was about to embark on his life-work, the painting and drawing of scenes from the Hebrew Bible.[2] He returned briefly to Vienna where he met and married Esther Nussbaum and purchased a lithographic press, which the couple brought home to Jerusalem.[2] Pann began work on a series of lithographs intended to be published in an enormous illustrated Bible, and although that series was never completed, he is widely admired for the series of pastels inspired by Bible stories that he began in the 1940s.[2] The iconography of these works is linked to the 19th century orientalism.[1] He was part of a movement of contemporary Jewish artists interested in Biblical scenes, including Ephraim Moses Lilien, and Ze\'ev Raban.[1] All three were influenced by Art Nouveau and by the Symbolist movement.[1] This influence can be seen in \"You shall not surely die,\" a colored lithograph in which the serpent is represented as a bare-chested woman.[1] The lithograph is reminiscent of the style of Aubrey Beardsley.[1]In 1924, Pann resigned from his teaching position to devote himself full-time to lithography.[2] The lithographs met with considerable success on international tours.[4] Pann told the New York Times that he found most illustrated Bibles boring, accusing the many artists who had illustrated Bibles before him of tending \"to produce an impression that the Bible itself is a tiresome volume.\"[5] He said that he wished to present the Bible\'s characters as \"possessing the passions of human beings... with their virtues and vices, loves and hatreds.\"[5]Especially in his pastels, Pann envisioned Rachel, Rebekah, and other Biblical women as child-brides and imagined the teen-aged Jewish girls from Yemen whom he used as models along with young Bedouin girls, regarding both Yemenites and Bedouins as authentic oriental types.[2] He posed them in elaborate traditional wedding and festival clothing and jewelry.[2] In the twenties, the period when Pann was painting them, Yemenite and Bedouin girls did marry at the age of puberty.[2] He often captured not only their youth and beauty, but the anxiety of a young girl about to marry a man she might hardly know.[2] Other pastels capture the elderly matriarch Sarah looking \"absolutely alive\" and the care-worn facts of Jerusalem\'s Yemenite Jewish laborers, posed as Biblical patriarchs.[2]Pann\'s work reveals an intimate familiarity with the work of Rembrandt, James Tissot, and other European painters of biblical scenes.[2][4] Among his most original approaches was a pastel of Potiphar\'s wife. This familiar theme had for hundreds of years and in the hands of innumerable artists conventionally depicted a mature beauty seducing an innocent youth, Joseph. According to art critic Meir Ronnen, Pann\'s interpretation, a late period pastel dating from the 1950s, depicts Potiphar\'s wife as a spoilt child, an extremely young and very bored girl who is \"possibly just one of the lesser playthings of a gubernatorial harem.\" She turns her bored gaze on the young Israelite. Ronen considers her to be \"the most brilliant of all Pann\'s creations.\"[2]Pann\'s youngest son was killed in the Israeli War of Independence. After that loss, he turned to painting scenes of the Holocaust.[2] He died in Jerusalem in 1963.[2]For many years, Pann was considered an important artist in Israel, and had even greater success among Jewish art consumers abroad, but he \"outlived his artistic times,\" fading in importance beside the new, modernist painters.[1][2] Although many of his paintings are in museum collections, private collectors can sometimes find them at galleries such as the Mayanot Gallery.[3] In 1990 art curator and Israeli art historian, Shlomit Steinberg submitted an MA thesis at the History of Art department of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, titled: \"The Image of the Biblical Woman as Femme Fatale in Abel Pann\'s Works\".ExhibitionsAbel Pann Paints the Bible, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Curator: Yigal Zalmona. (2003)[1]\"Abel Pann - The painter of The Bible, Catalogue by Shlomit Steinberg and Felix Salten, The Jewish Museum, Vienn (2001).[6]Abel Pann, Mayanot Gallery, Jerusalem. (1987)[6]Paintings, Drawings, and Lithograph by Abel Pann,\" Art Institute of Chicago, (1920) [7]Books and articlesShlomit Steinberg (1991) \'The Image of the Biblical Woman as Femme Fatale in Abel Pann Works\' (Jerusalem): MA Thesis, The Hebrew University Yigal Zalmona (2003), The art of Abel Pann: from Montparnasse to the Bible, Jerusalem: The Israeli Museum. Abel Pann (1883-1963), born in Latvia, was one of the pioneers of Israeli art. As a young child, he studied painting and later, traveled around Russia. At the age of 20 he moved to Paris, where he studied art. During this period, his humorous caricatures were published in many French newspapers. In 1921 Pann arrived to Israel and joined the teaching staff at the Bezalel academy of arts, after being invited by its founder, Boris Schatz. Pann is best known for his biblical paintings which depict the characters of the bible as exotic figures with authentic oriental appearance. Pann believed that in order to achieve a genuine impact, the Bible series should only be painted in Israel. Abel Pann\'s work influenced many Israeli artists in the 1920\'s and 1930\'s, who perceived the oriental style as having a social and political mission. Abel Pann: A prominent and influential member of the first generation of Israeli artists, Abel Pann first studied art techniques in Vitebsk, under Yehuda Pen. He then travelled within Russia and Poland, earning a living mostly as a sign painter. In 1898 Abel Pann enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts, Odessa. Five years later he visited Kishinev and chronicled the impoverished living conditions of the pogrom residents there. This would form the genesis of the drawings and lithographs he made during World War One concerning the extreme sufferings of those living in the Russian pogroms. Pann was in Paris during the war and intended to publish his lithographs of the Russian pogroms under the title, Road of Tears; however, the Russian Minister in Paris convinced French officials to foroffer its publication. Abel Pann first moved to Paris in 1903, renting rooms in a building which was called, \'La Ruche\' (\'The Hive\'). Other occupants there included Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine and Amedeo Modigliani. Pann enrolled at the Academie des Beaux-Arts to study painting under Bourguereau. At the same time he began illustrating for journals and newspapers. By 1912 Abel Pann had established enough recognition for his art that Boris Schatz, the founder and first director of the Bezalel Academy of Arts, invited him to work in Jerusalem. Pann visited the city in the following year and decided to make it his permanent home. He returned to Paris to settle his affairs but was forced to stay there due to the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918). At this time he created posters and prints for the Allied Cause, as well as the suppressed Road of Tears portfolio of lithographs. Pann permanently settled in Jerusalem in 1920. In this year his paintings, drawings and lithographs were the subject of a large exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Consequently in the following years there were many American collectors of his art. Abel Pann took a teaching post at the Bezalel Academy and imported a lithographic press from Vienna, which was the first in Jerusalem. He began working almost immediately on the lithographs for The Bible (1924) and The Five Books of Moses (1930), and dedicated most of his efforts to these lithographic portfolios during the decade. In fact he resigned from his teaching post at the Academy in 1924 to devote all his energies to the Biblical lithographs. Abel Pann\'s later years saw their share of misfortunes. As the decade of the Depression took its toll, customers, both at home and abroad, for his lithographs and paintings diminished. As well, the twentieth century taste for abstraction and other avante guarde movements slotted his representational style as archaic. Pann lost a son in the Israeli War of Independence and dedicated his final years mostly to paintings images relating to the Holocaust. Today the fine art of Abel Pann is included in the permanent collections of the Hecht Museum, University of Haifa, Haifa Museum of Art, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Jewish Museum, Prague, Duke University Library, and the Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas. ABEL PANN Abel Pann was born in Lithouania. He began his artistic studies in Odessa and continued them in Paris. A number of his pictures have been acquired by the French Government, by the Municipality of Paris, by the Museum of Luzembourg and by the Art Institute of Chicago and a series of 45 pictures has been purchased in America for the National Museum of Jerusalem. The Palestine Art Publishing Co. Ltd Jerusalem Abel Pann wrote: The task I have set myself involves a serious responsibility. The enthusiasm which my work arouses in me is often clouded by painful doubts and questionings. For that same Book which has inspired many a genius to produce his masterpiece has proved to be beyond the reach of a far greater number of artists. A son of the race which produced this marvelous Book. I feel that I, better than some others, may be able to seize its true spirit, and to communicate it to my fellow-men. But the absolute truth is with G-d alone. Mankind is ever the subject to error. And so I entreat the indulgence of my judges. The term Bezalel school describes a group of artists who worked in Israel in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods. It is named after the institution where they were employed, the Bezalel Academy, predecessor of today’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and has been described as \"a fusion of ‘oriental\' art and Jugendstil.\" The Academy was led by Boris Schatz, who left his position as head of the Royal Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, to make aliyah 1906 and set up an academy for Jewish arts. All of the members of the school were Zionist immigrants from Europe and the Middle East, with all the psychological and social upheaval that this implies. The school developed a distinctive style, in which artists portrayed both Biblical and Zionist subjects in a style influenced by the European jugendstil ( or art nouveau) movement, by symbolism, and by traditional Persian and Syrian artistry. Like the British Arts and Crafts Movement, Wiener Werkstätte in Vienna, William Morris firm in England, and Tiffany Studios in New York, the Bezalel School produced decorative art objects in a wide range of media: silver, leather, wood, brass and fabric. While the artists and designers were European-trained, the craftsmen who executed the works were often members of the Yemenite community, which has a long tradition of craftsanship in precious metals, and began to make aliyah about 1880. Yemenite immigrants with their colorful traditional costumes were also frequent subjects of Bezalel School artists.Leading members of the school were Boris Schatz, E.M. Lilien,Ya\'akov Stark, Meir Gur Arie, Ze\'ev Raban, Jacob Eisenberg, Jacob Steinhardt, and Hermann Struck.The artists produced not only paintings and etchings, but objects that might be sold as Judiaca or souvenirs. In 1915, the New York Times praised the “Exquisite examples of filigree work, copper inlay, carving in and in wood,” in a touring exhibit. In the metalwork Moorish patterns predominated, and the damascene work, in particular, showed both artistic feeling and skill in execution . Bezalel Academy of Art and Design is Israel\'s national school of art. It is named after the Biblical figure Bezalel, son of Uri (Hebrew: ), who was appointed by Moses to oversee the design and construction of the Tabernacle (Exodus 35:30).It is located on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem and has 1,500 students registered in programs such as: Fine Arts, Architecture, Ceramic Design, Industrial Design, Jewelry, Photography, Visual Communication, Animation, Film, and Art History & Theory. Bezalel offers Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.), Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) degrees, a Master of Fine Arts in conjunction with Hebrew University, and two different Master of design (M.des) degree. The academy was founded in 1903 by Boris Schatz, and opened in 1906, but was cut off from its supporters in Europe by World War I, and closed due to financial difficulties in 1929. The academy was named \"Bezalel\" (Hebrew: \"in God\'s shadow\") as an illustration of God\'s creativity being channeled to a man of flesh and blood, providing the source of inspiration to Bezalel ben Uri in the construction of the holy ark.Many early Zionists, including Theodor Herzl, felt that Israel needed to have a national style of art combining Jewish, Middle Eastern, and European traditions. The teachers at the academy developed a distinctive school (or style) of art, known as the Bezalel school, in which artists portrayed both Biblical and Zionist subjects in a style influenced by the European jugendstil (art nouveau) and by traditional Persian and Syrian styles.Like the Wiener Werkstätte in Vienna, William Morris firm in England, and Tiffany Studios in New York, the Bezalel School produced decorative art objects in a wide range of media: silver, leather, wood, brass and fabric. While the artists and designers were European-trained, the craftsmen who executed the works were often members of the Yemenite community, which has a long tradition of craftsanship in precious metals, and whose members had been making aliyah in small groups at least form the beginning of the nineteenth century, forming a distinctive Yeminite community in Jerusalem. Silver and goldsmithing, occupations forofferden to pious Muslims, had been traditional Jewish occupations in Yemen. Yemenite immigrants with their colorful traditional costumes were also frequent subjects of Bezalel school artists.Leading artists of the school include Meir Gur Aryeh, Ze\'ev Raban, Boris Schatz, Jacob Eisenberg, Jacob Steinhardt, and Hermann Struck. The School folded because of economic difficulties. It was reopened as the New Bezalel School for Arts and Crafts in 1935, attracting many of its teachers and students from Germany many of them from the Bauhaus school which had been shut down by the Nazis. In 1969 it was converted into a state-supported institution and took its current name. It completed its relocation to the current campus in 1990. The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, \"the books\") is a canonical collection of texts considered sacred in Judaism or Christianity. Different religious groups include different books within their canons, in different orders, and sometimes divide or combine books, or incorporate additional material into canonical books. Christian Bibles range from the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon to the eighty-one books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church canon. The Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, contains twenty-four books divided into three parts: the five books of the Torah (\"teaching\" or \"law\"), the Nevi\'im (\"prophets\"), and the Ketuvim (\"writings\"). The first part of Christian Bibles is the Old Testament, which contains, at minimum, the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible divided into thirty-nine books and ordered differently than the Hebrew Bible. The Catholic Church and Eastern Christian churches also hold certain deuterocanonical books and passages to be part of the Old Testament canon. The second part is the New Testament, containing twenty-seven books: the four Canonical gospels, Acts of the Apostles, twenty-one Epistles or letters, and the Book of Revelation. By the 2nd century BCE Jewish groups had called the Bible books \"holy,\" and Christians now commonly call the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible \"The Holy Bible\" (τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια, tà biblía tà ágia) or \"the Holy Scriptures\" (η Αγία Γραφή, e Agía Graphḗ). Many Christians consider the whole canonical text of the Bible to be divinely inspired. The oldest surviving complete Christian Bibles are Greek manuscripts from the 4th century. The oldest Tanakh manuscript in Hebrew and Aramaic dates to the 10th century CE, but an early 4th-century Septuagint translation is found in the Codex Vaticanus. The Bible was divided into chapters in the 13th century by Stephen Langton and into verses in the 16th century by French printer Robert Estienne and is now usually cited by book, chapter, and verse. The Bible has estimated annual sales of 25 million copies,and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West where it was the first mass printed book. ***** Rachel is first mentioned in theHebrew BibleinGenesis 29when Jacob happens upon her as she is about to water her father\'s flock. She was the second daughter ofLaban,Rebekah’s brother.[3]Jacob had traveled a great distance to find Laban. Rebekah had sent him there to be safe from his furious twin brother,Esau.During Jacob\'s stay, he fell in love with Rachel and agreed to work seven years for Laban in return for her hand in marriage. On the night of the wedding, the bride was veiled and Jacob did not notice thatLeah, Rachel\'s older sister, had been substituted for Rachel. Whereas \"Rachel was lovely in form and beautiful,\" \"Leah had tender eyes\".[4]Later Jacob confronted Laban, who excused his own deception by insisting that the older sister should marry first. He assured Jacob that after his wedding week was finished, he could take Rachel as a wife as well, and work another seven years as payment for her. When God “saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb”, (Gen 29:31) and she gave birth to four sons.Rachel, likeSarahand Rebecca, remained unable to conceive. According to Tikva Frymer-Kensky, \"The infertility of the matriarchs has two effects: it heightens the drama of the birth of the eventual son, markingIsaac,Jacob, andJosephas special; and it emphasizes that pregnancy is an act of God.\"[5]Rachel became jealous ofLeahand gave Jacob her maidservant,Bilhah, to be a surrogate mother for her. Bilhah gave birth to two sons that Rachel named and raised (DanandNaphtali). Leah responds by offering her handmaidZilpahto Jacob, and names and raises the two sons (GadandAsher) that Zilpah bears. According to some commentaries, Bilhah and Zilpah are actually half-sisters of Leah and Rachel.[6]After Leah conceived again, Rachel was finally blessed with a son,Joseph,[3]who would become Jacob\'s favorite child.Jacob, later given the nameIsrael, is regarded as aPatriarchof theIsraelites. According to theBook of Genesis, Jacob was the third Hebrew progenitor with whom God made acovenant. He is the son ofIsaacandRebecca, the grandson ofAbraham,Sarahand ofBethuel, the nephew ofIshmael, and the younger twin brother ofEsau. Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter, by his two wives,LeahandRachel, and by twelve sons, named in Genesis, andBenjamin. His only daughter mentioned in Genesis isDinah. The twelve sons became the progenitors of the \"Tribes of Israel\".[2]Jacob\'s Dream statue and display on the campus ofAbilene Christian University. The artwork is based on Genesis 28:10-22 and graphically represents the scenes alluded to in the hymn \"Nearer, My God, to Thee\" and thespiritual\"We Are Climbing Jacob\'s Ladder\" as well as other musical works.As a result of a severe drought inCanaan, Jacob and his sons moved toEgyptat the time when his son Joseph wasviceroy. After 17 years in Egypt, Jacob died and the length of Jacob\'s life was one hundred and forty-seven years and Joseph carried Jacob\'s remains to the land of Canaan, and gave him a stately burial in the sameCave of Machpelahas were buried Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, and Jacob\'s first wife, Leah.Jacob is mentioned in a number of sacred scriptures, including theHebrew Bible, theTalmud, theNew Testament, theQuran,hadith,Bahá\'í scripture,[3]and theBook of Mormon.Contents[hide]1 Etymology2 Genesis narrative2.1 Jacob and Esau\'s birth2.2 Acquiring birthright2.3 Jacob\'s deception of Isaac2.4 Jacob\'s ladder2.5 Jacob\'s marriages2.6 Journey back to Canaan2.7 Jacob in Hebron2.8 Seven year famine2.9 Jacob in Egypt2.10 Final days2.11 Children of Jacob2.12 Family tree3 Religious perspectives3.1 Jewish tradition3.2 Christianity3.3 Islamic tradition4 Historicity5 References6 Further reading7 External linksEtymology[edit]TheHebrew Biblesays atGenesis 32:28-29and35:10, that God changed Jacob\'s name to Israel. Etymologically, it has been suggested that the name \"Israel\" comes from theHebrewwords לִשְׂרות (lisrot, \"wrestle\") and אֵל (El, \"God\"). Popular English translations typically reference the face off with God, ranging from active \"wrestles with God\" to passive \"God contends\", but various other meanings have also been suggested. Some commentators say the name comes from the verbśārar(\"to rule, be strong, have authority over\"), thereby making the name mean \"God rules\" or \"God judges\";[4]or \"the prince of God\" (from theKing James Version) or \"El (God)fights/struggles\".[5]According to the folk etymology found in Genesis 25:26, the name Jacob is related to the Hebrew word for \"heel.\"[6]According to Jan Fokkelman, the name is a shortened version ofYaaqob-el, meaning \"God may protect.\"[7]Genesis narrative[edit]The biblical account of the life of Jacob is found in theBook of Genesis, chapters 25-50.Jacob and Esau\'s birth[edit]Jacob and his twin brother,Esau, were born toIsaacandRebeccaafter 20 years of marriage, when Isaac was 60 years of age (Genesis 25:20,25:26). Rebekah was uncomfortable during her pregnancy and went to inquire of God why she was suffering. She received the prophecy thattwinswere fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives, even after they became two separate nations. The prophecy also said that \"the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger;\"(Genesis 25:25 KJV)When the time came for Rebecca to give birth, the firstborn, Esau, came out covered with red hair, as if he were wearing a hairy garment, and his heel was grasped by the hand of Jacob, the secondborn. According toGenesis 25:25, Isaac and Rebecca named the first sonHebrew:עשו‎‎, Esau (`Esav or `Esaw, meaning \"hairy\" or \"rough\", fromHebrew:עשה‎‎,`asah, \"do\" or \"make\";[8]or \"completely developed\", needed]). The second son they named יעקב, Jacob (Ya`aqob or Ya`aqov, meaning \"heel-catcher\", \"supplanter\", \"leg-puller\", \"he who follows upon the heels of one\", fromHebrew:עקב‎‎,`aqabor`aqav, \"seize by the heel\", \"circumvent\", \"restrain\", a wordplay \"heel\").[9]The boys displayed very different natures as they matured. \"...and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents\" (Genesis 25:27). Moreover, the attitudes of their parents toward them also differed: \"And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison: but Rebecca loved Jacob.\" (Genesis 25:28)Jacob offering a dish oflentilsto Esau for his birthright, 18th-century painting byZacarias Gonzalez Velazquez.Acquiring birthright[edit]Main article:Jacob and EsauGenesis 25:29-34tells the account of Esau selling hisbirthrightto Jacob. This passage tells that Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew that Jacob had just made. (Esau referred to the dish as \"that same red pottage\", giving rise to his nickname,Hebrew:אדום‎‎ (`Edom, meaning \"Red\").) Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright, to which Esau agreed.Jacob\'s deception of Isaac[edit]As Isaac aged, he became blind and was uncertain when he would die, so he decided to bestow Esau\'sbirthrightupon him. He requested that Esau go out to the fields with his weapons (quiver and bow) to kill some venison. Isaac then requested that Esau make \"savory meat\" for him out of the venison, according to the way he enjoyed it the most, so that he could eat it and bless Esau.Rebecca overheard this conversation. It is suggested that she realized prophetically that Isaac\'s blessings would go to Jacob, since she was told before the twins\' birth that the older son would serve the younger.[10]She quickly ordered Jacob to bring her two kid goats from their flock so that he could take Esau\'s place in serving Isaac and receiving his blessing. Jacob protested that his father would recognize their deception since Esau was hairy and he himself was smooth-skinned. He feared his father would curse him as soon as he felt him, but Rebecca offered to take the curse herself, then insisted that Jacob obey her. Jacob did as his mother instructed and, when he returned with the kids, Rebekah made the savory meat that Isaac loved. Before she sent Jacob to his father, she dressed him in Esau\'s garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin.Disguised as Esau, Jacob entered Isaac\'s room. Surprised that Esau was back so soon, Isaac asked how it could be that the hunt went so quickly. Jacob responded, \"Because the LORD your God brought it to me.\"Rashi, onGenesis 27:21says Isaac\'s suspicions were aroused even more, because Esau never used the personal name of God. Isaac demanded that Jacob come close so he could feel him, but the goatskins felt just like Esau\'s hairy skin. Confused, Isaac exclaimed, \"The voice is Jacob\'s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau!\"Genesis 27:22. Still trying to get at the truth, Isaac asked him directly, \"Art thou my very son Esau?\" and Jacob answered simply, \"I am.\" Isaac proceeded to eat the food and to drink the wine that Jacob gave him, and then told him to come close and kiss him. As Jacob kissed his father, Isaac smelled the clothes which belonged to Esau and finally accepted that the person in front of him was Esau. Isaac then blessed Jacob with the blessing that was meant for Esau. Genesis 27:28-29 states Isaac\'s blessing: \"Therefore God give thee of the dew of heavens, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother\'s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.\"Jacob had scarcely left the room when Esau returned from the hunt to prepare his game and receive the blessing. The realization that he had been deceived shocked Isaac, yet he acknowledged that Jacob had received the blessings by adding, \"Indeed, he will be [or remain] blessed!\" (27:33).Esau was heartbroken by the deception and begged for his own blessing. Having made Jacob a ruler over his brothers, Isaac could only promise, \"By your sword you shall live, but your brother you shall serve; yet it shall be that when you are aggrieved, you may cast off his yoke from upon your neck\" (27:39-40).Although Esau sold Jacob his own birthright, which was his blessing, for \"red pottage\", Esau still hated Jacob for receiving his blessing that their father Isaac unknowingly had given to him. He vowed to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died. When Rebecca heard about his murderous intentions,[11]she ordered Jacob to travel to her brotherLaban\'s house in Haran, until Esau\'s anger subsided. She convinced Isaac to send Jacob away by telling him that she despaired of his marrying a local girl from the idol-worshipping families ofCanaan(as Esau had done). After Isaac sent Jacob away to find a wife, Esau realized his own Canaanite wives were evil in his father\'s eyes and so he took a daughter of Isaac\'s half-brother,Ishmael, as another wife.Jacob\'s ladder[edit]Main article:Jacob\'s LadderJacob\'s LadderbyWilliam Blake(c. 1800, British Museum, London)NearLuzen route toHaran, Jacob experienced a vision of a ladder, or staircase, reaching into heaven with angels going up and down it, commonly referred to as \"Jacob\'s ladder\". He heard the voice of God, who repeated many of the blessings upon him, coming from the top of the ladder.According toRashi, the ladder signified the exiles that the Jewish people would suffer before the coming of theJewish Messiah: the angels that represented the exiles of Babylonia, Persia, and Greece each climbed up a certain number of steps, paralleling the years of the exile, before they \"fell down\"; but the angel representing the last exile, that ofEdom, kept climbing higher and higher into the clouds.[citation needed]Jacob feared that his descendants would never be free of Esau\'s domination, but God assured him that at the End of Days, Edom too would come falling down.In the morning, Jacob awakened and continued on his way to Haran, after naming the place where he had spent the night \"Bethel\", \"God\'s house\".Jacob\'s marriages[edit]Arriving in Haran, Jacob saw a well where shepherds were gathering their flocks to water them and metLaban\'s younger daughter,Rachel, Jacob\'sfirst cousin; she was working as a shepherdess. He loved her immediately, and after spending a month with his relatives, asked for her hand in marriage in return for working seven years for Labanthe Aramean. Laban agreed to the arrangement. These seven years seemed to Jacob \"but a few days, for the love he had for her\", but when they were complete and he asked for his wife, Laban deceived Jacob by switching Rachel\'s older sister,Leah, as the veiled bride.Rachel and JacobbyWilliam DyceIn the morning, when the truth became known, Laban justified his action, saying that in his country it was unheard of to give a younger daughter before the older. However, he agreed to give Rachel in marriage as well if Jacob would work another seven years. After the week of wedding celebrations withLeah, Jacob married Rachel, and he continued to work for Laban for another seven years.Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, and Leah felt hated. God opened Leah\'s womb and she gave birth to four sons rapidly:Reuben,Simeon,Levi, andJudah. Rachel, however, remained barren. Following the example of Sarah, who gave her handmaid to Abraham after years of infertility, Rachel gave Jacob her handmaid,Bilhah, in marriage so that Rachel could raise children through her. Bilhah gave birth to Dan and Naphtali. Seeing that she had left off childbearing temporarily, Leah then gave her handmaidZilpahto Jacob in marriage so that Leah could raise more children through her. Zilpah gave birth to Gad and Asher. (According to The Testaments of the Patriarchs, Testament of Naphtali, Chapter 1, lines 9-12, Bilhah and Zilpah were daughters ofRotheusandEuna, servants of Laban.)[citation needed]Afterwards, Leah became fertile again and gave birth toIssachar,Zebulun, andDinah, Jacob\'s first and only daughter. God remembered Rachel, who gave birth toJosephandBenjamin. If pregnancies of different marriages overlapped, the first twelve births (all the sons except Benjamin, and the daughter Dinah) could have occurred within seven years. That is one obvious, but not universally held, interpretation ofGenesis 29:27-30:25.[12]After Joseph was born, Jacob decided to return home to his parents. Labanthe Arameanwas reluctant to release him, as God had blessed his flock on account of Jacob. Laban asked what he could pay Jacob. Jacob suggested that all the spotted, speckled, and brown goats and sheep of Laban\'s flock, at any given moment, would be his wages. Jacob placed peeled rods of poplar, hazel, and chestnut within the flocks\' watering holes or troughs, an action he later attributes to a dream.As time passed, Laban\'s sons noticed that Jacob was taking the better part of their flocks, and so Laban\'s friendly attitude towards Jacob began to change. God told Jacob that he should leave, which he and his wives and children did without informing Laban. Before they left, Rachel stole theteraphim,considered to be household idols, from Laban\'s house.In a rage, Laban pursued Jacob for seven days. The night before he caught up to him, God appeared to Laban in a dream and warned him not to say anything good or bad to Jacob. When the two met, Laban played the part of the injured father-in-law, demanding histeraphimback. Knowing nothing about Rachel\'s theft, Jacob told Laban that whoever stole them should die and stood aside to let him search. When Laban reached Rachel\'s tent, she hid theteraphimby sitting on them and stating she could not get up because she wasmenstruating. Jacob and Laban then parted from each other with a pact to preserve the peace between them. Laban returned to his home and Jacob continued on his way.Journey back to Canaan[edit]Jacob Wrestling with the AngelbyEugène Delacroix.Main article:Jacob wrestling with the angelAs Jacob neared the land of Canaan, he sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau. They returned with the news that Esau was coming to meet Jacob with an army of 400 men. With great apprehension, Jacob prepared for the worst. He engaged in earnest prayer to God, then sent on before him a tribute of flocks and herds to Esau, \"a present to my lord Esau from thy servant Jacob\".Jacob then transported his family and flocks across the fordJabbokby night, then recrossed back to send over his possessions, being left alone in communion with God. There, a mysterious being appeared (\"man\", Genesis 32:24, 28; or \"God\", Genesis 32:28, 30, Hosea 12:3, 5; or \"angel\", Hosea 12:4), and the two wrestled until daybreak. When the being saw that he did not overpower Jacob, he touched Jacob on the sinew of his thigh (thegid hanasheh, גיד הנשה), and, as a result, Jacob developed a limp (Genesis 32:31). Because of this, \"to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket\" (Genesis 32:32). This incident is the source of themitzvahof porging.[13]Jacob then demanded a blessing, and the being declared in Genesis 32:28 that, from then on, Jacob would be called יִשְׂרָאֵל, Israel (Yisra`el, meaning \"one that struggled with the divine angel\" (Josephus), \"one who has prevailed with God\" (Rashi), \"a man seeing God\" (Whiston), \"he will rule as God\" (Strong), or \"a prince with God\" (Morris), fromHebrew:שרה‎‎, \"prevail\", \"have power as a prince\").[14]While he is still called Jacob in later texts, his name Israel makes some consider him theeponymousancestor of theIsraelites.Jacob asked the being\'s name, but he refused to answer. Afterwards, Jacob named the placePenuel(Penuw`el,Peniy`el, meaning \"face of God\"),[15]saying: \"I have seen God face to face and lived.\"Because the terminology is ambiguous (\"el\"inYisra`el) and inconsistent, and because this being refused to reveal his name, there are varying views as to whether he was a man, an angel, or God. Josephus uses only the terms \"angel\", \"divine angel\", and \"angel of God\", describing the struggle as no small victory. According to Rashi, the being was the guardian angel of Esau himself, sent to destroy Jacob before he could return to the land of Canaan. Trachtenberg theorized that the being refused to identify itself for fear that, if its secret name was known, it would be conjurable by incantations.[16]Literal Christian interpreters likeHenry M. Morrissay that the stranger was \"God Himself and, therefore, Christ in His preincarnate state\", citing Jacob\'s own evaluation and the name he assumed thereafter, \"one who fights victoriously with God\", and adding that God had appeared in the human form of theAngel of the Lordto eat a meal with Abraham in Genesis 18.[17]Geller wrote that, \"in the context of the wrestling bout, the name implies that Jacob won this supremacy, linked to that of God\'s, by a kind oftheomachy.\"[18]In the morning, Jacob assembled his 4 wives and 11 sons, placing the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. Some commentators cite this placement as proof that Jacob continued to favor Joseph over Leah\'s children, as presumably the rear position would have been safer from a frontal assault by Esau, which Jacob feared. Jacob himself took the foremost position. Esau\'s spirit of revenge, however, was apparently appeased by Jacob\'s bounteous gifts of camels, goats and flocks. Their reunion was an emotional one.Peter Paul Rubens,The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau, 1624.Esau offered to accompany them on their way back to Israel, but Jacob protested that his children were still young and tender (born 6 to 13 years prior in the narrative); Jacob suggested eventually catching up with Esau atMount Seir. According to the Sages, this was a prophetic reference to the End of Days, when Jacob\'s descendants will come to Mount Seir, the home of Edom, to deliver judgment against Esau\'s descendants for persecuting them throughout the millennia (seeObadiah 1:21). Jacob actually diverted himself to Succoth and was not recorded as rejoining Esau until, atMachpelah, the two bury their father Isaac, who lived to be 180, and was 60 years older than they were.Jacob then arrived inShechem, where he bought a parcel of land, now identified asJoseph\'s Tomb. In Shechem, Jacob\'s daughter Dinah was kidnapped and raped by the ruler\'s son, who desired to marry the girl. Dinah\'s brothers, Simeon and Levi, agreed in Jacob\'s name to permit the marriage as long as all the men of Shechem firstcircumcisedthemselves, ostensibly to unite the children of Jacob in Abraham\'scovenantof familial harmony. On the third day after the circumcisions, when all the men of Shechem were still in pain, Simeon and Levi put them all to death by the sword and rescued their sister Dinah, and their brothers plundered the property, women, and children. Jacob condemned this act, saying: \"You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to theCanaanitesandPerizzites, the people living in this land.\"[19]He later rebuked his two sons for their anger in his deathbed blessing (Genesis 49:5-7).Jacob struggles with the angel.Gutenberg Bible, 1558.Jacob returned to Bethel, where he had another vision of blessing. Although the death of Rebecca, Jacob\'s mother, is not explicitly recorded in the Bible,Deborah, Rebecca\'s nurse, died and was buried at Bethel, at a place that Jacob callsAllon Bachuth(אלון בכות), \"Oak of Weepings\" (Genesis 35:8). According to the Midrash,[20]the plural form of the word \"weeping\" indicates the double sorrow that Rebecca also died at this time.Jacob then made a further move while Rachel was pregnant; nearBethlehem, Rachel went into labor and died as she gave birth to her second son,Benjamin(Jacob\'s twelfth son). Jacob buried her and erected a monument over her grave.Rachel\'s Tomb, just outside Bethlehem, remains a popular site for pilgrimages and prayers to this day. Jacob then settled inMigdal Eder, where his firstborn, Reuben, slept with Rachel\'s servant Bilhah; Jacob\'s response was not given at the time, but he did condemn Reuben for it later, in his deathbed blessing. Jacob was finally reunited with his father Isaac inMamre(outsideHebron).When Isaac died at the age of 180, Jacob and Esau buried him in theCave of the Patriarchs, which Abraham had purchased as a familyburial plot. At this point in the biblical narrative, two genealogies of Esau\'s family appear under the headings \"the generations of Esau\". A conservative interpretation is that, at Isaac\'s burial, Jacob obtained the records of Esau, who had been married 80 years prior, and incorporated them into his own family records, and that Moses augmented and published them.[21]Jacob in Hebron[edit]Main article:Plot against JosephThe house of Jacob dwelt inHebron,[22]in the land of Canaan. His flocks were often fed in the pastures ofShechem[23][24]as well asDothan.[25]Of all the children in his household, he loved Rachel’s firstborn son, Joseph, the most. Thus Joseph’s half brothers were jealous of him and they ridiculed him often. Joseph even told his father about all of his half brothers’ misdeeds. When Joseph was seventeen years old, Jacob made a long coat ortunic of many colorsfor him. Seeing this, the half brothers began to hate Joseph. Then Joseph began to have dreams that implied that his family would bow down to him. When he told his brothers about these dreams, it drove them to conspire against him. When Jacob heard of these dreams, he rebuked his son for proposing the idea that the house of Jacob would even bow down to Joseph. Yet, he contemplated his son’s words about these dreams. (Genesis 37:1-11)Joseph\'s Coat Brought to JacobbyGiovanni Andrea de Ferrari, c. 1640.Sometime afterward, the sons of Jacob by Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah, were feeding his flocks in Shechem. Jacob wanted to know how things were doing, so he asked Joseph to go down there and return with a report.[26]This was the last time he would ever see his son in Hebron. Later that day, the report that Jacob ended up receiving came from Joseph\'s brothers who brought before him a coat laden with blood. Jacob identified the coat as the one he made for Joseph. At that moment he cried “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” He rent his clothes and put sackcloth around his waist mourning for days. No one from the house of Jacob could comfort him during this time of bereavement. (Genesis 37:31-35)The truth was, Joseph\'s older brothers had turned on him, apprehended him and ultimately sold into slavery on a caravan headed for Egypt. (Genesis 37:36)Seven year famine[edit]See also:Joseph\'s brothers sent to EgyptTwenty years later,[27]throughout the Middle East a severe famine occurred like none other that lasted seven years.[28]It crippled nations.[29]The word was that the only kingdom prospering was Egypt. In the second year of this great famine,[30]when Israel (Jacob) was about 130 years old,[31]he told his ten sons of Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah, to go to Egypt and buy grain. Israel’s youngest son Benjamin, born from Rachel, stayed behind by his father’s order to keep him safe. (Genesis 42:1-5)Nine of the sons returned to their father Israel from Egypt, stockpiled with grain on their donkeys. They relayed to their father all that had happened in Egypt. They spoke of being accused of as spies and that their brother Simeon, had been taken prisoner. When Reuben, the eldest, mentioned that they needed to bring Benjamin to Egypt to prove their word as honest men, their father became furious with them. He couldn\'t understand how they were put in a position to tell the Egyptians all about their family. When the sons of Israel opened their sacks, they saw their money that they used to pay for the grain. It was still in their possession, and so they all became afraid. Israel then became angry with the loss of Joseph, Simeon, and now possibly Benjamin. (Genesis 42:26-38)It turned out that Joseph, who identified his brothers in Egypt, was able to secretly return that money that they used to pay for the grain, back to them.[32]When the house of Israel consumed all the grain that they brought from Egypt, Israel told his sons to go back and buy more. This time, Judah spoke to his father in order to persuade him about having Benjamin accompany them, so as to prevent Egyptian retribution. In hopes of retrieving Simeon and ensuring Benjamin\'s return, Israel told them to bring the best fruits of their land, including:balm,honey, spices,myrrh,pistachionuts andalmonds. Israel also mentioned that the money that was returned to their money sacks was probably a mistake or an oversight on their part. So, he told them to bring that money back and use double that amount to pay for the new grain. Lastly, he let Benjamin go with them and said “may God Almighty give you mercy… If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!” (Genesis 43:1-14)Jacob in Egypt[edit]House of Israel welcomed byPharaoh, watercolor byJames Tissot(c. 1900)Joseph with his father Jacob and brothers in EgyptSee also:Joseph\'s family reunitedWhen the sons of Israel (Jacob) returned to Hebron from their second trip, they came back with twenty additional donkeys carrying all kinds of goods and supplies as well as Egyptian transport wagons. When their father came out to meet them, his sons told him that Joseph was still alive, that he was the governor over all of Egypt and that he wanted the house of Israel to move to Egypt. Israel’s heart “stood still” and just couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Looking upon the wagons he declared “Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” (Genesis 45:16-28)Israel and his entire house of seventy,[33]gathered up with all their livestock and began their journey to Egypt. En route, Israel stopped atBeershebafor the night to make a sacrificial offering to his God, Yahweh. Apparently he had some reservations about leaving the land of his forefathers, but God reassured him not to fear that he would rise again. God also assured that he would be with him, he would prosper, and he would also see his son Joseph who would lay him to rest. Continuing their journey to Egypt, when they approached in proximity, Israel sent his son Judah ahead to find out where the caravans were to stop. They were directed to disembark atGoshen. It was here, after twenty-two years, that Jacob saw his son Joseph once again. They embraced each other and wept together for quite a while. Israel then said, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.” (Genesis 46:1-30)The time had come for Joseph’s family to personally meet thePharaohof Egypt. After Joseph prepared his family for the meeting, the brothers came before the Pharaoh first, formally requesting to pasture in Egyptian lands. The Pharaoh honored their stay and even made the notion that if there were any competent men in their house, then they may elect a chief herdsman to oversee Egyptian livestock. Finally, Joseph’s father was brought out to meet the Pharaoh. Because the Pharaoh had such a high regard for Joseph, practically making him his equal,[34]it was an honor to meet his father. Thus, Israel was able to bless the Pharaoh. The two chatted for a bit, the Pharaoh even inquiring of Israel’s age which happened to be 130 years old at that time. After the meeting, the families were directed to pasture in the land of Ramses where they lived in the province of Goshen. The house of Israel acquired many possessions and multiplied exceedingly during the course of seventeen years, even through the worst of the seven-year famine. (Genesis 46:31-47:28)Final days[edit]Main article:Blessing of JacobJacob blessingEphraimandManassehJacob\'s funeral processionIsrael (Jacob) was 147 years old when he called to his favorite son Joseph and pleaded that he not be buried in Egypt. Rather, he requested to be carried to the land of Canaan to be buried with his forefathers. Joseph swore to do as his father asked of him. Not too long afterward, Israel had fallen ill, losing much of his vision. When Joseph came to visit his father, he brought with him his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Israel declared that they would be heirs to the inheritance of the house of Israel, as if they were his own children, just as Reuben and Simeon were. Then Israel laid his right hand on the younger Ephraim’s head and his left hand on the eldest Manasseh’s head and blessed Joseph. However, Joseph was displeased that his father’s right hand was not on the head of his firstborn, so he switched his father’s hands. But Israel refused saying, “but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he.” A declaration he made, just as Israel himself was to his firstborn brother Esau. Then Israel called all of his sons in and prophesied their blessings or curses to all twelve of them in order of their ages. (Genesis 47:29-49:32)Afterward, Israel died and the family, including the Egyptians, mourned him seventy days. Israel was embalmed and a great ceremonial journey to Canaan was prepared by Joseph. He led the servants of Pharaoh, and the elders of the houses Israel and Egypt beyond theJordan RivertoAtadwhere they observed seven days of mourning. Their lamentation was so great that it caught the attention of surrounding Canaanites who remarked “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” This spot was then namedAbel Mizraim. Then they buried him in the cave ofMachpelah, the property of Abraham when he bought it from the Hittites. (Genesis 49:33-50:14)Children of Jacob[edit]See also:IsraelitesJacob, through his two wives and his two concubines had twelve biological sons;Reuben(Genesis 29:32),Simeon(Genesis 29:33),Levi(Genesis 29:34),Judah(Genesis 29:35),Dan(Genesis 30:5),Naphtali(Genesis 30:7),Gad(Genesis 30:10),Asher(Genesis 30:12),Issachar(Genesis 30:17),Zebulun(Genesis 30:19),Joseph(Genesis 30:23) andBenjamin(Genesis 35:18) and at least one daughter,Dinah(if there were other daughters, they are not mentioned in the Genesis story)(Genesis 30:21). In addition, Jacob also adopted the two sons of Joseph,ManassehandEphraim.(Genesis 48:5)