VayetzeiBereshit (genesis)

Jacob left Beersheba and went to Charan.

Jacob’s Dream
On the way, he came upon the place, Mount Moriah. He spent the night there because the sun had set. He took some stones of that place and placed them around his body and head and then lay down in that place to sleep.

He had a dream: he beheld a ladder standing firmly on the ground and sloping upward, its top reaching up toward heaven. The angels of God who had accompanied him on his trip thus far were ascending it back toward heaven, for they were not permitted to leave the Land of Israel, and other angels, who were designated to accompany him while he was outside the Land of Israel, were descending it.

And behold, GOD was standing over him, to guard him during his sojourn in Charan. He said, “I am GOD, God of Abraham your forebear, and God of Isaac.” He miraculously contracted the entire Land of Israel into the four square cubits under Jacob’s body, and told him, “I told Abraham to walk through the land, but to you I promise that conquering it will be even easier than walking through it – as effortless as lying down. This is how I will give the land upon which you are lying to you and your descendants.

Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and you will proliferate to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south, and all the families on earth will be blessed through you and through your descendants.

Behold, you do not need to fear Esau or Laban, for I am with you, I will protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not neglect you by not providing you with food and clothing until I have fulfilled what I have promised Abraham concerning you. For I intend to fulfill all the promises I made to Abraham through you and not through your brother Esau, including My promise that Abraham’s children will all remain true to their heritage. Esau’s inheritance from Abraham will consist solely of the territory promised him.”

Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “GOD is truly present in this place, yet I was not aware of it. Had I known that this was a holy place, I would not have slept here.”

He became afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than Mount Moriah, the future site of the House of God. And thus, this is the gateway through which prayer ascends to heaven, passing through the heavenly Temple, which is figuratively situated ‘above’ the site of the physical Temple,” meaning that the site of the future Temple is the earthly locale most receptive to the spiritual consciousness of the higher worlds.

Jacob rose early in the morning, took the stone that he had placed under his head, and set it up as a monument. He then poured oil on the top of it, consecrating it as an altar.

This place was already known as Bethel, but in light of the revelation he had just received, Jacob ratified this name. He named that place again Bethel [“House of God”], although the original name of the town was Luz.

Jacob’s Vow
Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me; and will protect me physically on this journey that I am undertaking; and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear;

and will protect me spiritually from Laban’s evil influence so that I will be able to return to my father’s house untainted by sin; and if GOD will be both my God and the God of the children I will father in Laban’s house, in that they all remain true to their heritage and not rebel as did some of my grandfather Abraham’s and one of my father Isaac’s children – as He has promised me all this –

then this stone that I have set up as a monument will become a house of God. I will offer up sacrifices on it. And,” addressing God directly, he said, “I will set aside for You a tenth of everything that You give me, as my forebears did.”

God’s explicit promise of protection dispelled Jacob’s previous feelings of apprehensiveness and trepidation. Light of foot, Jacob enthusiastically and optimistically set out for the land of the people of the east. When he reached the bank of the Jordan River, he put his staff into the water, causing it to miraculously split for him and allowing him to cross over to the opposite bank.

Jacob Arrives in Charan
When he reached Aram Naharayim, he looked, and there before his eyes was a well in a field, and three flocks were lying there beside it, for the local shepherds watered the flocks from that well. The boulder covering the opening of the well was huge.

Every day, when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would together roll the boulder off the opening of the well and water the flocks, and then replace the boulder over the opening of the well. But Jacob did not know that this was how the shepherds watered their sheep.

Jacob asked them, “My brothers, where are you from?” and they replied, “We are from Charan.”

He asked them, “Do you know Laban, the grandson of Nachor?” and they replied, “We know him.”

He asked them, “Is he well?” and they replied, “He is well – and here is his daughter Rachel, approaching with the flocks.” Laban would send his daughters to tend his flocks because he had no sons to do so.

When Jacob saw the shepherds sitting by idly, he assumed they had finished pasturing their flocks. He said to them, “Look, it is still broad daylight. If you are day-laborers, you have not yet put in a full day’s work. And even if these are your own flocks, it is still not yet time to round up the livestock and take them home. If they need to drink, water the flocks and go off and pasture them.”

They replied, “We cannot, because the boulder covering the well is too heavy for us to move. We have to wait until all the flocks are rounded up and all the shepherds can roll the boulder off the opening of the well together. Only then can we water the animals.”

Jacob Meets Rachel
He was still speaking with them when Rachel arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherdess.

When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and the flocks of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob stepped forward and effortlessly rolled the boulder off the opening of the well and watered the flocks of Laban, his mother’s brother.

Then Jacob kissed his cousin Rachel. He burst out crying.

Seeing that she was perplexed by his unusual behavior, Jacob told Rachel that he was both her father’s relative as well as Rebecca’s son. When he told her that his purpose in coming was to marry her, Rachel apprised him of the fact that her father was a deceiver and would no doubt try to trick him out of marrying her. Jacob responded that if Laban would try to deceive him, he would prove that he was her father’s equal in deception, but if Laban would treat him honestly, he would act as Rebecca’s son and also behave honestly. Since Rachel’s mother was no longer alive, she ran and told only her father of Jacob’s arrival.

When Laban heard the news of the arrival of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to greet him – not because of any love for Jacob, but because he recalled how Eliezer had come years before laden with riches. When he saw that Jacob had arrived empty-handed, he embraced him, trying to feel around for gold coins in his pockets. When he saw that he had none, he then kissed him, trying to ascertain if he perhaps had pearls in his mouth. When he saw he had no pearls, either, Laban nevertheless brought him home, and Jacob told Laban of all these events: how he was forced to flee his brother and give up all his wealth on the way. He did not mention that he had been sent to marry one of his daughters.

Laban said to him, “If that be the case, I have no reason to welcome you into my home other than the fact that you are truly my own flesh and blood. You may stay with me for a month if you tend my flocks.” So Jacob stayed with him for a month and tended his flocks.

Laban then said to Jacob, “Just because you are my close relative, does it mean that you must work for me for free?! Tell me what your wages should be.”

Now Laban had two twin daughters. The name of the older one, who had emerged from the womb first, was Leah, and the name of the younger one was Rachel. He also had two additional daughters, Bilhah and Zilpah, whom he had fathered by his concubine and whom he kept as bondwomen.

Ever since Leah and Rachel were born, people used to say, “Laban has two daughters and Rebecca has two sons: the older daughter is destined for the older son and the younger daughter for the younger son.” Leah, thinking that she was destined to become one of Esau’s wives, cried constantly. Her eyes were therefore swollen and tender, while Rachel was a woman of beautiful facial features and complexion.

Jacob Works for Seven Years
Jacob loved Rachel, and he said to Laban, “I will work for you for seven years – the maximum amount of time my mother stipulated that I can stay here – for Rachel. Now, do not try to deceive me by giving me some other girl named Rachel; I mean your daughter. Furthermore, do not try to deceive me by changing your daughter Leah’s name to Rachel; I mean your younger daughter.” Nevertheless, despite having taken these precautions against being deceived, Jacob knew that Laban would still try to deceive him, so he gave Rachel secret signs by which he would be able to distinguish her from her twin sister even in the dark.

Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than give her to another man. Stay with me.”

So Jacob worked seven years for Laban in order to marry Rachel, but in his eyes they seemed a mere few days because of his love for her.

At the end of these seven years, Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my intended wife – for, first of all, the maximum time my mother allowed me to remain here is up, and furthermore, my time to have children might soon be up, since I am already 84 years old – and let me engage in marital relations with her.” Jacob expressed himself so explicitly because his intention was entirely innocent: to father children.

So Laban gathered together all the local people and made a wedding-feast.

Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel
At nightfall, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob. Rachel, realizing that her sister Leah was about to be placed in an embarrassing situation, disclosed to her the secret signs Jacob had given her. Thus, Jacob thought that Leah was Rachel and consummated the marriage with her.

Laban gave his visibly younger bondwoman/daughter Zilpah to his older daughter Leah, to be her bondwoman. He gave the younger bondwoman to Leah in order to reinforce his deception of Jacob, since Jacob would naturally think that Laban would give the older bondwoman to the older daughter and the younger to the younger.

When morning came, behold, Jacob discerned that it was Leah he had married, so he said to Laban, “What have you done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I worked for you? Why did you deceive me?”

Laban replied, “I am not denying you Rachel. It is just that in our region, established practice forbids giving a younger daughter in marriage before the older; it is therefore something that is simply not done here. Therefore, in order to give you Rachel, I had to give you Leah first.

Complete the bridal-celebration week of this one, Leah, and then we will give you that one, Rachel, too, on the following day – in return for the work that you will do for me for another seven years.”

Jacob acquiesced to Laban’s proposal and completed the bridal-celebration week of the daughter whom Laban had called “this one” – Leah – and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

Laban gave his older bondwoman/daughter Bilhah to his younger daughter Rachel, to be her bondwoman.

Jacob thus also married Rachel, and although he loved Leah, he loved Rachel even more than he loved Leah. He then worked for Laban for another seven years. He worked for Laban as faithfully during the second set of seven years as he had done during the first set of seven years, despite the fact that Laban had deceived him.

GOD saw that Jacob loved Rachel so much that Leah felt hated by her husband in comparison. God therefore compensated Leah, who, like her identical twin Rachel, was barren by nature, and miraculously opened her womb, i.e., blessed her with the ability to reproduce, while Rachel remained barren.

Leah’s First Four Sons
Leah conceived and gave birth to a son. She therefore named him Reuben, “for,” she said, “GOD has seen [ra’ah] my humiliation, for now, in the merit of my son’s exceptional qualities, my husband will love me as much as he loves my sister.” A twin sister was born along with Reuben.

She conceived again and gave birth to a son. She said, “Because God heard [shama] that I felt hated, He gave me this one as well,” so she named him Simeon [Shimon]. Two sisters were born along with Simeon.

She conceived again and gave birth to a son, and she said, “This time my husband will become attached [yilaveh] to me, for I have borne him three sons and thereby fulfilled my procreative obligations to him.” Leah foresaw that Jacob would marry four women and eventually father 12 sons, so when she bore him a third son, she assumed that she had fulfilled her equal share of this destiny. God therefore named him Levi. A twin sister was born along with Levi.

She conceived again and gave birth to a son and a twin daughter. She said, “This time I will thank [odeh] GOD for He has allowed me to give birth to more than my natural share of the total number of my husband’s sons,” and she therefore named him Judah [Yehudah]. She then ceased bearing children.

Rachel saw that she had not borne any children to Jacob; Rachel was therefore jealous of her sister’s good deeds. Since the two sisters were otherwise identical in all aspects, Rachel concluded that it was in the merit of Leah’s good deeds that she was blessed with children. She said to Jacob, “Is this how your father behaved when your mother was barren? Didn’t he pray for her to conceive? Give me children, for if not, I will have no perpetuity and it will be as if I am dead.”

Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “How can you compare me to my father? He felt justified in praying to God because he was childless. I, however, have children. He has denied you children, not me! Can I take the place of God, who has denied you the fruit of your womb?”

Bilhah’s Two Sons
So she said, “Learn, then, from your grandfather Abraham’s example. Although he had children with Hagar, he nevertheless still prayed to have children with Sarah.” Jacob replied, “Yes, but he did so only after Sarah demonstrated to God that she was so desperate for children that she was willing to let Abraham marry her bondwoman in the hope that, in this merit, she would also conceive.” Rachel responded, “If that is the only obstacle, then here is my bondwoman Bilhah. Engage in marital relations with her and let her bear you a child, and I will raise her children on my own lap, i.e., as if they were my own, and thus, through the merit of sharing you with her, I, too, will bear children of my own and thereby be built up into a matriarch whose essence will be perpetuated, just like Sarah.”

She gave him her bondwoman Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob engaged in marital relations with her.

Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son and a twin daughter.

Leah’s bondwoman Zilpah once again conceived. When she bore a second son and twin daughter to Jacob,

Leah said, “Now that I have borne yet another son through my bondwoman, I will be praised, for young women will praise [ishru] me on this account,” so she named him Asher.

Reuben was taking a walk during the season of the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field. Even though it was the harvest season, when cut grain is lying in the fields and readily available for the taking, Reuben did not take any, for it did not belong to him. Rather, he took mandrakes that were growing wild and were therefore ownerless. Mandrakes can be made into a potion for female fertility; knowing that his mother wanted to have more children, he brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel, having witnessed this, said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes,” for she also wanted to have children.

She answered her, “Is it not bad enough that you have taken away my husband? Do you have to also take away my son’s mandrakes?” Rachel replied, “Tonight it is my turn to engage in marital relations with Jacob, but since I would rather have those mandrakes, therefore I propose that Jacob lie carnally with you tonight, in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

When Jacob returned from the field at nightfall, Leah went out to greet him before he went to Rachel’s tent and said, “You are to come to me tonight, for I have hired you from Rachel with my son’s mandrakes.” He lay carnally with her that night.

Leah Has Two More Sons
God listened to Leah, i.e., He took note of her efforts to bear Jacob as many sons as possible, and restored her fertility. She conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son together with a twin daughter.

Leah said, “God has granted me my reward [sachar] for having given my bondwoman to my husband,” so she named him Issachar.

Then Leah said, “God has indeed given me a superlative portion in my husband’s household: Now my husband will surely make his chief abode [zevul] with me, for I myself have borne him six sons – the same number that his other three wives will bear him together,” so she named him Zebulun.

Jacob’s Payment
In the year 2199, the 14 years that Jacob had agreed to work for Laban in exchange for Rachel and Leah were up. At the same time, Rebecca’s wet nurse Deborah arrived in Padan Aram, sent by Rebecca to inform Jacob that Esau’s hatred toward him had abated to the extent that it was now safe for him to return to Canaan. Jacob therefore began to think about returning to Canaan, but despite his mother’s reassurances, he was afraid to risk a confrontation with his openly rancorous brother. But when Rachel gave birth to Joseph that same year, Jacob sensed that God would protect him from Esau in the merit of his newborn son’s unique spiritual qualities. Jacob therefore felt confident enough to undertake the journey home, and said to Laban, “Please send me on my way, and I will go to my home and to my land.

Laban asked, “So what should I give you?” Jacob said, “Do not give me anything outright. If you will do this one thing for me, I will continue to pasture your flocks and to tend them:

On that day, Laban also removed the he-goats that were white-ankle-ringed (which Jacob had not mentioned in his proposal) – in addition to all the white-speckled and white-blotched he-goats and all the white-speckled and white-blotched she-goats (which Jacob had mentioned) – in order to make it impossible for Jacob to have his female goats look at them while mating and thereby produce offspring with white markings. In order to make it even harder for Jacob to produce goats with white markings, Laban removed all the auburn sheep with white markings (which Jacob had not mentioned) – in addition to all the solid-auburn sheep (which Jacob had mentioned) – so Jacob could not have his goats look at these sheep while mating. Finally, in order to further reduce the number of newly-born animals that would belong to Jacob, Laban also removed all the robust goats and sheep from those that he left Jacob, i.e., all the goats that were solid black or white-belted, plus the white-ankle-ringed she-goats, and all the sheep that were solid white. He left all the aforementioned animals that he took in the charge of his sons, and left Jacob only the weak and/or sterile white-ankle-ringed, white-belted, and solid black goats; and the weak and/or sterile solid-white sheep.

Laban had taken all the sheep and goats with white markings except for the weak ankle-ringed female goats and the weak white-belted goats, which he had left in Jacob’s care. To these Jacob added the white-marked sheep he had produced. Jacob segregated these white-marked sheep. He had the rest of the goat-flock face the white-ankle-ringed and otherwise white-marked sheep and goats, so they would produce offspring with white markings. And he could now have his sheep face all the auburn sheep among Laban’s flock that he produced. He made himself separate herds for this purpose and did not let them intermingle with the rest of Laban’s flocks.

In this way God redeemed your father’s livestock from him and gave them to me.

It happened just recently that, when your father told me that my payment from among the goats would be all those that were ankle-ringed, white-speckled, and white-belted, and then he removed all the he-goats of these types from the herd under my care, that I looked up during the mating season of the flocks and beheld in a dream that the bucks mounting the she-goats were in fact ankle-ringed, white-speckled, and white-belted. God sent an angel to bring these he-goats back to the herd under my care.

The next morning, Laban overtook Jacob’s entourage. Jacob had already pitched his tent on the mountain, and Laban along with his kinsmen also set up his camp on Mount Gilead.

Laban’s Accusations
Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You duped me and led my daughters away like prisoners of war!

Why did you flee surreptitiously, deceiving me and telling me nothing? Why, had you told me you wanted to leave, I would have sent you off with rejoicing and songs, with drum and with lyre!

You did not even let me kiss my grandsons and daughters. You have now acted foolishly and will suffer the consequences.

It is within my power to do you harm, and I actually did intend to kill you and your whole family, but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, ‘Beware of speaking with Jacob, either with good or bad intent.’

Why is it that you departed this way now? I cannot fathom this, because although you longed continuously over the last six years for your father’s home, nevertheless you never before attempted to flee. You always discussed the situation with me and I explained to you why it was worth your while to stay with me. And you have done well; I have made you very wealthy. And why did you steal my gods?”

Jacob’s Defense
Jacob responded to Laban’s questions in the order in which they were posed to him. He said to Laban, “I fled because I was afraid, for I thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force.

As for your idols, anyone among my household members with whom you find your gods will not live! In the presence of our kinsmen, identify for yourself whatever of yours is in my possession and take it back.” Jacob did not realize that Rachel had stolen them; it was on account of Jacob’s inadvertent curse that Rachel died on the journey.

So Laban entered Rachel’s – i.e., Jacob’s – tent first, since she was his primary wife – and only after that did he enter Leah’s tent. He then searched Rachel’s tent a second time. Finally, he searched the tents of the two bondwomen, but he found nothing. The reason he went back into Rachel’s tent to search it again when he left Leah’s tent was because he knew Rachel to be a rummager, and he suspected her of having stolen his idols.

Now Rachel had taken the idols and placed them inside the camel’s saddle, and sat on them, so when Laban rummaged through the entire tent, he found nothing.

She said to her father, “Let my lord not be upset that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” He searched, but did not find the idols.

Jacob Rebukes Laban
Jacob was angered, and he took up his grievance with Laban. Jacob spoke up and said to Laban, “What is my crime and what is my guilt, that you have hotly pursued me?

Look, you rummaged through all my belongings – what did you find of all your household objects? Place it here, in front of my kinsmen and yours, and let them adjudicate the dispute between the two of us!

During these 20 years that I have been with you, your ewes and she-goats never miscarried, nor did I ever eat a ram or anything else from your flocks.

I never brought you an animal maimed by a wild beast; even though I was not required to absorb its loss, I would bear its loss because you would unfairly exact its value from my hand. Furthermore, I absorbed the loss of every stolen animal, whether it was stolen by day or by night.

This is how I existed: I was consumed by day by scorching heat and at night by frost, and sleep deserted my eyes.

It is now 20 years that I have been in your household – I worked for you 14 years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks – and you changed the conditions of my payment, that is, the type of animals I was to receive, 100 times.

If the God of my father – who is the God of Abraham and the object of Isaac’s dread – had not been with me, you would now have sent me off empty-handed! But God saw my plight and the toil of my hands, and He rebuked you last night.” Jacob did not refer to God as “the God of Isaac,” for Isaac was still alive, and God does not usually refer to Himself as “the God of” a person during his lifetime.

Laban responded and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my grandchildren, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine! As to my daughters, how could I do anything injurious to them today, or to the children they have borne?

Jacob’s Pact with Laban
So come now, let us make a covenant, I and you, and may God be a witness between me and you.”

Jacob then took a stone and erected it as a monument.

Jacob said to his kinsmen – his sons – “Gather stones,” so they took stones and formed a mound, and they ate there on the mound.

Laban named it Yegar Sahaduta [Aramaic for “Mound of Testimony”], and Jacob named it Gal-Ed [Hebrew for the same].

Laban said, “This mound will be a witness between you and me today.” It was therefore named Gal-Ed,

and also The Mitzpah [“the Lookout”], for Laban had said, “May GOD keep watch between me and you when we are out of each other’s sight and cannot observe each other, that we not violate our covenant.

If you ill-treat my daughters by refusing them their conjugal rights, or marry other women in addition to my daughters – though there may be no one else present observing us, be aware that God is a witness between me and you.”

Even though he had merely suggested that they make a covenant but had not actually participated in erecting the monument, Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this mound, and here is the monument that I have erected between me and you.

This mound will be a witness, i.e., a reminder, and the monument will be a witness, that I will not cross over to you beyond this mound, and that you will not cross over to me beyond this mound and this pillar, with hostile intent. We may, however, cross beyond it for business purposes.

May the God of your grandfather Abraham, the gods of my grandfather Nachor, and the gods of Abraham’s and Nachor’s father Terach, judge between us.” Jacob swore solely by God, the object of his father Isaac’s dread.

Jacob then slaughtered animals on the mountain for a celebratory feast and invited Laban and his entourage, who were now his allies, to eat a meal together. Jacob slaughtered the animals himself in order to adhere to the Torah’s laws of kosher slaughter. They had a meal and spent the night on the mountain.

Laban arose early in the morning, kissed his grandsons and his daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned to his home.

Jacob continued on his way, and angels of God who were stationed in the Land of Israel went out to greet him and escort him back. Since their mission was to bring him into the Land of Israel, they were permitted by God to leave its borders for this purpose and replace the angels that had been accompanying him until then.

When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s encampment,” and he named that place Machanayim [“Twin Camps”].