FROM THE TORAH
Genesis 28:10-32:3
At the end of last week’s Sedra Toledot, Jacob is pressed by his parents, Rebecca and Isaac, to travel from Beersheba in Canaan eastward to Charan and make contact with his mother’s family there (as was done for his parents’ betrothal , cf. Genesis 24:1ff.). For Jacob there are two reasons. Rebecca fears that Jacob’s rough older brother Esau will commit fratricide for being supplanted by Jacob (cf. Genesis 27:41-45). Therefore she wants Jacob to seek refuge with her family in Paddan Aram until Esau’s anger subsides. She also wishes to prevent Jacob from marrying a local woman from Canaan and, with Isaac’s support, would have him take a wife instead from the daughters of her brother Laban (cf. Genesis 27:46-28:4). This week’s Sedra Vayetze continues the narrative with Jacob’s departure from Beersheba (cf. Genesis 27:5). It follows the next twenty years of Jacob’s life in Charan with his eventful marriages, the birth of his children, and his relationship with his uncle Laban, who becomes his father-in-law and employer. The Sedra ends with the dramatic departure of Jacob, along with his family, back towards his native land. All of its dramatic events are framed by angelic gatekeepers both at Jacob’s anxious departure from Canaan and upon his successful return.
Jacob Acquires His Family
JACOB FINDS THE ETERNAL AT BETH EL
28:10-22
So Jacob “leaves” (Vayetze) Beersheba and goes to Charan. He encounters a particular place (“the place”) and spends the night there, as the sun sets. He arranges some of the stones as a pillow for his head, and there he lies down. He dreams of a ladder standing on the ground, with its top reaching heaven, as angels of God are going up and coming down upon it. Standing over him is the Eternal, who says:
“I am the Eternal, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The Land upon which you lie I am giving to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread out westward and eastward, northward and southward, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you and your offspring. Know that I am with you and that I shall protect you wherever you go and bring you back to this Land. I shall not leave you until I have accomplished all that I promise you.”
Then Jacob awakens from his sleep and recognizes that the Eternal was in that place, although he had not known it. Fearfully he says: “How awesome is this place! It is none other than the House of God and the Gate of Heaven.”
Jacob arises early the next morning and sets up the stone he had used for his head, as a pillar. He pours oil upon it and names the place Beth El (“House of God”). Luz was its name at first.
Jacob makes the following vow: “If God will be with me and protect me on this journey which I am undertaking, and if He gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and I return safely to my father’s house, then the Eternal shall be my God. This stone,” he continues, “which I have set up as a pillar, shall become a House of God, and from whatever You provide me, I shall set aside a tenth of it for You.”
(See Remembrance of Beth El in Sedra Vayishlach 5782.)
JACOB MEETS RACHEL AT THE WELL
29:1-14
Jacob then moves onward to the land of the Easterners. He encounters a well in the field, surrounded by three flocks of sheep. For now the mouth of the well is covered by a large stone. When all of the flocks are gathered, they would roll the stone off of the opening and water the sheep. Then they would replace the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.
Jacob greets them, “My brothers!” He asks them where they are from. “We are from Charan,” they say. He asks them if they know Laban son of Nachor. They answer that they do. He asks of them Laban’s welfare. They say he is well and add that his daughter Rachel is coming with the flock.
Jacob suggests to them that, as it is too early to expect the livestock to be gathered, they should water the flock that is there and return to pasture. They refuse to alter their practice of waiting until all of the flocks are gathered before they roll the stone off of the well and water the sheep.
As Jacob is speaking with them, the shepherdess Rachel appears. She is the daughter of Laban, who is the brother of Jacob’s mother (cf. Genesis 25:15ff.). Rachel arrives with her father’s flock. Seeing her and the flock, Jacobs steps over to the stone and rolls it himself from over the mouth of the well. Then he waters Laban’s flock. He kisses Rachel and breaks into tears. Jacob explains to Rachel that he is the son of Rebecca, her father’s sister.
Rachel runs to tell her father. When Laban receives the news, he runs to greet Jacob. He hugs and kisses him and brings him into his house. Jacob tells Laban all that has transpired. Laban says to him, “You are indeed my bone and flesh!” and Jacob stays with him for the duration of a month.
JACOB WORKS FOR LABAN
29:15-30
Then Laban suggests to Jacob that just because they are kinsmen, Jacob should not have to work for him for no compensation. “What should be your pay?” he asks. Now Laban had two daughters: Leah, the older, had weak eyes. Rachel, the younger, was physically attractive. Jacob loves Rachel and proposes serving Laban for her for seven years. Laban responds by expressing his preference to give Rachel to him rather than to another man, so “stay with me!”
Jacob works for Rachel for seven years, but in his eyes they are as only a few days, because of his love for her. He then says to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time has been fulfilled; now I should cohabit with her.” Laban invites all of the local people and makes a feast. In the evening he delivers his daughter Leah instead of Rachel, and Jacob cohabits with her. In the morning, “Behold it is Leah” (Genesis 29:25)!
Jacob demands that Laban explain what he has done: “Did I not labor with you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me?!” Laban justifies his action by explaining that giving the younger before the older is opposed by local custom. His solution: “Fulfill the week for this one, and we will give you the other one.” Thus Jacob does: He fulfills the week for Leah, then Laban gives him his daughter Rachel for a wife. Laban gives Leah his maidservant Zilpah, to be hers, and he gives Rachel his maidservant Bilhah, to be hers. Jacob cohabits also with Rachel, and he loves Rachel more than Leah. Then he labors with Laban for yet another seven years.
LEAH BEARS FOUR SONS
29:31-35
The Eternal, observing that Leah is unloved, opens her womb, while Rachel is barren:
Leah conceives and bears a son. She names him Reuben (“See a son!”), thinking that “the Eternal sees my affliction, and now my husband will love me.”
Leah conceives again and bears a son. She names him Shimon (“Hear affliction!”), thinking that “the Eternal hears that I am unloved, so He is giving me this one also.”
Leah conceives again and bears a son. She names him Levi (“Attached”), thinking that “this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.”
Leah conceives again and bears a son. She names him Judah (“Thanksgiving”], thinking that “this time I shall thank the Eternal.”
Then Leah stops bearing.
RACHEL IS “CHILDED” TWICE THROUGH BILHAH
30:1-8
Rachel, having borne no children to Jacob, is envious of her sister. Of Jacob she demands, “Give me children, or else I shall die!” Jacob is angered at Rachel and says, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you fruit of the womb?” Rachel proposes that Jacob cohabit with her handmaiden Bilhah, “and she shall deliver upon my knees, I shall be ‘childed’ from her!” So she gives him Bilhah, her maidservant, for a wife:
Bilhah conceives and bears a son to Jacob. Rachel names him Dan (“Judge”), thinking, “God has judged me, He has listened to my voice and given me a son.”
Bilhah, maidservant of Rachel, conceives again and bears a second son to Jacob. Rachel names him Naphtali (“My wrestling”), thinking, “I have wrestled in a divine contest with my sister, and I have prevailed.”
LEAH GIVES ZILPAH TO JACOB FOR TWO SONS
30:9-13
When Leah realizes that she has stopped bearing, she gives Zilpah her maidservant to Jacob for a wife:
Zilpah, maidservant of Leah, bears a son to Jacob. Leah names him Gad (“Fortune”), thinking, “Good fortune has come.”
Zilpah, maidservant of Leah, bears a second son to Jacob. Leah names him Asher (“Happy”), thinking, “Women consider me happy.”
LEAH HIRES JACOB AND BEARS TWO MORE SONS AND A DAUGHTER
30:14-21
During the wheat harvest, Reuben finds love-mandrakes in the field and brings them to Leah, his mother. Rachel asks Leah for some of them. “Was it not enough for you to take my husband,” replies Leah, “that you would also take my son’s love-mandrakes?” Rachel offers Jacob to Leah, to “sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s love-mandrakes.” So, as Jacob is returning from the field in the evening, Leah goes out to meet him: “You are coming to me, because I have hired you with my son’s love-mandrakes.” He sleeps with her that night, and God pays heed to Leah:
Leah conceives and bears a fifth son to Jacob. She names him Issachar (“He provides a reward”), thinking, “God has granted my reward for my giving my maidservant to my husband.”
Leah conceives again and bears a sixth son to Jacob. She names him Zebulun (“Honor”), thinking, “God has bestowed a wonderful gift upon me; now my husband will honor me for having borne six sons to him.”
After that she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
RACHEL BEARS JOSEPH
30:22-24
God remembers Rachel. He listens to her and opens her womb:
Rachel conceives and bears a son. She names him Joseph (“May He add”), thinking, “God has gathered up my disgrace; may the Eternal add for me another son.”
JACOB COPES WITH LABAN’S DECEIT
30:25-43
When Rachel has borne Joseph, Jacob asks Laban for leave to his native land, together with his wives and his children, “for whom I have worked.” Laban acknowledges that “the Eternal has blessed me because of you,” but he invites Jacob to name his price for the work he has done. Jacob reminds Laban of how greatly his livestock have increased since Jacob started working for him, from only a few to a multitude, “that the Eternal has blessed you because of me; now it is time for me to do the same for my own household!” Laban responds by asking Jacob again, “What can I give you?”
“Pay me nothing,” says Jacob, “but allow me this one thing. I shall again pasture and protect your flock, if I may pass through them today and set aside for my compensation only the few speckled and spotted animals: the dark-colored sheep and the spotted and speckled goats. To test my honesty, you will be able then to track my compensation, for any goats or sheep not showing those unusual characteristics will not belong to me.” Laban readily agrees to the proposed arrangement.
But on the same day, Laban transfers to his sons all of the streaked and spotted male goats and all of the speckled and spotted female goats, all having some white in them, and all of the dark-colored sheep. He puts three days of distance between himself and Jacob, and leaves Jacob to pasture what remains of the flock, all but the animals that they had agreed would belong to Jacob!
So Jacob takes rods of fresh poplar and almond-wood and plane, and peels stripes out of them, laying bare white stripes around them. He places the rods which he has peeled, at the drinking troughs in front of the flocks. As the goats come to drink, they also mate. As they mate facing the striped rods, they bear young that are streaked, speckled and spotted. Jacob separates the sheep and has them face the streaked and the dark-colored within the flock. He produces for himself his own flocks, and he does not put them with the rest of Laban’s flock. Moreover, when the sturdier animals of the flock mate, Jacob sets up the rods so that those animals at the troughs mate in view of the rods. But for the animals that show feebleness, he does not set up the rods, so that the feeble, white animals remain with Laban and the sturdier streaked, speckled and spotted animals go to Jacob. Jacob becomes very wealthy, acquiring large flocks, servants, camels, and asses.
JACOB SEEKS SEPARATION FROM LABAN
31:1-16
Jacob hears the talk of Laban’s sons: “Jacob has taken all of our father’s property and turned it into great wealth.” Moreover Jacob notices a change in Laban’s attitude towards him. The Eternal says to him: “Return to the land of your fathers, to your birthplace, and I will be with you!”
Jacob sends word of Laban’s change of attitude and God’s promise to Rachel and Leah, who are in the field with his flock. He reminds them how hard he has worked for their father and that even though their father cheated him and changed his wages many times, “God never allowed him to do me harm: whichever type of animals he promised me at any one time, whether speckled or streaked, that is the type that were born. God liberated your father’s livestock and gave it to me!”
Jacob relates a dream that he had when the flocks were mating: “I saw that the male goats mounting the flock were streaked, speckled and mottled. An angel of God explained that this was because of what Laban was doing to me: ‘I am the God of Beth El, where you anointed a pillar (cf. Genesis 28:18) and made a vow to Me (cf. Genesis 28:20-22); now get out of this country and return to your native land!’”
Rachel and Leah express doubt as to whether they remain heirs to property in their father’s house: “We are thought of as foreigners to him, as he sold us and continues to spend the value for which we were sold. Really, all of the wealth which God has liberated from our father is rightly ours and our children’s. So now, follow through on all that God has said to you!”
JACOB AND HIS HOUSEHOLD FLEE
31:17-42
Thereupon Jacob mounts his children and his wives on the camels and drives all of his livestock and wealth acquired in Paddan Aram towards Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. When Laban is out shearing his sheep, Rachel appropriates her father’s icons. Jacob, for his part, keeps Laban in the dark about their departure. He flees with all that he has and crosses the Euphrates, heading towards the hill country of Gilead.
Three days later Laban learns that Jacob has fled. With his kinsmen he pursues him for seven days and catches up with him in the hill country of Gilead. There they encamp, while Jacob has pitched his tent in the heights. God warns Laban the Aramean, in a night dream, not to threaten Jacob.
Nonetheless Laban accuses him of secretly removing his daughters like captives of the sword: “Why did you leave without telling me? If you had told me that you wanted to leave, I would have sent you off in celebration, with singing and dancing and music! You did not even let me kiss my children goodbye. You have acted foolishly, and I have it in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father told me last night not to threaten you.”
Laban continues: “Clearly you have left because you desire your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
Jacob answers both of Laban’s questions: “I did not tell you because I feared that you would try to wrest your daughters from me. As far as your gods are concerned, anyone with whom you may find them shall not live! In the presence of our kinsmen, show what I have that is yours, and take it.”
Jacob did not know that Rachel had taken the icons. Laban searches the tents of Jacob, Leah, the two maidservants, and does not find his gods. Leaving Leah’s tent, he comes into the tent of Rachel. Rachel had put the icons in the camel cushion and was sitting on them. She says to her father, “Let my lord not be angry, but I cannot stand before you just now due to the way of women.” Laban feels around all of the tent but does not find his icons.
Now angry at Laban, Jacob challenges him to show what, if anything, of his he has found: “Put it here in front of my kinsmen and yours, and let them decide between us! For twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your she-goats did not miscarry, and the rams of your flock I did not eat. If an animal was injured, I absorbed the loss. I endured the scorching days and the freezing nights and the accompanying lack of sleep. Of those twenty years in your house, I worked fourteen of them for your two daughters and another six years for your flocks, during which you switched around my wages time and again. Were it not for the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, you would have sent me away emptyhanded. But, seeing my affliction and my toil, He made judgment last night!”
LABAN AND JACOB MAKE A PACT OF SEPARATION
31:43-32:3
Laban responds: “The daughters are mine, the sons are mine, the flocks are mine, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do about these my daughters today, or about the children which they have borne? So now, let us make a pact, I and you, as testimony between us.” Whereupon Jacob sets up a stone for a pillar, and he tells his kinsmen to gather other stones, which they set up as a mound, and they have a meal by it. Laban calls it Yegar Sahadutha (“Mound of Witness” in the language of his native Aram), and Jacob calls it Gal-Eyd (“Mound of Witness” in Hebrew). Laban declares, “May this mound serve as witness between me and you this day!”
The mound was also called Mitzpah (“Observation”), for he said, “May the Eternal observe between me and you when one man is hidden from the other: if you should harm my daughters or take other wives, when no one else is present, see that God is witness between me and you!”
Laban says further to Jacob: “This mound and this pillar which I have set up between me and you—let neither of us cross over them to the other one with the intent of doing harm. Let the God of Abraham and the God of Nachor (cf. Genesis 11:22-32; 24:10,15; 29:5) judge between us, that is, their ancestral deities.” Jacob swears by the Fear of his father Isaac, and he performs a sacrifice in the heights. He calls on his kinsmen to eat bread. They eat bread and spend the night there.
Early the next morning, Laban arises and kisses his sons and his daughters and blesses them, whereupon he returns to his home. When Jacob goes on his way, angels of God meet him (cf. Genesis 28:10-22). When Jacob sees them, he says, “This is God’s camp,” so he names that place Machanaim (“Grand Encampment”).
FROM THE PROPHETS
Haftarah for Shabbat Vayetze
Hosea 12:13-14:10
Another Brush with Idolatry
PROLOGUE
Jacob fled to the country of Aram;
Israel served for one wife,
and then for another wife he guarded flocks.
The Eternal brought Israel up
from Egypt by a Prophet,
and by a Prophet was he guarded.
Nonetheless:
SIN OF IDOLATRY
Ephraim has caused bitter anger,
for which his blood is upon him;
his Lord punishes him
for his disgrace.
At one time Ephraim was exalted in Israel,
but when he became guilty through Baal,
he died.
They continue to sin,
making molten images
out of their silver,
idols according to
their own thinking,
saying:
Sacrifice is the worship of calves!
Those things are as transient
as the morning cloud and dew,
as the chaff that is blown
from the threshing-floor,
and as smoke from the window.
I am the Eternal your God
from the land of Egypt
and in the barren wilderness,
none other but Me.
Yet, now satisfied,
they have forgotten Me.
PUNISHMENT
So I wait for them like a lion,
like a bear ready to rend
the enclosure of their heart.
This shall be your destruction,
O Israel,
for rejecting My help!
Your kings and your judges
will not save you in your cities,
It is I who grant them in My anger,
and I take them away in My wrath!
INIQUITY LONGSTANDING
The iniquity of Ephraim
is stored up for punishment:
unwise is he for failing
to remove himself
from the punishment
of his idolatrous forebears.
Should I redeem them
from the power of She’ol?
May repentance be concealed
from My sight!
He may have flourished
among the reeds of Egypt,
but here the Eternal’s east wind
will blow up from the wilderness,
dry out his fountain,
and spoil the store
of his precious gifts.
Samaria has rebelled
against her God,
so she will fall by the sword
and see mother and child
ripped into pieces.
CALL FOR REPENTANCE
Return, O Israel, to the Eternal your God,
as you have stumbled in your iniquity.
Take with you words,
and return to the Eternal.
Say to Him: Forgive all iniquity,
and take that which is good!
Thereby will we offer our lips
in place of those bulls.
Assyria is not our savior,
we will not ride upon horses;
we will no longer call
the work of our hands
our God,
for, by contrast, in You
there is compassion
for the orphan.
GOD’S HEALING RESPONSE
I shall heal them from their failings
and love them freely;
I am no longer angry with him.
I shall be as the dew to Israel,
he shall blossom as the lily
and be rooted and verdant
as the Lebanon.
Ephraim shall eschew idols,
and I shall respond
by protecting him in My shade
as the verdant cypress tree.
From Me is your fruit!
Let one who is wise
understand these words,
for the ways of the Eternal
are right.
The righteous walk therein,
but transgressors stumble in them.
FROM TALMUD AND MIDRASH
Genesis Rabbah 68:3
Same Source, Different Direction
“Jacob left Beersheba and went to Charan.”
(Genesis 28:10)
Rabbi Pinchas in the name of Rabbi Abahu
opened with the following:
“Home and wealth may be inherited,
but an insightful spouse is from the Eternal.”
(Proverbs 19:14)
We have found this assertion in all three sections of the Bible: Torah, Prophets and Writings.
From the Torah: “Both Laban and Bethuel acknowledge that the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca has been determined by the Eternal” (Genesis 24:50)!
From the Prophets: “Samson’s father and mother knew not that his ill-fated marriage to a Philistine woman was from the Eternal, who arranged it to impel Samson’s revenge upon the Philistines” (Judges 14:4)!
From the Writings: “An insightful spouse is from the Eternal” (Proverbs 19:14), viz. the verse that opened the discourse!
At the same time you will find that in some cases the man travels to his intended while in other cases his intended comes to him. In the case of Isaac, his intended came to him: “He looked up and saw her camels approaching” (Genesis 24:63). While Jacob traveled to his intended, as our Sedra opens: “Jacob went out from Beersheba and traveled to Charan“ (Genesis 28:10).
Genesis Rabbah 68:4
God’s Occupation
“God finds a home
for the solitary;
He brings prisoners out
into prosperity [bakosharot]…”
(Psalms 68:7a)
Rabbi Judah son of Rabbi Simone related this verse to open the Sedra:
A Roman matron asked Rabbi Yosi bar Chalafta: How many days did it take for the Holy One, blessed be He, to create His world? Six days, he said, as is written: “In six days the Eternal made the heavens and the earth” (Exodus 20:11). Then what has He been doing, she asked, since then until now? He answered her: The Holy One, blessed be He, occupies Himself with the matching of marriage partners, determining who is suitable for whom, individual by individual, couple by couple. And that is His entire occupation? she exclaimed in astonishment! I also could do that: Of my many male and female servants I could match them all in less than an hour!
To her boast Rabbi Yosi bar Chalafta said only in reply: Though easy it may be for you, it is as difficult for the Holy One, blessed be He, as the splitting of the Red Sea.
What did the Roman matron do? She took a thousand male servants and a thousand female servants, had them stand in rows, and instructed each male to face a particular female and each female to face a particular male, and she matched them all in one night. The next day they came to her, one with a wounded head, one with an injured eye, and another with a broken leg. She asked them: What happened? He said: I don’t want to be with her; and she said: I don’t want to be with him! Rabbi Yosi bar Chalafta was summoned. To him she said: There is none like your God, your Torah is true, pleasant and praiseworthy, well have you spoken!
But it is as I told you, he said to her, matching marriage partners is as difficult for the Holy One, blessed be He, as the splitting of the Red Sea. For what does He do for them? He matches them even against their will and their pleasure! That is what is meant in consideration of all of the words, “God finds a home for the solitary” (Psalms 68:7a), an occupation as difficult as “one who brings prisoners out with various predilections [bakosharot]…” (ibid.), those who are disappointed, with weeping [bekhi], and those who are delighted, with song [shirot].
Said Rabbi Berechia: This is how Rabbi Yosi bar Chalafta answered her question about the current occupation of the Holy One, blessed be He: He makes “ladders” (cf. Genesis 28:12); that is to say, He occupies Himself with the adjustment of hierarchies. He lowers one and elevates the other: He brings one down to bring the other up. Thus is it said, “God is the Judge: this one He lowers and that one He raises” (Psalms 75:8)! There is one who goes to meet his intended, and there is his intended who goes to meet him. In the case of Isaac, his intended came to him, as was said, “He looks up and sees that (Rebecca’s) camels are approaching” (Genesis 24:63). In the case of Jacob, he went to his intended, as was said, “Jacob leaves Beersheba and goes to Charan (the home of Rachel)” (Genesis 28:10).
Genesis Rabbah 68:6
The Righteous of a Place
“Jacob leaves Beersheba and goes to Charan.”
(Genesis 28:10)
Did only Jacob leave Beersheba? Were there not also accompanying asses and camels and their drivers? And why mention his leaving Beersheba altogether since his departure can be assumed in his journey to Charan?
Rabbi Azariah in the name of Rabbi Judah son of Rabbi Simon, and Rabbi Chanin in the name of Rabbi Samuel son of Rav Isaac, said: When a righteous person inhabits the city, he is its glory and its beauty. When he leaves, its glory and its beauty depart.
Similarly, we could ask about Naomi: “She leaves the place where she was…” (Ruth 1:7), why only “she,” considering that her two daughters-in-law also went out with her, back to Judah (cf. ibid.)? Similarly we can answer: When righteous Naomi inhabited the place, she was its glory and its beauty. When she left, its glory and its beauty went away.
But the case of Naomi is different from the case of Jacob. When Naomi left the country of Moab, we do not know of any righteous people who remained. However, when Jacob left Beersheba, his righteous parents Isaac and Rebecca remained! This might teach us that it really has nothing to do with the number of righteous in a place, for each righteous person makes a unique and irreplaceable impression.
Genesis Rabbah 68:9
What is “The Place?”
“He encounters ‘the place’…”
(Genesis 28:11)
“The place?” Which place? There is no antecedent! No geographical “place” has been pre-identified. “The Place” (Hamakom) is one of the expressions we use, quite frequently, for God: He encounters Hamakom, “The Place,” the Holy One, blessed be He! This is supported by his ensuing dream and discovery of God’s presence there (cf. Genesis 28:12-19).
Why do we call God Hamakom, ”The Place?” Because He is the Place of His world, and His world is not His place! This is apparent from the following:
Exodus 33:21: The Eternal says to Moses, who asks to see God’s Presence, “Behold there is place with[in] Me!”
Deuteronomy 33:27: Moses says in his blessing of the tribes, “A dwelling-place is the ancient God….”
Psalms 90:1: Moses reiterates, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling-place….”
Said Rabbi Abba bar Yudan: He may be compared to a warrior riding upon his horse with His weapons hanging on either side. The horse is secondary to the rider; the rider is not secondary to the horse. Thus was it said: “You ride upon your horses, upon your chariots of victory!” (Habakkuk 3:8)
Genesis Rabbah 68:9
Three Explanations of the Three Daily Prayers
“He encounters ‘the place’…”
(Genesis 28:11)
“The place?” Which place? As there is no immediate antecedent, we can assume that it refers to “the place” par excellence: the place of the future Temple! In what sense does he “encounter” the Temple? Not surprisingly, he prays there!
Said Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: The three Patriarchs ordained three services of prayer—
Abraham ordained Shacharit, the Morning Service, as was said: “Abraham rises up early in the morning to ‘the place’ (Hamakom) (cf. supra) where he is standing facing the Eternal” (Genesis 19:27), and “standing” (Amidah) means praying, as was said, “Pinchas stands up and prays, and the plague is arrested” (Psalms 106:30; cf. Numbers 25:1-9)!
Isaac ordained Mincha, the Afternoon Service, as was said: “Isaac goes out to ‘talk’ in the field at the approach of evening…” (Genesis 24:63), and “talk” means prayer, as was said, “I cry aloud to the Eternal…I pour out my talk before Him…” (Psalms 142:2-3)! and “Evening, morning, and noon, I talk and I moan, and He hears my voice” (Psalms 55:18)!
Jacob ordained Ma’ariv, the Evening Service, as was said, “He ‘encounters’ The Place (cf. supra)…,” and “encounter” means prayer, as was said, “And you, do not pray for this people…and do not encounter Me…” (Jeremiah 7:16)! and “If they are truly prophets and the word of the Eternal is with them, let them by all means encounter the Eternal of hosts not to let the remaining vessels…go to Babylon” (Jeremiah 27:18)!
Said Rabbi Samuel bar Nachman: The three services of prayer are meant to correspond with the three transitions of the day—
In Ma’ariv one should be able to say: May it be Your will, O Eternal my God, to deliver me from darkness to light!
In Shacharit one should be able to say: I thank You for delivering me from darkness to light!
In Mincha one should be able to say: May it be Your will, O Eternal my God, just as You have allowed me to see the sun in its rising, so may You allow me to see it in its setting!
Another explanation was put forward by the Rabbis: They were ordained to correspond to the daily offerings—
The Morning Service corresponds to the Tamid, the daily offering, of the morning.
The Afternoon Service corresponds to the Tamid, the daily offering, of dusk.
The Evening Service does not have a fixed time.
Said Rabbi Tanchuma: Even the Evening Service has a fixed time, as it corresponds to the limbs and fats that were consumed in fire upon the Altar all through the night.
Genesis Rabbah 68:12
Why “Going Up” then “Coming Down?”
“He dreams of a ladder standing on the ground,
with its top reaching heaven,
as angels of God are
going up and coming down upon it.”
(Genesis 28:12)
“Going up” were the angels who had accompanied him when he was in the Land of Israel, while “coming down” were those who would accompany him outside of the Land of Israel.
Genesis Rabbah 70:5
Love and Patience
“Jacob makes the following vow:
‘If God will be with me…
and if He gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear…
then the Eternal shall be my God.
This stone, which I have set up as a pillar,
shall become a House of God,
and from whatever You provide me,
I shall set aside a tenth of it for You.’”
(Genesis 28:20-22)
“For the Eternal your God…
loves the stranger [ger]
and provides him with bread and clothing.”
(Deuteronomy 10:17-18)
Aquila the Proselyte [ger] came before Rabbi Eliezer, complaining: Is this the entire benefit that the Eternal provides the proselyte, “bread and clothing?!” Rabbi Eliezer responded: Do you consider it a light thing that food and raiment, which the Patriarch virtually begged the Eternal to provide him in return for his gifts to Him, is offered freely to the proselyte?!
Dissatisfied, Aquila the Proselyte carried the same complaint to Rabbi Joshua. Rabbi Joshua sought to satisfy him by interpreting the words:
“Bread” refers to Torah—
as Wisdom offers her “bread” to the ignorant (Proverbs 9:4-5),
so does the Eternal offer His Torah to the proselyte!
“Clothing” refers to Tallit,
the Cloak of Honor which the student of Torah is entitled to wear!
Moreover, said Rabbi Joshua, when proselytes’ daughters marry Kohanim, any of their sons may become the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) and offer up burnt offerings upon the Altar:
“Bread” refers to Showbread,
“which you shall place before Me on the Table in the Sanctuary!”
(Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5-9)
“Clothing” refers to Priestly Garments,
“sacred garments which they shall make for Aaron and his sons as My Kohanim!”
(Exodus 28:4)
Outside of Jerusalem:
“Bread” refers to Challah,
the first of the kneaded dough for the Kohanim,
“which you shall set aside as a gift for the Eternal!”
(Numbers 15:20-21)
“Clothing” refers to Reysheet Geyz,
the first of the shearing of the flock,
“which you shall give the Kohen!”
(Deuteronomy 18:4)
They said: Were it not for the patience that Rabbi Joshua showed Aquila, Aquila would have reverted to his idolatry. For such as Rabbi Joshua was it said, “Mightier even than a conqueror is one who shows great patience” (Proverbs 16:32)!
Talmud Bava Bathra 123a
Leah’s Determinant Virtue
“Now Laban had two daughters:
Leah, the older, had weak eyes…”
(Genesis 29:17)
What is the meaning of “weak” here? If you mean that Leah’s eyes were actually weak, is that really possible? After all, since the Torah does not even denigrate unclean animals, as when God told Noah to take of both “clean beasts” and “beasts that are not clean” (Genesis 7:8) instead of saying “unclean beasts,” would it denigrate the righteous?!
Rabbi Elazar suggests that the word rakot, which we translated “weak,” should actually be read arukot, “long,” referring to the long list of Priestly and Levitical emoluments to which her descendants through Levi would be entitled.
Rav taught that rakot is the correct reading and that it does mean actually “weak,” but not as a denigration, rather as praise for her love of virtue. For Leah heard “through the grapevine” that people were saying that since Rebecca has two sons (Esau and Jacob) and Laban has two daughters (Leah and Rachel), the older (Esau) should marry the older (Leah) and the younger should marry the younger. As she continued to listen to what people were saying, she learned that Rebecca’s older son was an evil man who robbed and that her younger son was a quiet man, a dweller of tents. The very thought of being wed to the wrong man caused her to weep so much that her eyelids fell out, hence “weak eyes!”
“The Eternal,
observing that Leah is unloved,
opens her womb…”
(Genesis 29:31)
This could not mean unloved actually for the reasoning given above: the Torah would not denigrate the righteous! What it must mean, then, is that God saw that Leah was unloving of Esau’s behavior, and therefore He opened her womb!
Genesis Rabbah 70:13
Talmud Megillah 13a-13b
Targum Esther 2:7
The Strength of Righteousness
“Jacob explains to Rachel that he is the son of Rebecca, her father’s sister…,”
but literally:
“Jacob tells Rachel that he is the brother of her father
and that he is the son of Rebecca…”
(Genesis 29:12)
What did he mean by “brother of her father”
(since he was actually the nephew of her father)?
Jacob was reassuring Rachel that if Laban her father was intending to deceive him, Jacob could stand up to him as if he were her deceptive father’s own brother!
And so he delayed telling her
“that he is the son of Rebecca…”
Thereby Jacob further reassured Rachel that if Laban intended to treat him fairly, then Jacob was, after all, the son of a righteous woman!
“God withdraws not His eyes from the righteous;
indeed He seats them with kings upon the throne forever,
and they are exalted!”
(Job 36:7)
Rachel, too, for her part, was called “righteous” by Elihu when he said, “God withdraws not His eyes from the righteous…” (Job 36:7a), as Rabbi Elazar explained: Because of Rachel’s humble forbearance, God rewarded her with humbly forbearing descendants, Saul (cf. I Samuel 9:1-2) and Esther (cf. Esther 2:5-7), as Rabbi Elazar construed the rest of the verse, “…and He seats them (through their descendants) as kings (and queens) upon the throne…” (Job 36:7b)!
What was Rachel’s humble forbearance? When Jacob asked her to marry him, she said, “Yes, but my father is a deceiver, and he will deceive you!” That is when Jacob said, “If he is a deceiver, then I am his brother in deception; yet if he be righteous, I am the righteous son of a righteous woman!”
“David offered this song to the Eternal
on the day that the Eternal saved him
from the hand of all of his enemies…
‘With the pure You show Yourself pure,
and with the crooked You deal tortuously [titpatal]!’”
(II Samuel 22:1,27; cf. Psalms 18:27)
But Rachel questioned whether a righteous person was permitted to act deceptively. “Yes,” said Jacob, “With the pure you show yourself pure, and with the crooked you disguise yourself [titapal]” (ibid.)!
“Laban…makes a wedding feast.
In the evening he delivers his daughter Leah instead of Rachel,
and Jacob cohabits with her.
In the morning: Behold it is Leah!”
(Genesis 29:22-25a)!
Jacob went on to ask Rachel how she thinks her father would try to deceive him. “I have a sister,” she said, “who is older than I, and he will not allow me to marry before her. When the time comes for us to be married, he may bring her to you instead of me!” So Jacob provided Rachel with certain signals by which he could identify her in the dark and thereby know if Laban had brought Leah to him instead of Rachel. But when the night arrived, Rachel thought, “My sister will be humiliated by his plan, so I shall disclose the signals to her (without telling Jacob).” That is why it is written, “In the morning, behold it was Leah” (Genesis 29:25)! as of course it was Leah also before the morning, but because of the signals that Rachel gave Leah, Jacob did not know that it was Leah until the light of the morning!
Because of Rachel’s humble forbearance for the sake of her sister’s honor, “God withdrew not His eyes from her” and rewarded her with illustrious descendants who reflected her qualities of humility and forbearance: Saul in his modesty upon anointment as king (I Samuel 10:14-24) and Esther, who was so named because “Esther” means “concealment, and she concealed herself, an orphan in her uncle Mordechai’s house, in modesty, never looking at any man except Mordechai, for seventy-five years!
Genesis Rabbah 70:13
Jacob’s Gift
“When Laban receives the news of Jacob son of his sister,
he runs to greet him, and he hugs him, and he kisses him,
and he brings him into his house,
where Jacob tells Laban all of these things [devarim].”
(Genesis 29:13)
Why was Laban apparently so friendly,
and why did he hug him before kissing him?
Laban has made a calculation: Eliezer, who came previously to seek his sister Rebecca as a wife for Isaac, was merely a servant of Abraham, yet: “The servant came here with ten of his masters’ camels, bearing gifts…” (Genesis 24:10), so this one (Jacob), who is a full-fledged member of Abraham’s household, how much the moreso! Therefore Laban “runs to greet (see) him,” expecting him to be the bearer of even more material benefit than was Eliezer.
But seeing not even a basket of food with Jacob, Laban “hugs him” in order to feel in the contact whether Jacob’s belt is bulging with money.
Detecting no money, Laban “kisses him” to discover whether he is concealing precious gems in his mouth.
Jacob observes Laban’s transparent disappointment and says to him: What do you think, that I have come with money? I have come with nothing other than words, “and he told Laban all of these words [devarim]!”
Genesis Rabbah 70:19
Deception in the Family
“Laban invites all of the local people and makes a feast.
In the evening he delivers his daughter Leah instead of Rachel,
and Jacob cohabits with her…
In the morning: Behold it is Leah!”
(Genesis 29:22-25a)
First Laban invited the townspeople to explain his proposal: You know that before this tsaddik came into our midst, we were short of water. But his presence has now blessed us with an abundance! They said to him: Then how do you want to take advantage of him? He said to them: If you agree, I could deceive him and give him Leah. What would be the advantage to us? they asked. He loves my other daughter Rachel very much, said Laban, and has already worked seven years for her. Wouldn’t you like him to stay here for another seven years, working for me, but providing the common benefit of his blessing for you as well? Do as you have proposed! they agreed.
But first, said Laban, you must give me your pledges (security) that none of you will disclose our plan. Thereupon they paid him their pledges. Laban then used the collateral they provided him to purchase wine, oil and meat, for the wedding feast. So there you have it, why he was called Laban the Aramean [Arami]: because he deceived [rimah] his fellow townsfolk! And all of that day they sang his praises—and into the evening. Why so much? he asked them. In honor of your merit and your kindness for securing an abundance of water for another seven years! “Haleeyah! Haleeyah!” they shouted as tribute in their native language but playing on the name of their presumed benefactor’s daughter: “Hee Leah! Hee Leah!” “It is Leah! It is Leah!” and enjoying Jacob’s ignorance of what they were actually saying.
As night fell, they dimmed the lights in the wedding chamber. When Jacob asked them why, they said to him: What do you think, that we are immodest like you? All that night, he called her, “Rachel,” and to that name she responded, but “in the morning, behold it was Leah!” He said to her, “You are a deceiver, daughter of a deceiver!” Did I not call you “Rachel” all through the night, and you answered me as if you were?! Is there a teacher, she responded, who has no students? Didn’t your father call you “Esau,” and you answered him as if you were?!
Genesis Rabbah 70:20
The Meaning of Another Seven Years
“Jacob cohabits also with Rachel…
then he labors with Laban
for yet another seven years.”
(Genesis 29:30)
Said Rabbi Judah son of Rabbi Simon: It is the way of the world that a worker will work diligently for his employer for two, maybe three hours, at the most. Then he sloughs off. But here, in the case of Jacob, just as he worked with full faithfulness for all of the first seven years, so did he for the next seven years. That is the meaning of “yet” another seven years!
“Jacob fled to the country of Aram;
Israel served for one wife,
and then for another wife he guarded flocks.”
(Hosea 12:13)
Said Rabbi Yochanan: The Prophet wishes to inspire his people through the example of Jacob their Father. Just as Jacob your Father was indentured to Laban before he married his wife (“Israel served for one wife”), so also even after he married his wife he was indentured to Laban (“and then for another wife he guarded flocks”). You also: Before your redeemer (messiah) was born, you were enslaved (in idolatry), but now, even after your redeemer has been born (unrecognized), you (like Jacob) are still in exile, you by your own idolatry. But, like your father Jacob, you can escape, you by casting off your idols and recognizing your redeemer!
Talmud Sanhedrin 63b
What was their sin of idolatry?
“They continue to sin,
making molten images
out of their silver,
idols according to
their own thinking,
saying:
Sacrifice is the worship of calves!”
(Literally,” Let the sacrificers of man kiss calves!”)
(Hosea 13:2)
Rabbi Isaac taught: What is the meaning of “idols according to their own thinking?” Everyone made an image of whatever he deemed worthy of worship and placed it in his purse. Then, whenever he thought he needed it, he would withdraw it, hug it, and kiss it!
What of “Let the sacrificers of man kiss calves?”
This is the explanation of Rabbi Isaac of the School of Rabbi Ami: The idolatrous ministers envied the wealthy. So they all but starved the calves, which were the object of their idolatry, and allowed them to feed only in front of icons of the wealthy. In that way the calves developed an appetite for the wealthy and would go after them and rub against them (the “calves” would “kiss” them). The ministers would then tell the wealthy that they were the favors of idolatry in order to induce them to be sacrificers of themselves (“sacrificers of man”)!
But Rava said that, in order to support the explanation of Rabbi Isaac of the School of Rabbi Ami, the verse would have been written, “The calves would kiss to sacrifice man!” Since it actually is written, “Let the sacrificers of man kiss the calves,” it actually means that whoever sacrifices his son for the sake of idolatry is told that in return for the great gift that he has sacrificed to the calf, he may come and kiss the calf!
Genesis Rabbah 70:11-12,15; 71:2
Rachel
“As Jacob is speaking with them,
the shepherdess Rachel appears.”
(Genesis 29:9)
Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel observed: See what a difference there was between the surroundings here of Rachel and the surroundings later of the daughters of Jethro. Even though Jethro’s daughters were seven in number, when they came to the well together in order to water their flock, the other shepherds stood in their way until Moses rescued them and watered their animals (Exodus 2:16-17). But here, Rachel came alone, yet no one harassed her.
“The angel of the Eternal
encamps around those who fear Him,
and delivers them.”
(Psalms 34:8)
Interpret:
The angel of the Eternal delivers those who encamp around those who fear Him;
that is to say, He protects those who are near to His devoted ones,
as Rachel was uniquely destined to be close to His devoted one Jacob!
(Uniquely, it would appear, in contradistinction to Tsipporah,
one of Jethro’s seven daughters,
who was destined to be the wife of Moses.)
“Jacob kisses Rachel and breaks into tears.”
(Genesis 29:11)
Why did Jacob weep?
He became aware of the difference between his own suit and that of his father’s for his mother: When his grandfather Abraham’s servant went to bring back Rebecca, “he took ten camels and all of the bounty of his master in his hand” (Genesis 24:10)—while I have not even one ring or one bracelet for Rachel!
Another answer: Jacob wept because he foresaw that Rachel would not be buried with him at Machpelah (cf. Genesis 35:16-20). Such did Rachel herself foresee when she said to Leah, in consideration of Reuben’s love mandrakes, “Jacob will sleep with you tonight” (Genesis 30:15): With you will Jacob lie in the grave; with me he will not!
“The Eternal, observing that Leah is unloved, opens her womb,
while Rachel is barren [akarah].”
(Genesis 29:31)
This notice of Rachel’s barrenness seems premature, hence:
Rabbi Isaac said: Rachel was the root [ikar] of the household, as we interpret, “…while Rachel is chief [ikkarah]!”
Rabbi Abba bar Kahana emphasized the point: Most of the dependents were of Leah; nonetheless, Rachel was considered the root [ikar]: “…while Rachel is chief [akarah],” Rachel was chief [ikar] of the household!
In a Baraitha: Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai pointed out that all things depended upon Rachel—“Would Jacob have gone to Laban were it not for me?!” (Genesis Rabbah 71:8)—So may she be considered the Mother of All Israel, as the Prophet implied: “Thus says the Eternal: A voice is heard in Ramah…Rachel weeping for her children…” (Jeremiah 31:14)! The same may be said of her son, “May the Eternal God of Hosts be gracious to the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:15): All of Israel are meant by the name of Joseph (Midrash Psalms 3:3)! Not only of her son but also of her grandson, “Thus says the Eternal…Is not Ephraim My beloved son” (Jeremiah 31:19): Rabbi Pinchas explained that before his death Jacob declared that “the most distinguished of my sons will be called by your name Ephraim, such as Samuel Ephrathite (cf. I Samuel 1:1) and David Ephrathite (I Samuel 17:12)” (Leviticus Rabbah 2:3)!
“Boaz asks all of the people at the court,
along with the elders, to serve as witnesses,
and they all assent along with the wish,
‘that the Eternal grant that the woman who is entering your house
shall be like Rachel and Leah, who built the House of Israel…’”
(Ruth 4:11)
Rashi: Although those people were of the Tribe of Judah and of the Children of Leah, they acknowledged that Rachel was the Chief [Ikkarah] of the House and therefore put “Rachel” before “Leah.”
“Laban had two daughters:
Leah, the older [gedolah],
and Rachel, the younger [ketannah].”
(Genesis 29:16)
Literally:
“…Leah the greater [gedolah]
and Rachel the lesser [ketannah].”
Greater were the gifts of Leah—
Priesthood through her son Levi:
“The Eternal has chosen Zion,
desiring it for His Temple:
‘This is My Resting-place forever!’”
(Psalms 132:13-14a)
Kingship through her son Judah:
“The Eternal, God of Israel,
has given kingship to David
over Israel forever,
to him and to his sons,
as a covenant of salt!”
(II Chronicles 13:5)
Lesser were the gifts of Rachel—
Saul through her son Benjamin:
“Samuel said to Saul:
Because you have rejected
the Word of the Eternal,
He has rejected you
from being king!”
(I Samuel 15:23b)
Shiloh in the Territory of Ephraim,
son of her son Joseph:
“The Eternal despised the Tent of Joseph…”
(Psalms 78:67a; cf. I Samuel 2:12ff.)
Kings from the Tribe of Ephraim
and others of the northern Ten Tribes:
“…and He chose not the Tribe of Ephraim!”
(Psalms 78:67b)
—
“But He chose the Tribe of Judah,
the Mountain of Zion which He loved,
and He built His Sanctuary as The Heights,
like the earth which He established forever.
And He chose David His servant,
who was shepherding sheep,
to be shepherd over Jacob His people
and over Israel His possession.”
(Psalms 78:68-71)
SHABBAT SHALOM!
Sedra Summary 