Rebecca by Johannes Takanen, 1877.

Rebecca (also Rebekah or Rivkah, Hebrew: רִבְקָה, Standard Rivqa Tiberian Riḇqāh, "to tie; to bind; captivating") is the wife of Isaac and the second matriarch of the four matriarchs of the Jewish people. She is the mother of Jacob and Esau. Rebecca and Isaac are one of the three "pairs" buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, together with Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Leah. Hebrew redirects here. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... Tiberian Hebrew is an oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient forms of Hebrew, especially the Hebrew of the Tanakh, that was given written form by masoretic scholars in the Jewish community at Tiberias in the early Middle Ages, beginning in the 8th century. ... Sacrifice of Isaac, a detail from the sarcophagus of the Roman consul Junius Bassus, ca. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... This article is about Jacob in the Hebrew Bible. ... Esaw redirects here. ... The Cave of the Patriarchs is considered to be the spiritual center of the ancient city of Hebron. ... Arabic الخليل Government City (from 1997) Also Spelled Al-Khalil (officially) Al-Halil (unofficially) Governorate Hebron Population 167,000 (2006) Jurisdiction  dunams Head of Municipality Mustafa Abdel Nabi , Hebron (Arabic:   al-ḪalÄ«l or al KhalÄ«l; Hebrew:  , Standard Hebrew: Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew: Ḥeḇrôn) is a city at the... Ώ // ---- Insert non-formatted text here]] For other uses, see Abraham (name) and Abram (disambiguation). ... Engraving of Sarah by Hans Collaert from c. ... This article is about Jacob in the Hebrew Bible. ... Look up Leah, לֵאָה in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Early life

According to the account in the Book of Genesis, Rebecca is the daughter of Bethuel and the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham's brother. She is the sister of Laban, who will later become the father of Rachel and Leah, two of the wives of Rebecca's son Jacob. Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Bethuel (Hebrew for “house of God”), in the Hebrew Bible, was an Aramean man (Gen. ... (1. ... Laban is: A character in the Bible. ... This article is about the Biblical character. ... Look up Leah, לֵאָה in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about Jacob in the Hebrew Bible. ...

The news of her birth is told to her great-uncle Abraham after the latter returns from Akeidat Yitzchak (the Binding of Isaac), the episode in which Abraham was told by God to bring Isaac as a sacrifice on a mountain. Abraham Sacrificing Isaac by Laurent de LaHire, 1650 Akedah or the Binding of Isaac (‎, Akedát Yitzhák) in Genesis 22, is narration from the Hebrew Bible, in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. ... Korban (Hebrew: sacrifice קרבן) (plural: Korbanot קרבנות) refers to any one of a variety of sacrificial offerings described and commanded in the Torah (Hebrew Bible) that were offered in a variety of settings by the ancient Israelites, and then by the Kohanim (the Jewish priests only) in the Temple in Jerusalem. ...

After the Binding of Isaac, Sarah, Abraham's wife, dies. After taking care of her burial, Abraham goes about finding a wife for his son Isaac. He commands his servant Eliezer of Damascus to journey to his birthplace of Aram Naharaim to select a bride from his own family, rather than engage Isaac to a local Canaanite girl. Abraham sends along expensive jewelry, clothing and dainties as gifts to the bride and her family. If the girl refuses to come, Eliezer will be absolved of his responsibility. Map of Canaan For other uses, see Canaan (disambiguation). ...

Eliezer devises a test in order to find the right wife for Isaac. As he stands at the central well in Abraham's birthplace with his men and ten camels laden with goods, he prays to God: This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

"Let it be the the maiden to whom I shall say, 'Please tip over your jug so I may drink,' and who replies, 'Drink, and I will even water your camels,' her will You have designated for Your servant, for Isaac" (Genesis 24:14).

To his surprise, a young girl immediately comes out and offers to draw water for him to drink, as well as water to fill the troughs for all his camels. Rebecca continues to draw water until all the camels are sated, proving her kind and generous nature and her suitability for entering Abraham's household.

Eliezer immediately gives her a golden nose ring and two golden bracelets (Genesis 24:22), which she hurries to show her mother. Seeing the jewelry, her brother Laban runs out to greet the guest and bring him inside. Eliezer recounts the oath he made to Abraham and all the details of his trip to and meeting with Rebecca in fine detail, after which Laban and Bethuel agree that she can return with him. After hosting Eliezer and his men overnight, however, the family tries to keep Rebecca with them for another 10 months or a year. Eliezer insists that they ask the girl herself, and she agrees to go immediately. Her family sends her off with her nurse, Deborah, and blesses her, "Our sister, may you come to be thousands of myriads, and may your offspring inherit the gate of its foes."

As Rebecca and her entourage approach Abraham's home, they spy Isaac from a distance in the fields of Beer-lahai-roi. The Talmud (Berachot 26b) and the Midrash explain that Isaac was praying, as he instituted Mincha, the afternoon prayer. Seeing such a spiritually-exalted man, Rebecca immediately dismounts from her camel and asks Eliezer who it is. When she hears that he is her future husband, she modestly covers herself with a veil. Isaac brings her into the tent of his mother Sarah, marries her, and loves her. According to Rashi, the three miracles that characterized Sarah's tent while she was alive, and that disappeared with her death, reappeared when Rebecca entered the tent. These were: A lamp burned in her tent from Shabbat eve to Shabbat eve, there was a blessing in her dough, and a cloud hovered over her tent (symbolizing the Divine Presence.) The Talmud (Hebrew: ) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history. ... Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. ... Jewish services are the prayers recited as part of observance of Judaism. ... A 16th-century depiction of Rashi Note: For the astrological concept, see Rashi - the signs. ... For other uses, see Miracle (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Sabbath. ... Challah on a tray, sprinkled with sesame seeds [[Image:Strucla sweet bread0 .jpg|thumb|245px|Strucla, a sweet bread from Central Europe similar to the challah]] Challah, hallah (חלה), also known in different parts of the Jewish world as barches (German and western Yiddish), Berches (Swabian), barkis (Gothenburg), bergis (Stockholm), khale... Shekinah (שכינה - alternative transliterations Shechinah, Shekhina, Shechina) is the English spelling of the Hebrew language word that means the glory or radiance of God, or God resting in his house or Tabernacle amongst his people. ...

Wedding allusions

Some of the events leading up to the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca have been institutionalized in the traditional Jewish wedding ceremony. Before the bride and bridegroom stand under the chuppah, they participate in a special ceremony called badeken (veiling). The bridegroom is led to the bride by two escorts and, seeing her, covers her face with a veil, similar to the way Rebecca covered her face before marrying Isaac. Then the bridegroom (or the father of the bride, or the officiating rabbi) recites the same blessing over the bride which Rebecca's family recited over her, "Our sister, may you come to be thousands of myriads, and may your offspring inherit the gate of its foes."[1] Bride Bride in formal dress North America. ... A groom waits for his bride. ... An elaborate chupah A chuppah (Hebrew: חוּפָּה) (also spelled khuppa, chupah, or chuppa - plural: chuppot, Hebrew: חוּפּוֹת) is a canopy traditionally used in Jewish weddings. ... Badeken, or Bedekung, is the ceremony of veiling of the bride by the groom in a traditional Jewish wedding. ... Bride Bride in formal dress North America. ... For the town in Italy, see Rabbi, Italy. ... Bride Bride in formal dress North America. ...

Marriage and motherhood

There are two opinions in the Midrash as to how old Rebecca was at the time of her marriage. According to the traditional counting cited by Rashi, Isaac was 37 years old at the time of the Binding of Isaac, and news of Rebecca's birth reached Abraham immediately after that event (see Rashi on Gen. 22:20). Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca (Gen. 25:20), making Rebecca 3 years old at the time of her marriage. According to the second opinion, Isaac was 29 years old and Rebecca was 14 years old at the time of their marriage[2].In either case, they waited 20 years to have children. Throughout that time, both Isaac and Rebecca prayed fervently to God for offspring. God eventually answered Isaac's prayers and Rebecca conceived. Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. ... A 16th-century depiction of Rashi Note: For the astrological concept, see Rashi - the signs. ... Abraham Sacrificing Isaac by Laurent de LaHire, 1650 Akedah or the Binding of Isaac (‎, Akedát Yitzhák) in Genesis 22, is narration from the Hebrew Bible, in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. ... Ώ // ---- Insert non-formatted text here]] For other uses, see Abraham (name) and Abram (disambiguation). ...

Rebecca was extremely uncomfortable during the pregnancy, and God is said to have told her that that was because her two twin children were fighting in her womb, and would continue to fight all through their lives. Her firstborn son was Esau, and the second was Jacob. Esaw redirects here. ... This article is about Jacob in the Hebrew Bible. ...

Deceiving Isaac

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When Isaac was old and blind, he decides to bestow his blessing on his firstborn son, Esau. He sends Esau out to the field to trap and cook for him a piece of savory game, so that he will eat and drink and be in a happy state of mind when he blessed him. (Note: Some sages say he wanted to give Esau the mitzva, i.e. meritorious obeying of God's Commandment, of honoring his father.) Rebecca overhears this exchange and realizes that Jacob is more deserving of the blessing, based on the prophecy she received before the twins' birth. She orders Jacob to bring her two goats from the flock, and cooks them in the way Isaac likes. When Jacob protests that his father will recognize the deception as soon as he feels him—since Esau is a hairy man and Jacob is smooth-skinned—Rebecca lays the goatskins on his arms and on the smooth of his neck to simulate hairy skin, and dresses Jacob in Esau's clothes which Esau keeps in his mother's house. Thus disguised, Jacob goes in to his father and succeeds in receiving his blessing. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ...

When Esau returns from the hunt to receive his blessing and discovers the deception, he vows in his heart to kill Jacob. Rebecca prophetically perceives his murderous intentions and orders Jacob to travel to her brother Laban's house until Esau's anger subsides. She convinces Isaac to send Jacob away by telling him that she despairs of him marrying a local girl from the idol-worshipping families of Canaan (as Esau has done).

Death and burial

Jacob is away from home for 22 years. As he is returning to Canaan with his large family, servants, and possessions, Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca, dies and is buried at a place that Jacob calls Alon Bachot (אלון בוכות), "Tree of Weepings" (Genesis 35:8). According to the Midrash, the plural form of the word "weeping" indicates a double sorrow, implying that Rebecca also died at this time. Her death is covered up, however, for varying reasons: For information on the name Deborah, see Debbie For information on the nurse of Rebeccah, mentioned in Genesis, see Deborah (Genesis) Deborah or Dvora (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian  ; Bee) was a prophetess and the fourth Judge and only female Judge of pre-monarchic Israel in the Old Testament (Tanakh). ... Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. ...

1. Neither Isaac, Esau, or Jacob are present at the burial, so Rebecca is buried by her neighbors, which is somewhat of an embarrassment.
2. Esau is present at the burial, but Jacob isn't, which reflects badly on Jacob's inability to perform this last mitzvah of honoring his mother.

According to tradition, Rebecca is buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. This article is about commandments in Judaism. ... The Enclosure of the Cave of the Patriarchs The Cave of the Patriarchs is a religious compound located in the ancient city of Hebron (which lies in the southwest part of the West Bank, in the heart of ancient Judea), and is generally considered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, to... Arabic الخليل Government City (from 1997) Also Spelled Al-Khalil (officially) Al-Halil (unofficially) Governorate Hebron Population 167,000 (2006) Jurisdiction  dunams Head of Municipality Mustafa Abdel Nabi , Hebron (Arabic:   al-ḪalÄ«l or al KhalÄ«l; Hebrew:  , Standard Hebrew: Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew: Ḥeḇrôn) is a city at the...

Rebecca as a modern name

According to United States Social Security card applications in 2006, the name Rebecca ranked 82nd out of the top 100 names chosen by parents for their baby girls[3]. According to the "1997 Top Ten of Everything" book, Rebecca is the 3rd most popular girl's name in Britain. The United States Social Security Administration (or SSA[1]) is an independent agency of the United States government established by a law currently codified at 42 U.S.C. Â§ 901. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The original Hebrew form of the name, Rivkah, means "bind," "tie," or "captivating," and may be associated with best-of-breed animals that were captured and bound in ancient times. It may be Aramaic in origin, although this is contested. Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. ...

Rebecca also gives her name to the Rebecca Degree, the sorority chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

The name Rebecca is frequently shortened to "Becky" or "Becca" in English speaking countries.

References

• Scherman, Rabbi Nosson. The Chumash. Brooklyn, NY: Mesorah Publications, 1993.

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