Yaakov’s berachot to his sons usually highlight each shevet’s unique personality. But when he reaches Shimon and Levi, something strange happens. He gives them a joint blessing, and it barely sounds like a blessing at all. Why would Yaakov group these two brothers together? And why does he describe their anger as something foreign to Klal Yisrael? Even more puzzling, why does Moshe later give Levi one of the most beautiful blessings in the Torah while giving Shimon none at all?

In this episode I explore the deeper story behind these two shevatim. Rashi points out that Shimon and Levi acted together at Shechem and in the plot against Yosef. They shared a single personality as a pair, not simply as individuals. Through the stories of Zimri, Korach, and the selling of Yosef, Rashi paints a picture of a dangerous partnership built on planned anger and group identity. But if that is true, how did Levi become the shevet of kohanim while Shimon faded into near silence? And what does the Rambam mean when he says Yaakov appointed Levi as the rosh yeshiva long before his death?

By tracing the clues through Bereishit, Shemot, Bamidbar, Devarim, Midrash, and Rambam, I show how Shimon and Levi’s destinies diverged once they were separated. Levi learned how to channel the same fiery energy toward avodat Hashem, while Shimon never transformed his middah. Yaakov’s blessing, Moshe’s blessing, and all the stories in between fit together as one long narrative of potential, danger, teshuvah, and leadership.

World of Medrash uncovers the hidden structure behind Rashi and the Midrash and reveals the deeper stories shaping the Chumash.

A continuation of the prior shiur

10 shiurs in 1. Actually, in 2.

All based on one Rashi that I think you need the World of Medrash to explain

Continues from the prior shiur

To some degree, this shiur develops the ideas from the Gan Eden series about serving God from love.

This is the fourth shiur in the Gan Eden series

This is the third shiur in the Gan Eden series

The second shiur in the Gan Eden series that began with "Adam And Chava's Sin Of Removing the Clothes"

There is a detail in the opening chapters of Bereishit that almost everyone reads without noticing how strange it really is. The Torah says Adam and Chava were naked and not embarrassed. Later, after the sin, the Torah says God made them clothes. So why does Rashi insist that the clothing actually belonged to an earlier story? Why would God create garments of honor for Adam and Chava before they ever sinned? And if they already had clothes, how did the nachash see them exposed and acting in a way that provoked his plan?

In this episode I explore the surprising chronological structure hidden in the pesukim. Rashi shows that the Torah interrupts the story of woman’s creation with the story of the nachash and then loops back to continue the earlier narrative. Once the real sequence becomes clear, new questions emerge. What were these clothes meant to teach Adam and Chava? Why were they removed? And what does their removal reveal about Adam’s understanding of his dual nature as both a thinking being and an instinctual creature?

I also look at Rashi’s two explanations of the garments themselves. Were they skintight like a second skin or soft like rabbit fur? What do these images convey about kavod ha’adam, tzniut, and the life God intended for man before the yetzer hara entered the picture?

World of Medrash uncovers how Rashi and the Midrash reveal the hidden structure beneath the Chumash and show how each detail contributes to a unified and meaningful story.