There are three main ways to spell the second matriarch’s name: Rebecca, Rebekah, and Rivka. And like her name there are a variety of ways to review her life. Some see her in a negative light and others in a positive light and others in all sorts of shades in between. Like Rebecca, our lives too have many shades of meaning.

Rebecca is special to me because Rivka is my Hebrew name and this parashah is very closely linked to many events in my life. In some ways, my life has been as dramatic and eventful as hers and I feel like she is my older (ok, a lot older) big sister who’s been through it all before me.  Read more…