Kenneth Cohen

Pure Offspring

The Kuzari gives an interesting explanation as to how the Jewish people became a nation. It took twenty-three generations until the twelve sons of Jacob were born.
There were ten generations between Adam and Noach, and another ten generations until the birth of Abraham. The Kuzari mentioned that all twenty generations were tainted by the venom of the serpent that went into Eve.

This meant that every family had offspring that were evil. The Torah only mentioned the lineage that was good. Even the twenty-first generation had Avraham father Yishmael, who was far from perfect. Yitzchak fathered Eisav who was a very evil person. Only the twenty-third generation of Yakov, was the first time since creation that all of the offspring were pure.

The twelve sons of Yakov were all worthy, and from them, the nation of Israel was born. We were known as a Family Nation.

The family that began with twelve, became seventy souls. During the 210 years of slavery in Egypt, the seventy became 600,000. The State of Israel was founded with a population of 600,000. Seventy-seven years later in 2025, the Jewish population has grown to 7.7 million Jews. This is truly miraculous. It demonstrates the supernatural manner that the Jewish people have been formed as a nation. It also explains why we are the Chosen People with a special destiny in the world.

About the Author
Rabbi Cohen has been a Torah instructor at Machon Meir, Jerusalem, for over twenty years while also teaching a Talmud class in the Shtieblach of Old Katamon. Before coming to Israel, he was the founding rabbi of Young Israel of Century City, Los Angeles. He recently published a series of Hebrew language-learning apps, which are available at www.cafehebrew.com
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