B"H
Friday, Kislev 8, 5780 / December 6, 2019
Questions & Answers on Parshat Vayeitzei:
Q.How old was Jacob when he left his parents’ home?
A.Sixty three years old.
Q.How old was he when he came to his uncle Lavan & when he married Leah & Rachel?
A.He was 77 when he came to Lavan. He was eighty four when he married Leah and Rachel.
Q.Where was he for fourteen years between leaving his home and coming to Lavan?
A.He spent 14 years at the Yeshiva (Torah study center) at Eiver - the great great grandson of Noah.
Q.How is it possible that Jacob studied Torah which was only given at Mount Sinai hundreds of years later?
A.Although the Torah was given to all the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, our forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew and studied Torah which they had through Divine inspiration. Before coming to his father-in-law, he spent 14 years studying Torah.
Q. The Torah tells us that when Jacob met his future wife, Rachel, at the well he cried. Why?
A.Our sages give two reasons: 1) Jacob knew that she would not be buried together with him. Indeed, Rachel passed away at a young age, while they were traveling back and was not buried in the family burial plot in Hebron.
2) Jacob was penniless when he came to Charan and met Rachel. Jacob was sad that he had nothing to offer her as a gift, unlike his mother Rivkah, who was showered with gifts when Eliezer came to take her as a wife for his father, Isaac. Not being able to give her any gifts made Jacob cry.
Q.How many years did Jacob stay with Lavan?
A.Twenty years. Jacob worked fourteen years for the “privilege” to marry Lavan’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Then, upon their urging, he also married Bilhaa and Zilpa. By then he had eleven sons and one daughter. He worked another six years to accumulate possessions and wealth before returning with his wives and children to his homeland.
SHABBAT SHALOM
Montreal candle lighting time: 3:53 / Shabbat ends: 5:01