Torah Stories By Hannah Parasha  Vayetze

In this week’s Parasha we read how Ya’akov left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran.  He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set.  Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.  He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of G-d were going up and down on it.  And HaShem was standing beside him and he said, “I am HaShem, the G-d of your father Avraham and the G-d of Yitzchak: the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and your offspring.  Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.  All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants.  Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Ya’akov awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely HaShem is present in this place, and I did not know it!”  Shaken, he said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of G-d, and that is the gateway to heaven.”  Early in the morning, Ya’akov took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.  He named that site Bethel; but previously the name of the city had been Luz.

Ya’akov then made a vow, saying, “If G-d remains with me, if He protects me on this journey that I am making, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safe to my father’s house – HaShem shall be my G-d.  And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall be G-d’s abode; and of all that you give me, I will set aside a tithe for you.”

Ya’akov resumed his journey and came to the land of the Easterners.  There before his eyes was a well in the open.  Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for the flocks were watered from that well.  The stone on the mouth of the well was large.  When all the flocks were gathered there, the stone would be rolled from the mouth of the well and the sheep watered, then the stone would be put back in its place on the mouth of the well.

Ya’akov said to them,  “my friends, where are you from?”  And they said, “We are from Haran.”  He said, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “Yes, we do.”  He continued, “Is he well?” They answered, “Yes, he is, and there is his daughter Rachel, coming with the flock.”  He said, “It is still broad daylight, too early to round up the animals; water the flock and put them to pasture.”  But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are rounded up; then the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well and we water the sheep.”

While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s flock; for she was a shepherdess.  And when Ya’akov saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, Ya’akov went up and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of his uncle Laban.  Then Ya’akov kissed Rachel, and broke into tears.  Ya’akov told Rachel that he was her father’s nephew, that he was Rivkah’s son; and she ran and told her father.  On hearing the news of his sister’s son Ya’akov, Laban ran to greet him; he embraced him and kissed him, and took him into his house.  He told Laban all that had happened, and Laban said to him, “You are truly my bone and flesh.”

When he had stayed with him a month’s time, Laban said to Ya’akov, “Just because you are family, should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”  Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older one was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.  Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.  Ya’akov loved Rachel; so he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”  Laban said, “Better that I give her to you than that I should give her to an outsider.  Stay with me.”  So Ya’akov served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.

Then Ya’akov said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is fulfilled.”  And Laban gathered all the people of the place and made a feast.  When evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him.  Laban had given his maidservant Zilpah to Leah as her maid. When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me?  I was in your service for Rachel! Why did you deceive me?”  Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the older.  Wait until the bridal week of this one is over and we will give you that one too, provided you serve me another seven years.”

Ya’akov did so; he waited out the bridal week of the one, and then he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife. – Laban gave his maidservant Bilhah to his daughter as her maid. – And Ya’akov loved Rachel, indeed, he loved her more than Leah.  And he served him another seven years.

HaShem saw that Leah was unloved and He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.  Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben; for she declared, “It means: ‘HaShem has seen my affliction,’ it also means: ‘Now my husband will love me.’”  She conceived again and gave birth to a son and declared, “This is because HaShem heard that I was unloved and has given me this one also,” so she named him Shimeon.  Again she conceived and gave birth to a son and declared, “This time my husband will become attached to me, for I have given him three sons.”  Therefore he was named Levi.  She conceived again and gave birth to a son, and declared, “This time I will praise HaShem.” Therefore she  named him Yehudah.  Then she stopped bearing.

When Rachel saw that she had borne Ya’akov no children, she became envious of her sister, and Rachel said to Ya’akov, “Give me children or I shall die.”  Ya’akov was angry with Rachel and said, “Can I take the place of G-d, who has denied you fruit of the womb?”  She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah.  Let her bear children so that through her I too may have children.” So she gave him her maid Bilhah as concubine. Bilhah conceived and gave Ya’akov a son. And Rachel said, “G-d has vindicated me; indeed, He has heard my plea and given me a son.”  Therefore she named him Dan. Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and gave Ya’akov a second son. And Rachel said, “A fateful contest I waged with my sister; yes, and I have prevailed.”  So she named him Naphtali. 

When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Ya’akov as a concubine.  And when Leah’s maid gave birth to a son, Leah said, “What luck!” So she named him Gad.  When Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Ya’akov a second son, Leah declared, “What fortune!” meaning, “Women will consider me fortunate.”  So she named him Asher.

Once, at the time of the wheat harvest, Reuben came upon some mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah.  Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”  But she said to her, “Was it not enough for you to take away my husband, that you would also take my son’s mandrakes?”  Rachel replied, “I promise, he shall lie with you tonight, in return for your son’s mandrakes.”  When Ya’akov came home from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You are to sleep with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”  And he lay with her that night.  G-d listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore him a fifth son.  And Leah said, G-d has given me my reward for having given my maid to my husband.”  So she named him Issachar.  When Leah conceived again and bore Ya’akov a sixth son, Leah said, “G-d has given me a choice gift;  this time my husband will exalt me, for I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.  Last, she bore him a daughter, and she named her Dinah.

Now G-d remembered Rachel; G-d listened to her and opened her womb.  She conceived and gave birth to a son, and said, “G-d has taken away my disgrace.”  So she named him Yosef, which is to say, “May HaShem add another son for me.” 

After Rachel had given birth to Yosef, Ya’akov said to Laban, “Give me leave to go back to my own homeland.  Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you , that I may go; for well you know what services I have rendered you.”  But Laban said to him, “If you will indulge me, I have learned by divination that HaShem has blessed me on your account.” And he continued, “Name the wages due from me, and I will pay you.” But he said, “You know well how I have served you and how your livestock has fared with me. For the little you had before I came has grown to much, since HaShem has blessed you wherever I turned.  And now, when shall I make provision for my own household?”  He said, “What shall I pay you?” And Ya’akov said, “Pay me nothing!  If you will do this thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flocks: Let me pass through your whole flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted animal – every dark coloured sheep and every spotted and speckled goat.  Such shall be my wages.  In the future when you go over my wages, let my honesty toward you testify for me: If there are among my goats any that are not speckled or spotted or any sheep that are not dark coloured, they got there by theft.”  And Laban said, “Very well, let it be as you say.”

But that same day he removed the streaked and the spotted he-goats – every one that had white on it -  and all the dark-coloured sheep, and left them in the charge of his sons.  And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Ya’akov,  while Ya’akov was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flock.

Ya’akov then got fresh shoots of poplar, and of almond and plane, and peeled white stripes in  them, laying bare the white of the shoots.  The rods that he had peeled he set up in front of the goats in the troughs, the water receptacles, that the goats came to drink from.  Their mating occurred when they came to drink, and since the goats mated by the rods, the goats brought forth streaked, speckled and spotted young.  But Ya’akov dealt separately with the sheep;  he made these animals face the streaked or wholly dark-coloured animals in Laban’s flock.  And so he produced special flocks for himself, which he did not put with Laban’s flocks. Moreover, when the sturdier animals were mating, Ya’akov would place the rods in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they mated by the rods; but the feebler animals he would not place them there.  Thus the feeble ones went to Laban and the sturdy to Ya’akov.  So the man grew in exceedingly prosperous, and came to his own large flocks, maidservants and menservants, camels and donkeys.

Now he heard the things that Laban’s sons were saying :Ya’akov has taken all that was our father’s, and from that which was our father’s he has built up all his wealth.”  Ya’akov also saw that Laban’s manner toward him was not as it had been in the past.  Then HaShem said to Ya’akov, “Return to the land of your fathers where you were born, and I will be with you.”  Ya’akov had Rachel and Leah called to the field, where his flock was, and said to them, “I see that your father’s manner toward me is not what it had been in the past.  But the G-d of my father has been with me. As you know, I have served your father with all my might; but your father has cheated me, changing my wages time and time again.  G-d, however, would not let him do me harm.  If he said thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks would drop speckled young; and if he said thus, ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks would drop streaked young.  G-d has taken away your father’s livestock and given it to me. 

Once, at the mating time of flocks; I had a dream in which I saw that the he-goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled and mottled.  And in the dream an angel of G-d said to me, ‘Ya’akov!’ ‘Here,’ I answered.  And he said: ‘Note well that all the he-goats which are mating with the flock are streaked, speckled and mottled; for I have noted all that Laban is doing to you.  I am the G-d of Beth-el, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to Me.  Now, arise and leave this land and return to your native land.’”

Then Rachel and Leah answered him saying, “Have we still a share in the inheritance of out father’s house? Surely he regards us as outsiders, now that he has sold us and has used up our purchase price.  Truly, all the wealth that G-d has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children.  Now then, do just as G-d has told you.”

Thereupon Ya’akov put his children and his wives on camels; and he drove off all his livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Yitzchak in the land of Canaan.

Meanwhile Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household idols.  Ya’akov kept Laban the Aramean in the dark, not telling him that he was fleeing, and fled with all that he had.  Soon he was across the Euphrates and heading toward the hill country of Gilead. 

On the third day, Laban was told that Ya’akov had fled.  So he took his family with him and pursued him a distance of seven days, catching up with him in the hill country of Gilead.  But G-d appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Beware of attempting something with Ya’akov, good or bad.”

Laban overtook Ya’akov. Ya’akov had pitched his tent on the Height, and Laban with his family encamped in the hill country of Gilead.  And Laban said to Ya’akov, “What did you mean by keeping me in the dark and carrying off my daughters like captives of the sword?  Why did you flee in secrecy and mislead me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with festive music, with tumbrel and lyre. You did not even let me kiss my sons and daughters good-bye! It was a foolish thing for you to do.  I have it in my power to do you harm; but the G-d of your father said to me last night, ‘beware of attempting anything with Ya’akov, good or bad.’  Very well, you have to leave because you were longing for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?”

Ya’akov answered Laban saying, “I was afraid because I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.  But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not remain alive!  In the presence of your family, point out what I have of yours and take it.”  Ya’akov, of course, did not know that Rachel had stolen them. 

So Laban went into Ya’akov’s tent and Leah’s tent and the tent of the maidservants; but he did not find them.  Leaving Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent.  Rachel, meanwhile, had taken the idols and placed them in the camel cushion and sat on them; and Laban rummaged through the tent without finding them.  For she said to her father, “Let not my lord take it amiss that I cannot rise before you, for the period of women is upon me.”  Thus he searched, but could not find the idols.

Now Ya’akov became angry and took up his grievance with Laban.  Ya’akov spoke up and said to Laban, “What is my crime, what is my guilt that you should pursue me? You rummaged through all my things; what have you found of all your household objects?  Set it here, before my family and yours, and let them decide between us two.

These twenty years I have spent in your service, your ewes and she-goats never miscarried, nor did I feast on rams from your flock. That which was torn by beasts I never brought you; I myself made good the loss; you exacted it of me, whether snatched by day or snatched by night. Often, scorching heat ravaged me by day and frost by night; and sleep fled from my eyes. Of the twenty years that I spent in your household, I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks; and you changed my wages time and again.  Had not the G-d of my father, the G-d of Abraham and the Fear of Yitzchak, been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed.  But G-d took notice of my plight and the toil of my hands, and He gave judgement last night.”

Then Laban said to Ya’akov, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks; all that you see is mine.  Yet what can I do about my daughters or the children they have? Come, then, let us make a pact, you and I, that there may be a witness between you and me.” Thereupon Ya’akov took a stone and set it up as a pillar.  And Ya’akov said to his family, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a mound; and they partook of a meal there by the mound.  Laban named it Yegar-sahadutha, but Ya’akov named it Gal-ed. And Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.”  That is why it was named Gal-ed; And it was called Mizpah, because he said, “May HaShem watch between you and me, when we are out of sight of each other. If you ill-treat my daughters or take other wives besides my daughters – though no-one else be about, remember, G-d Himself will be witness between you and me.”

And Laban said to Ya’akov, “here is this mound and here is the pillar which I have set up between you and me: this mound shall be witness and this pillar shall be witness that I am not to cross to you past this mound, and that you are not to cross to me past this mound and this pillar, with hostile intent. May the G-d of Abraham and the god of Nahor” – their ancestral deities – “Judge between us.”  And Ya’akov swore by the Fear of his father Yitzchak. Ya’akov then offered up a sacrifice on the Height, and invited his family to partake of the meal.  After the meal, they spent the night on the Height.

Early in the morning, Laban kissed his sons and daughters and said good-bye; then Laban left on his journey homeward.  Ya’akov went on his way, and angels of G-d encountered him. When he saw them, Ya’akov said, “This is G-d’s camp.” So he named the place Mahanaim.