Rabbi Katie Mizrahi is the spiritual leader of Or Shalom in san Francisco. Rabbi Mizrahi was ordained through the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2005. Previously, she studied for several years in Jerusalem, while devoting herself to human rights projects and peace education. Rabbi Katie grew up in Boulder, Colorado. She came to the Bay Area as a undergraduate at Stanford, where she majored in philosophy and religious studies, and first felt the call of the rabbinate.
This week’s Torah portion — Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:3-36:43) — features Jacob’s meeting with Esau, his wrestling with an angel, the defiling of Dinah, the death of Isaac and Rachel, and the renaming of Jacob. We begin our conversation in trying to understand what’s wrong with the name Jacob – and why was a need for change.
Previous Torah Talks on Vayishlach
