VaYetze "and he left"

My dear brother Paul Daniel mentioned last year that each of the Torah passages are sung within the synagogue. Of course, we don't sing the English passage, but I thought it might be fun to include a sample of this song (only 1 minute) for those who don't regularly make it to a synagogue service. To date, I have never attended a Messianic congregation where the Torah portion is sang in Hebrew. I have been to ones that were read, but so far, not sung. Enjoy.



VaYetze “and he left”
Genesis 28:10 - 32:3

Summary
A ladder to heaven
Rachel at the well
Jacob and Laban
Jacob’s children
The speckled and spotted sheep
Jacob’s departure

I have to admit, there some Torah portions which don’t have as much action, but this one is a really amazing passage. Each one of the segments that I mentioned above has enough material to dig into and enjoy. This passage also covers a number of years. In it, Jacob grows from a refugee with nothing to the great Patriarch that we come to know him as. This passage is also full of interesting speculation and imagination. The picture of Jacob’s ladder is the subject of much artwork.



In resent days I have read 2 books (novels) which cover this time period. Both have very different perspectives on the characters. Both surprised me by their brash almost irreverent look at the people and stories. Also, both were so engaging that they were difficult to put down.
The first was called The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and the second was called The Son of Laughter by Frederick Buechner
I am not really recommending either of these books, but just showing how this Torah portion has fired the imagination of many.

- How does one understand a ladder going up and down from Heaven? Why? What’s the point?
- What’s with the oil poured on a rock?
- How could Jacob get fooled into marrying the wrong gal after working for her for 7 years?
- Between Leah and Rachael, is one of them a good person, one bad, both good, both bad?
- Why does God allow Leah to have lots of children and Rachael so few? Why the whole “baby race” including 2 extra moms (a total of 4 women producing children for Jacob)?
- Does Jacob practice some type of “magic” to have all the good lambs and goats be speckled?
- Why would Rachael steal the household gods?
- My personal favourite, The Jacob family bumps into a camp of angels and we only get 1 verse about this? And related, did Jacob send “angels” to his brother to let him know they were on their way back home?

Maybe, when I am a white-haired old man I will have written on all the questions. Today, I will tackle just one. Maybe we’ll start at the first.

Jacob’s ladder
Jacob has left his father’s house, mostly out of fear of his brother, but also to acquire a wife in Haran. He travels and is exhausted and rests near a city called Luz. There is no indication that he actually stays in the city. He uses stones for pillows, so you get the impression he’s out under the stars in the nearby wilderness.
Although there is a lot strange in this passage, one of the things that is weird is the “stone situation”. In verse 11 there are several stones used for pillows. In verse 18, he has one stone, but they still use the word “pillows”. What happens to the stones? Of course, we don’t get a lot of extra help from the passage, but it has long been speculated (in the Talmud for example) that the stones were about him (perhaps as a little refuge), and as he slept they merged into one stone at his head. (Babylonian Talmud Chullin 91b.)
While Jacob slept, he sees angels. To be honest, Jacob sees a lot more angels during his lifetime then almost any Biblical character. He sees them here. He sees them at the end of this Torah passage. He (perhaps) sends angels to see his brother. He will wrestle with an angel. His life is full of angelic encounters. Most people who see angels are terrified, and in fact, Jacob is really concerned when he finally wakes (Gen 28:17). Yet, like the other passages with his angels they go with limited comment.
Jacob also hears the voice of God repeating the promises of Abraham. As I mentioned last week, Jacob “staying around the tents” got to understand the promises of God and the work of God through the ages. I have no doubt that he knew this was what God promised his Grandfather. He was part of the fulfillment. In fact, to date, there were very few “children” of Abraham on Earth. Jacob was the first big push in the children of Abraham being numerous like the dust of the Earth.
The is also something else which is important for this passage; “God’s opinion”. I don’t mean this to sound glib. In the whole last passage we have very little insight about what God thinks? Did God comment to Jacob about how he felt about buying the birthright for a bowl of stew? Did God comment about whether he accepted Jacob as the rightful lineage after he stole the blessing? NO. God is totally silent. Isaac seems to have accepted it, but God is silent. To be honest, who cares what Isaac thinks? We only want to know what God thinks.
Here we get the confirmation that God has chosen Jacob, and in the end, that makes all the difference. Shabbot Tov, Bradley Avi