Named for a woman at a well

Rivkah is introduced drawing water for a stranger. The text records what she did and none of what she thought. Study begins in that gap.

House of Rivkah reads the Hebrew Bible slowly and in public. Each study takes one passage, sets out what it plainly says, shows what the Hebrew is doing underneath, and then opens the questions the tradition has argued about for a very long time.

The name comes from Genesis 24. A servant waits at a well at evening and asks for a sign. A young woman arrives, gives him a drink, and then waters ten camels without being asked. English Bibles spell her Rebekah; the Hebrew is רִבְקָה, Rivkah. She is the first person in the Bible asked whether she consents to her own journey, and she answers in one word.

There are no prerequisites here. You do not need Hebrew to start, and nothing on this site assumes you arrive already agreeing with it.

How the teaching here is put together

Quotation is verbatim

English passages are quoted word for word from the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation, which is in the public domain, and every quotation carries its citation so you can check it.

Hebrew is pointed

Hebrew is given with vowel points and a transliteration, so you can follow the sound and the root even if you do not read the script yet.

Tradition is named as tradition

Where a reading comes from a traditional framework, it is introduced as one. Interpretive claims are not presented as facts about the text.

Come and draw.

One passage, sent when it is ready. Hebrew word, plain reading, and the questions worth keeping.