Why doesn't Jacob divorce Leah and demand justice upon discovering Leah in the morning? Why doesn't Esau chase Jacob to Haran? Why is Jacob silent during the Dinah crisis? Gad Dishi revives familiar terrain with a fresh perspective as Jacob's emotional odyssey is textually tracked to reveal newfound treasures of understanding integral to the Biblical story. The narratives of Genesis can be understood in many ways, not least as the struggle of human beings to find their way to God in the midst of personal conflict and stress. Gad Dishi has provided us with an intensely personal reading of the narratives of Jacob and his family, their crises and moral growth through the process of conflict itself. Challenging and provocative, this work invites us to a fresh encounter with the biblical text as a mirror in which to see ourselves as we too seek a path to God. --Rabbi Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth The genre of Biblical commentary is inundated with two kinds of books: vaguely irrelevant academic treatises on the one hand, and collections of light sermonics on the other. Dishi offers a fresh alternative: Analysis that is accessible and relevant without sacrificing intellectual rigor. His take on Biblical narratives is fresh, thought-provoking, surprising, and uplifting. --Rabbi David Fohrman, Resident scholar at the Hoffberger Foundation for Torah Studies, adjunct professor at The Johns Hopkins University, and author of ''The Beast that Crouches at the Door'' Since his beginning in the Syrian Jewish community in Booklyn, New York, Gad Dish i has studied and publicly read from the Bible for over twenty-five years. The technically precise reading demanded of him kept him focused on textual detail from a young age and led him to obtain the title of ''Hatan HaTanakh LaTefutzot (''Tanakh master'' of Diaspora Jewry - an annual competition televised in Israel). In this work, Gad Dishi combines his experience as an educator and Orthodox rabbi with his years of education at the New York University School of Law and his legal experience at the Israeli Ministry of Justice and the Israeli Supreme Court. Together with his private practice, these provide him with the knowledge of classical and modern Biblical commentaries while conveying a sensitivity to word choice and close readings that will be cherished by readers of the Bible around the world.