Cary Hillebrand takes a look at Parashat Vayetze

Parashat Vayetze

פרשת ויצא

בראשית Genesis 28:10 to 32:3

Chapter 28, verses 10 through 22 – Jacob flees to seek refuge with Leban; has a strange dream

Jacob began his flight or exile from his parents’ home, seeking refuge with the dubious character Leban. Coming upon a “place” (מקום, otherwise unnamed), Jacob lies down for the night. What do you make of his strange dream of a “stairway” (or rather ramp or ladder – סלם) to heaven and angels going up and down? This incident is the subject of numerous Midrashic interpretations. Note that the angels do not communicate with Jacob; they bear no message. If you find yourself perplexed by this strange dream, you are in good company. Trying to interpret it has confounded Rabbinic commentators through the ages.

Jacob names the place Bethel (בית אל – House of G-d). Jacob makes a strange vow: If G-d will protect him during his long journey and provide for his sustenance, then he will accept יהוה as his personal G-d (והיה יהוה לי לאלוקי). Is Jacob the first agnostic? Jacob’s insecurity and need for assurance is understandable, as he is on the run, a fugitive, perhaps the first time in his life where he is truly alone, without the comfort and material support of his family.

What do you make of Jacob’s apparent chutzpah, charging G-d to first “deliver the goods” and only then will he have faith? Personally, I prefer the conditional faith of Jacob to the unconditional faith of Abraham that led to the Akeda (עקידה sacrifice of Isaac).

Further, Jacob vows to dedicate a tithe (tenth – עשר אעשרנו לך) of all that he is given to G-d.

Chapter 29, verses 1 through 8 – Jacob arrives at the encampment of Laban

Jacob arrives at a well near Laban’s camp. He tries to assume command of the local herdsmen (“Water the flock and take them to pasture”). The nerve of that guy! He is a stranger in a strange place, essentially a refugee or a fugitive, and he presumes that he can assume charge. Perhaps his social standing and his family’s wealth, even in his present status as a fugitive on the run, gives him a feeling of entitlement.

Verses 9 through 30 – Jacob falls for Rachel and works to win her; Jacob the deceiver is deceived

Laban has two daughters. The older Leah has “soft” eyes (עיני לאה רכות). Possibly the intent is weak eyesight. The younger Rachel is beautiful. Guess which one Jacob falls for.

By rolling the heavy stone off the well, Jacob was upending local practice to control use of a precious resource and keep the peace among herders. This to impress Rachel that he is big and strong. Or perhaps he did not believe that the rules applied to him.

Jacob worked seven years for Laban to earn Rachel. At the wedding, Leban switches the older Leah in place of Rachel. Jacob possibly was too drunk at the wedding feast to notice the switch. Jacob the deceiver is deceived! Is this poetic justice or what? I love it! As this is a polygamous society, Jacob does also get Rachel, but he will have to agree to work another seven years for her. He openly prefers Rachel over Leah, so we see trouble and jealousy ahead. While the Torah accepts polygamy, marrying sisters in this fashion will be later forbidden in Leviticus.

Perhaps Jacob was so easily deceived by Laban because he didn’t bother to learn the local custom that the older daughter must be married before the younger can be permitted to, or perhaps, as in the incident at the well, he didn’t believe that the local rules and customs applied to him. What is Rachel’s part in the ruse? Was she kept in the dark, perhaps restrained, or was she a willing accomplice? The Torah is silent here. There is a midrash that upon discovering this ruse, Jacob angrily said to Leah: “You are a deceiver and the daughter of a deceiver!” to which she responded “Is there a teacher without pupils? … Didn’t your father call you Esau, and you answered him! So did you call me Rachel, and I answered you!” 

Verses 31 through 35; Chapter 29, verses 1 through 24 – Rivalry among Jacob’s wives

The rivalry between the two wives is intense. They see childbearing as the way to Jacob’s heart and affection. To supplement their reluctant wombs, Rachel and Leah, each, in turn, offers Jacob her maidservant (Bilha and Zilpah respectively) to be his concubine, a sort of proxy and both bear him additional children.

The era of the patriarchs is coming to an end, and these children will grow into eleven of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob’s twelfth and last son will be born later (see next week’s parashah).

Verses 25 through 43 – Jacob prepares to return home; outsmarts Leban

Jacob is prepared to return to his home with his wives and children. As for his wages, he requests every speckled and spotted animal in the flock (apparently, they were less valuable). Leban agrees but is still up to his old tricks, although Jacob is on to him. Jacob’s method to assure spotted offspring by visual stimulation may have seemed logical to earlier generations of readers. We, of the modern scientific mind, of course, know that breeding being influenced by visual stimulation is biologically impossible. A traditional commentator may argue that this was a miracle.

Chapter 31, verses 1 through 21 – Jacob departs; Rachel steals her father’s idols

Laban realizes that he has been had. His sons are also resentful that Jacob has taken what they see as their inheritance. Jacob knows that it is time to get out of Dodge surreptitiously and put distance between him and Leban. To Rachel and Leah, Jacob attributes his (unscientific) apparent trickery to breed speckled sheep to G-d’s will.

Before departing, why did Rachel steal Leban’s idols? Perhaps she still ascribed power to these idols and wanted to bring them along for protection on the long and hazardous journey. Alternatively, perhaps Rachel wanted the idols as a souvenir or remembrance of her father’s house. Of course, Leban still believed that these idols offered him protection, and so was bereft and understandably incensed at finding them stolen. A midrash holds that Rachel was punished for stealing the idols by not being buried in the family burial cave in Hebron along with the rest of the generation of patriarchs and their wives (as we shall see in next week’s parashah – see Chapter 35, verses 16 through 20).

Verses 22 through 54; Chapter 31, verses 1 through 3 – Laban catches up with Jacob with hostile intent; they part peacefully

Jacob had a three-day head start when Laban and his entourage set out in pursuit, catching up with him in Gilead. Being forewarned by G-d not to harm Jacob, Laban only berates him and wants his idols back.

Jacob, not knowing that the culprit is his favored Rachel, permits Laban to search his tents, promising corporal punishment to the thief if caught. Rachel also shows herself to be a trickster, putting the idols under a cushion, sitting on them, and explaining that she cannot rise due to her period.

When Laban turns up empty-handed, Jacob pushes his advantage and gives Laban a tongue lashing, detailing all his grievances. Laban gives in and invokes G-d as a witness that Jacob would not mistreat his daughters, nor take other wives. The stone mound that they assembled is declared a sort of demarcation, neither side to cross with hostile intent. Laban calls upon both the “Gd of Abraham” and the “god of Nahor” (brother of Abraham; father of Laban) to judge between them. This may imply that Laban believed that each god had a territorial domain. In response, Jabob demurs and swears by “fear of his father Isaac” (וישבע יעקב בפחד אביו יצחק).

Note that while Jacob called the monument Gal-ed (גלעד – memorial in contemporary Hebrew), Laban called the monument Yegar-sahaduthga (“the mound is witness” – יגר שהדותא), the only Aramaic phrase in the Torah.