"Come and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel," Jacob begins the fateful encounter[1]. Then he addresses Reuben, his oldest son, with razor-sharp words: "Reuben, you are my ...

For three of his sons, however, these words feel less like blessings and more like punishment and rebukes. Jacob chastises Reuben for his impulsive act of defiling his father’s bed, and he ...

The Torah recounts that after Rachel’s death, Jacob moved his bed to Bilhah’s tent, Rachel’s maidservant. This upset Reuben, Leah’s eldest son, who felt this slight to his mother was ...