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Parashat Vayeitzei - Bereshit (Genesis) 28:10-32:3
This parasha begins with the story of Jacob’s ladder. Jacob falls spends the night during his travels to Haran, and has an incredible dream. A ladder reached from the earth to the heavens and angels of God were ascending and descending this ladder. God stands over him, and tells him that the land Jacob is laying on will be given to his descendants, and promises to guard Jacob. When he awakes, Jacob exclaims, "Surely God is in this place and I did not know!"
On his journey, Jacob meets Rachel, the daughter of Laban (Jacob’s uncle). Laban welcomes Jacob into his household. Laban has two daughters, Rachel and Leah. The Torah says that Rachel, the younger, was beautiful of form and appearance, while Leah, the elder, had tender eyes. After a month, Laban suggests that Jacob work for wages. They agree that Jacob will work for seven years in order to marry Rachel, whom he loves. After seven years, Laban provides a feast for the wedding, but gives to Jacob his daughter Leah. In the morning, Jacob realizes he has married Leah, and is angry with Laban, who responds that he must marry off the elder before the younger. Laban agrees to give Rachel to Jacob for another seven years of work.
Jacob loved Rachel. God saw that Leah was unloved, and so opened her womb, but Rachel remained barren. Leah gives birth to six sons, whom she believes will make her husband love her. Rachel, envious of her sister and frustrated, gives her maidservant to Jacob as a wife, who gives birth to two sons. Leah’s maidservant also bears two sons, and Leah gives birth to a daughter, Dinah. Finally, God remembers Rachel and she gives birth to a son, Joseph.
Jacob decides to leave Laban’s land and continue on to his own. Laban and Jacob determine how to split their flocks, and Jacob, the tender of the flocks, mates the sheep intentionally and prospers. Jacob gathers his family one day while Laban is shearing his sheep, and they flee. Rachel, before leaving, steals her father’s teraphim (idols), and hides them in her camel’s packsaddle, which she sits atop. Laban pursues them, angry that the family left in haste, and that his idol is missing. He searches everywhere, but because of Rachel’s cleverness, he doesn’t find it.
Laban and Jacob make an agreement to go separate ways, and build a monument to mark the place. "The monument shall be witness that I may not cross over to you past his monument, nor may you cross over to me past this mount," (Gen. 31:52). They feast, and in the morning, Laban returns back to his home and Jacob continues on his way, accompanied by angels. |
