B"H

Thursday, Kislev 10, 5781 / November 26, 2020

 

Questions & Answers on Parshat Vayeitzei:

 

Q.  How old was Yaakov (Jacob) when he left his parents’ home?

 

A.   Sixty three years old.

 

Q.  How old was he when he came to his uncle Lavan? How old when he married Leah & Rachel?

 

A.  He was 77 when he came to Lavan.  He was 84 when he married Leah and Rachel.

 

Q.  Where was he for fourteen years between leaving his home and coming to Lavan?

 

A.   He spent fourteen years at the Yeshiva, the Torah study center, with Eiver.

 

Q.  Who was Eiver?

 

A.   Eiver was the great great grandson of Noah.

 

Q.  How is it possible that he studied Torah which was given at Mount Sinai hundreds of years later?

 

A.  The Talmudic sages tell us that the Torah was here long before the creation of the universe.  In fact, the Torah is called the “blueprints of the world.”  Like a builder who builds a house according to the design on his blueprint, so too, G-d created the universe according to the pattern of His Torah.

 

Although the Torah was given to all the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, our forefathers, Abraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov knew and studied Torah which they had through Divine inspiration.  Before coming to his father-in-law, Lava, Yaakov spent 14 years studying Torah.

 

Q.  The Torah tells that when Yaakov met Rachel, at the well, he cried.  Why did he cry?

 

A.Our sages give two reasons: 1) He knew that she would not be buried together with him in the cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. 2) Jacob was penniless when he came to Charan. He was distressed that he had nothing to offer her as a gift, unlike his mother Rivkah, who was showered with gifts when Eliezer met her at the well. Not being able to give her any gifts made Yaakov cry.

 

Q.  How many years did Yaakov stay with Lavan?

 

A.  Twenty years. Yaakov worked fourteen years for the “privilege” to marry Lavan’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel. He also married Bilhaa and Zilpa. He then worked another six years to accumulate wealth before returning with his wives and children to his homeland. His youngest son, Binyamin, was born when he returned to what would later become The Land of Israel.

 

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY