Third of the three patriarchs, and the younger of the twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca; also called Israel. Married Rachel and Leah. By them and their maids Bilhah and Zilpah, he had twelve sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin, progenitors of the thirteen tribes (there was no tribe of Joseph, but his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, each fathered a tribe), and a daughter, Dinah. Conse-quently, the Jewish people are also known as the children of Israel. In the Midrash and Kabbalah, Jacob is a paragon of devotion to Torah and of the human capacity to arouse God's mercy. The rivalry between him and his brother, Esau, symbolizes the eternal struggle between the Jewish people and its Gentile oppressors. Jacob is said to have instituted the Arvit (evening) prayer service. His story is told in the Book of Genesis 25:21–50:13.
