S4 Ep. 3 Can We Really Know God? What Jacob’s Deception Reveals About Revelation

What if the Torah provides its own commentary on its most pivotal moments? In this episode, Rabbi Fohrman and Imu continue uncovering a striking web of connections between Jacob’s deception in Genesis 27 and the Revelation at Sinai in Exodus 19. As they explore these interwoven parallels, they reveal a profound shift in roles—Father becoming Son, Son becoming Father—and examine how God’s choice to reveal Himself through cloud and sound echoes Jacob’s own veiled encounter with Isaac.

But these parallels aren’t just literary—they hold deep theological stakes. If Jacob’s disguise at the moment of blessing teaches us something about hidden identities, what does that mean for how we perceive God at Sinai? And by embracing our own limitations, could we, like Yitzchak, learn to truly listen?

Check out the scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind that Rabbi Fohrman referenced in this episode: Watch here. 

For more on Rabbi Fohrman's reading of the deception story, see this essay from his book Genesis: A Parsha Companion.

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