B"H

Monday, Kislev 4, 5782 / November 8, 2021

This week’s Parsha, Vayeitzei, begins with Yaakov’s (Jacob) leaving his parents home and going to Charan to his uncle Lavan. His parents encouraged him to leave because his brother, Esau, wanted to kill him for outsmarting him and receiving the blessings from their father, Yitzchak. They suggested that he marry one of his uncle’s daughters. Yaakov was 63 years old when he left his parents.

The Torah describes in detail how, when Yaakov came to Charan he met his cousin, Rachel, who would become his future wife. He met her at a well when she brought her father’s sheep to drink. The Torah says, “When Yaakov saw Rachel, the daughter of Lavan, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Lavan, Yaakov went and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth and gave the flock to drink.  And Yaakov kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and cried.” Usually, it would take many shepherds to roll the rock but Yaakov did it all by himself.

Q.  How long, after leaving his parents, Yitzchak and Rivkah, did Yaakov actually come to Lavan?

A.  14 years!  He spent these fourteen years studying at the Yeshiva of Shem’s, great grandson, Eiver.

Q.   Why did Yaakov cry when he saw his cousin and future wife, Rachel?

A.   Our sages give the following reasons:  1)  Yaakov was bothered by the fact that he came empty handed and couldn’t present Rachel with gifts, unlike his mother Rivkah, who received many gifts. 

2)  Yaakov saw that after her passing, she will not be buried together with him in the Me’arat Hamachpeilah (Cave of the Patriarchs), in Hebron.  Rachel was buried in Betlehem.

Q.   Who else, in the Torah met his wife at a well?

A.    Moshe.  He met his wife, Tziporah, at the well in Midyan.

Q.   How many years did Yaakov spend at his father-in-law’s home in Charan?

A.  Twenty years.  Seven years he worked for Lavan to marry his daughter, Rachel. At the wedding night he fooled him and gave him his older daughter, Leah, instead. He worked another seven years for Rachel. He also worked six years to accumulate enough wealth to return to his parents.

Q.   How many of Yaakov’s children were born while he was still in Charan?

A.   Eleven sons and one daughter were born before he returned home. Binyamin (Benjamin) was born on the way back home.  Rachel died soon after the birth of her son, Binyamin.

Q.    How old was Yaakov when he came to Lavan and how old when he left?

A.   Yaakov was seventy seven when he came to Lavan. He was 84 when he got married and left at the age of ninety seven. He travelled for two years and came home at 99.

A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY