Jacob יעקב אבינו

Yaakov was born in 2108, the second twin. He is "a wholesome man dwelling in tents"—by midrash, a student in the study house of Shem and Ever. He buys the birthright from his famished brother, receives the blind father's blessing at his mother's urging, and flees Esav's anger.

At Beit-El he sees a ladder set on the earth reaching heaven, and hears the promise of the land. In Charan he works fourteen years for Leah and Rachel and six more for flocks, while Lavan changes his wages "ten times". Eleven sons and a daughter are born there.

Returning, he is left alone at the Yabok crossing and wrestles until dawn. His hip is injured and he is given a new name: "Not Yaakov, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and prevailed."

Then Shechem, Rachel's death on the road to Bethlehem, twenty-two years of mourning for Yosef, and the reunion in Egypt. He died in 2255, aged 147.