Two main stories occupy the lion's share of the Book of Genesis: The Abraham saga, and the story of Joseph and his brothers. Strangely, though, each of these narratives finds itself rudely interrupted by a chapter or two that seems entirely out of place. The first of these side-trips details the story of Lot and his daughters, and the second tells us the tale of Judah and Tamar.

Neither of these digressions lack for color or drama. In the first, we leave the relative calm of the Abraham saga to hear how Lot, the nephew of Abraham, escapes the fiery destruction of Sedom by the skin of his teeth. Later, his daughters, fearing that no other man is left alive in the world who could marry them, seduce their father in a cave, and conceive two children from the union. In the second story, we leave the Joseph saga to hear about Joseph's brother, Judah. Two of Judah's sons have died, and their widow, Tamar, poses as a harlot and propositions her father-in-law, Judah. In the aftermath of this act, Tamar narrowly escapes death, and lives to bear twins from her union with Judah.

Why are these apparently scandalous narratives in the Bible at all? And why does each seem to fall out of the sky, landing in the middle of a saga that seems completely unrelated to them? In this series of lectures, Rabbi Fohrman explores these peculiar episodes, revealing a fascinating web of connections that link them deeply with the rest of the Book of Genesis - and, intriguingly, with one another as well. The series culminates with a discussion of the Book of Ruth, where each of these "digressions" merge to become one and the same story - the story of the birth of King David, and the genesis of the Jewish Messiah.