Va Yeshev- he settled Genesis 37:1 to 40:23

Va Yeshev- “and he Settled”
Genesis 37:1-40:23




The next Torah portion goes into the famous story of Joseph. Before we get into that, I would like to lay out a theory about this section of the first book of the Torah. I am sure others have said this before, but I have always held this from my earliest years in Bible college and now am not sure who first came up with the idea.
The book of Bere’shit (Genesis) is 50 chapters long. It covers the longest portion of Biblical history from the dawn of creation though thousands of years down until Israel and his family live in Egypt. It sets the stage for the Exodus. Yet, for all these great men and great stories, why would over ¼ of the book be dedicated to the story of Joseph? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great story. It has become the subject of movies, and an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The story resonates on a lot of fronts, but why Joseph? The length of Joseph’s life was only 110. That’s a good long life by any standard, but Adam lived to be almost 1000. Noah was nearly that as well. Abraham and Seth seem to hang on forever. Poor Enoch gets just a couple line in the Bible, yet Joseph get over ¼ of the book of Genesis…why?
Here is the theory. It doesn’t have to be taken as gospel, but it is how I handle the why question. Many people have noticed that different portions of the book of Genesis have a different mood and flow. The Joseph part is the most obvious, but the book starts with a poem. There portions where the name of God (technically “gods“) is exclusively “elohime”, and other portions where the tetra gram is used (the Sacred name of God, generally translated LORD in most English Bibles). There are also portions where the words are used together like “The LORD God said to…”
The theory is that although we do believe in the full inspiration of Scripture it is also possible that the first book included a gathering of text related to Israel’s early history. These gathered texts were then put together by Moses (under the direction of the Holy Spirit) to form the first book of Scripture. This would suggest that the Joseph story would have been a complete text by itself. Proponents of this theory (who know far more then I about Egyptian literature) suggest that this story has the flow of an early Egyptian text. Whether this is true or not, the “original” that Moses might have consulted when he wrote this book has been lost. All we have is the record of the sacred text… which is what God intended for us to have in the first place.
Back to Joseph. The text starts with the statement that Jacob sojourned where his father did in the land of Canaan. One dear older brother recently found himself travelling doing a shofar ministry (e-mail me I can tell you more), and in the course of this was homeless. We, as many of you know, spent several months with no home this year. Another dear young brother with two children drops by and visits often and I have dubbed us the “fellowship of the sojourners”. We work in an area, but we really don’t have our “home” in the area. (Yes, you are correct, we have sort of lost that status just over a week ago). However, there is something to be said for that mindset. We are all sojourners, especially if we dedicate ourselves to the Kingdom of God. We may reside in an area. We may be employed in an area, but we choose not to set our roots down too deep. Our real home, our real place of loyalty, is a kingdom not built by human hands. Here is just where we…”sojourn”. If God calls us elsewhere then we should rejoice to be worthy of that call. We should (like Abraham in the story of the sacrifice of Isaac) wake the next morning and start on the way. Sincerely, brothers and sisters, I am looking at the present chronology of events in Israel. I am watching what is happening with other faithful brothers and sisters and I feel that things may be coming together toward God’s final act. As much as it depends on you, I would urge you to look closely at your life and start thinking about what and how you would act if God asked you to act. We need to be cautious about how deep our roots go. I do think God intended our loyalties to be outside this world. “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness…”
Back to our story. Jacob has now become the patriarch not unlike his fathers Abraham, and Isaac. He has several children, and herds. He also has his favourite, Joseph. Joseph is given a “coat of many colours”. This translation (although made popular from Martin Luther’s translation work) is not consistent with the text. The better translation is either a “coat with long sleeves”, or like the JPS version translates the Hebrew “an ornamented coat”. This may have had many colours, but that is beyond the text. If you have ever seen the movie Joseph King of Dreams they do a good job of setting the stage here. This coat means that he doesn’t do “physical work”. He was the favourite, and the rest of the boys understood that. He was singled out for special honour. This situation was created (at least in part) by Jacob. Joseph continued to irritate the situation.
The rest of the boys could not speak a friendly word (or speak “peaceably”) to him. The word is “Shalom”. This is the traditional Hebrew greeting. We don’t know if this was the greeting during Joseph’s time, but either way the brothers do not seek the well-being of Joseph.
Joseph has these dreams where his brothers and his parents and brothers are all bowing down to him. I have often wondered why God would do this. The kid is 17 years old. Is he really going to have the wisdom to keep this information to himself? If God wanted to provide him with a bit of insight into his future this was certainly not something that endeared him to his family. The brothers are even less likely to be favourably disposed to him.
Joseph is sent to his brothers. Just so you get the visual on this. The brothers don’t like Joseph. Joseph likely knows this. His dad likely knows this, yet Joseph raises no concern. He obeys his father without question.
Joseph doesn’t find his brothers (Gen 37:15) instead he finds a “man”. There have been many comments on this “man” whole stories have been written about him. I will quote from one Bible commentary site:

http://biblicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/commentary-on-genesis-37/

Jewish tradition considered him an angel in the form of a man. For Calvin the inclusion of the “man” episode was to depict the diligence of Joseph in carrying out his duty and concomitantly reveals the heinous atrocity of the brothers’ crime. The word order in Joseph’s response, lit., “my brothers I’m seeking” (v. 16), making familial relationship paramount in his thinking, reinforces the trust that he presumes and the brothers transgressed. Since the “man” intercepted Joseph, overheard the private conversation of the brothers, and correctly directed Joseph to discover his brothers at Dothan, the passage conveys the theological orientation of the narrative as a whole. Whether the “man” is an angel or a human, the unseen hand of the Lord is apparent here. He is directing Joseph to discover his brothers so that the divine plan for the salvation of Jacob and many peoples (50:20) might be realized, although it meant a troubling time for the house of Jacob. Where are Joseph’s custodial angels who like his father’s might save him from his brothers, as they did with Jacob and Esau (32:1-2 [2-3]) Luther answered, “In such danger we see the deepest silence of God and the angels. . . But behold how much good God draws forth from this.”
So Joseph is captured by his brothers, sold as a slave to his cousins (the Ismaelites), sent to work for Potiphar, set up by his wife and lands himself in prison.
In the midst of this story is also a story of Judah and Tamar. Judah is the one who will eventually get the firstborn blessing from Jacob. Judah’s first son is a loser (no explanation), God kills him. The second son doesn’t mind have physical relations with Tamar, just does want to get her pregnant. Is this a lust issue? Is this hatred for his brother? Is this hatred for Tamar? We don’t really know, but we do know God is not please so his live is taken as well. The youngest is really too young for this role, so she waits. He job is to wait…in this case forever for Judah to give his third son. Judah never does.
Tamar tricks Judah to become the father and sets it up so he’s in no position to have her done away for immorality. Judah wants her burned…not a pretty way to go. She’s a pretty clever gal. Judah comments rightly that she is more righteous (zadekh) then he. Weird story, certainly not the sort of nice image of Judah. Remember Judah was the one who sold Joseph even when Reuben was trying to save his life. So, which family does the Messiah come from?
Judah
In fact, he’s from Judah and Tamar. (Mt 1:3 and Luke 3:33)
The story is an amazing contrast with Joseph who refuses relations with his master’s wife and gets falsely accused and tossed into prison.
One other little note, and I think this comes across well in the movie Joseph: king of dreams. Joseph is a slave. He has no rights. Potiphar was well within his rights to just have him killed, but instead he’s tossed into prison. In fact, it’s not a prison for the commoners, but prisons of the royal court. If someone was to say that Potiphar did not believe his wife, or found it suspicious, then I would think he was likely right.
Enjoy God’s word…it was written for you. -Bradley Avi

VaYeshev from Rabbi Jack Farber

Again thanks for your contribution Rabbi Farber

Parashat HaShavua VaYeshev / And He Settled

This Week's Reading List:
BeReshit / Genesis 37:1-40:23
Zekharyah / Zechariah 2:14-4:7
Ma'asei Talmidim / Acts 7:9-16

As I read through this week's Parasha I could not help but remember the words of Martin Luther King when he said, “I have a dream.” Martin Luther had a dream about African Americans finally finding their place in America – ending once and for all the injustice of segregation. When he had this dream black people were still looked down upon, relegated to menial jobs and sitting in the back of buses. If you asked any white person in the south during those turbulent years they would have said Martin Luther was nothing but a dreamer and desegregation would never happen – never! The facts and history, of course, speak for themselves. Desegregation did happen, the world has changed and Martin Luther's dream has come true – Praise G-d!
Now, I do not believe that it was Martin Luther King that in the end made his dream come true. Sure he worked hard at his dream. He had rallies and he held sit-ins, but still it was not from him that the victory came. Martine Luther King had many disappointments and set backs along the way where he through that his dream would not become a reality. Ultimately it took him having to give up his life before his dream was realized. However, Martin Luther King was not the first dreamer.
Bereshit {37:5} Yoseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. {37:6} He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: {37:7} for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf." {37:8} His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. {37:9} He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me." {37:10} He told it to his 'av (father) and to his brothers. His 'av rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your 'em (mother) and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?" {37:11} His brothers envied him; but his 'av kept this saying in mind.
Yoseph had a dream, but no one paid him any mind. His family though that his dreams were ridiculous. They thought that there was no way what he dreamed could possibly come true, but it did. Everything Yoseph dreamed became a reality. Yet I doubt very much that he himself took them very seriously as the events of his life were unfolding. Can you picture what he must have been thinking while at the bottom of a dry pit waiting to die of thirst, after being placed there by his brothers or when he was sold by them to the Midianites as a slave? It was certainly not about his dreams of being the ruler over his family – it was more about surviving! It took defeat before G-d would bring victory in Joseph's life, just like it took defeat for Martin Luther King for G-d's victory to be realized and his dream to become reality.
I know that we all have had dreams, but the reality is that not all dreams are prophetic. In fact the vast majority are not, but that is not what is important. What is important is that we not take our dreams too seriously. Sometimes we do take our dreams far too seriously. We analyze them, study them and dwell on them so that we can try to find out their interpretation and meaning. Remember it was not until it was all over that Yoseph realized what his dreams really meant and he had to go through some very difficult times before it was realized, but he lived to see it. Sadly Martin Luther King never lived to see his dream realized.
What I am trying to say is that whether or not our dreams are truly prophetic HaShem is the one that is in control and He is the one who will fulfill our dreams. Some of us may live to see their fulfillment and some of us may not but at the end of the day it all depends on G-d.
I, for one, do not put a lot of effort into the interpretation of dreams. Like Yoseph, I am just too busy living my life from day to day, trusting in the L-rd to get me through each day, one day at a time. Therefore, I do not have the time to be preoccupied with what I dreamt last year, last month or even last night. Yes, from time to time I share my dreams, but then I just file them away in the recesses of my mind and go about the task of living. G-d in His wisdom and in His time will make my dreams come true -- or not! Baruch HaShem!
Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) {5:7} For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear G-d.
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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber

Comic Book Torah portion- Vayishlach

Just thought this might be fun as a casual approach to the passage. A Torah portion comicbook. -Shabbot Tov

New post from Rabbi Ya'acov Farber

Thanks again, Rabbi Farber, The grace of Ha Shem be with you and yours, -Bradley Avi

"קפיצה למסקנות"
"Jumping To Conclusions"

Parashat HaShavua VaYishlach / And He Sent
This Week's Reading List:
BeReshit / Genesis 32:3-36:43
Ovadyah / Obadiah 1:1-21
Mattityahu / Matthew 26:36-46
Bereshit {32:3} Ya'akov (Jacob) sent messengers in front of him to Esav (Esau), his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ` {32:4} He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall tell my lord, Esav: 'This is what your servant, Ya'akov, says. I have sojourned with Lavan (Laban), and stayed until now. {32:5} I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, men-servants, and maid-servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour in your sight. '" {32:6} The messengers returned to Ya'akov, saying, "We came to your brother Esav. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him." {32:7} Then Ya'akov was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; {32:8} and he said, "If Esav comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape."
When people ask if I physically exercise or workout at a gym I would tell them that the only exercise I get is ‘jumping to conclusions'. Of course I always mean it as a joke, but when you consider the passage I quoted above, taken from our Parasha this week, jumping to conclusions can be a very serious thing -- even a sin! Allow me to explain.
Many times when we talk with people we take what they say or how they respond to us in the wrong way and because of that we ‘jump to conclusions'. In fact in misunderstanding them we develop this “what if” scenario in our minds and we often come up with wrong, distorted conclusions; we ‘jump to conclusions'.
Esav and Ya'acov did not exactly part company on the best of terms twenty years earlier. So it understandable that when Ya'acov heard that his brother was coming to meet him and that his brother had with him four hundred men that he concluded the worst. However, the fact is that there is no indication in Scripture that Esav's intentions were anything less than honourable.
Esav, obviously by what we read in this Parasha, was a wealthy, self-made man. He had reached the level of wealth, influence and power that he had hoped to achieve through his father's blessing, yet he achieved this without it, he did it on his own. His birthright did not have any meaning to him twenty years ago, and now that he had what he wanted, financially and politically, it meant even less to him so why hold a grudge. Esav got it all, and he did it “his way” so there was no longer any need for hard feelings towards his brother, whom he thought cheated him out of his potential wealth, influence and power.
Ya'acov, on the other hand, did not fare so well these past twenty years. First he was cheated when it came to the woman he loved. Then he was cheated when it came to acquiring wealth. He laboured twenty years for practically nothing! When he finally left Lavan, his father-in law, he did so with his family and his wealth that he acquired by manipulation and by the grace of G-d. So is it any wonder that he was suspect of his brother? Manipulative people think that everyone else is manipulative. Ya'acov, because of the hard life he led these past twenty years, was still carrying the guilt of what he did to his brother and this guilt led him to ‘jump to conclusions'.
You see if you are untrustworthy, you will not trust; if you cheat, you will always be suspect of being cheated; if you are a deceiver, you will always suppose that you are being deceived. This was Ya'acov and it could be you as well!
Of course, when viewed in the spiritual, there was a huge difference between what happened to Esav and what happened to Ya'acov over the past twenty years. Ya'acov, despite all of his faults, had a true heart for G-d and because of it G-d was moulding and shaping him into the true man of G-d that He intended him to be, as chastisement and hardship build character. However, Ya'acov had not changed enough. There was still more of the old self lurking inside of him and this event of ‘jumping to conclusions' instead of trusting in G-d proved it to us, and I believe it proved it to Ya'acov as well.
On the other hand Esav was carnal and spiritually dead. Just as carnally dead as he was twenty years ago and perhaps even more so. Esav's godlessness manifested itself in his pride. I believe that is why he came to greet his brother with four hundred men on horseback. It was not for a show of strength, but it was, in my opinion, a show of, “I made it regardless of you Ya'acov, so now I am coming to rescue you from your homeless wanderings and bring you to live in my kingdom.”
I think the lesson to be learned here is that our own guilt, our own manipulative and suspicious tendencies deceive us. They are what cause us to be wary and ‘jump to conclusions'. Shaul (Paul) gave us the antidote for conclusion jumping.
Filifim {4:8} Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
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Shalom Shalom

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

Vayetze-Behold

sent from Rabbi Jack Farber-Congregation Melech Yisrael, Canada's oldest Messianic Congregation

"Divine Confirmation"


Parashat HaShavua VaYeitzei / Behold

This Week's Reading List:
BeReshit / Genesis 28:10-32:2
Hoshea / Hosea 13:6-14:10
Yochanan / John 1:43-51

Bereshit {29:9} While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her av's (fathers) sheep, for she kept them. {29:10} It happened, when Ya'akov (Jacob) saw Rachel bat (daughter of) Lavan, his em's (mother's) brother, and the sheep of Lavan, his em's brother, that Ya'akov went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Lavan his em's brother. {29:11} Ya'akov kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. {29:12} Ya'akov told Rachel that he was her av's brother, and that he was Rivkah's son. She ran and told her av.

The verse that caught my attention from this portion of Scripture, which was taken from this week's Parasha, was:

Bereshit {29:11} “Ya'akov kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.”

It always intrigued me as to why Ya'acov cried after kissing Rachel. First, taking into consideration ancient Middle Eastern protocols between unmarried couples, this was not a passionate romantic kiss. It was, I am certain, the type of kiss Shaul suggested believers in Yeshua HaMashiach greet each other with; much like the French or Russians kiss when they greet each other.

Romim (Romans) {16:16} Greet one another with a holy kiss.

I interpret a holy kiss to be a peck, mostly into the air, on either or both cheeks without having any lower body contact. This was the type of kissing that was most common during that period among Semitic people, a custom that seems to have carried over into the first century. So, this being the case then Ya'acov would have given her a holy kiss when he met Rachel for the first time.

However, why did he lift up of his voice and cry out? Most people suggest that he was love struck at that very instant, but I do not see it that way. I see it more like this: Has G-d ever spoken to you and you have doubted that you actually heard from G-d, but then He gave you some type of confirmation that it was truly Him that you heard from? Yes, this is what I believe happened with Ya'acov. In his dream a day earlier Ya'acov saw HaShem standing at the top of this ladder that extended from earth to heaven. From that position HaShem said:

Bereshit {28:13} Behold, HaShem stood above it, and said, "I am HaShem, the G-D of Avraham (Abraham) your av, and the G-D of Yitzchak (Issac). The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. {28:14} Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed. {28:15} Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you."

This was quite the promise and I am sure Ya'acov was impressed by the dream, but I am sure he also had his doubts that it was actually a prophetic dream, that it was true and that it was actually HaShem that was speaking to him. I would have my doubts as well as I am sure you would too.

How do I know that Ya'acov had his doubts? I know by what he said the very next morning after the dream:

Bereshit {28:18} Ya'akov rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. {28:19} He called the name of that place Beit-El (House of G-d), but the name of the city was Luz at the first. {28:20} Ya'akov vowed a vow, saying, "If G-D will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, {28:21} so that I come again to my av's house in shalom (peace), and HaShem will be my G-D, {28:22} then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be G-D's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you."

Did you notice the “IF” in verse 20? This tells me that Ya'acov did doubt his dream! Sure he did and like I said you and I would have as well. However, HaShem was not going to let Ya'acov go through his life doubting; He gave him confirmation that it was Him he had heard.

Ya'acov was running from his brother Esav, was heading to strange unfamiliar territory and was looking for someone he never met and therefore did not know. Where would he start looking for his mother's brother? What could he expect to encounter when he did meet him? Would they even receive him? All these questions and more, I am sure, were running through Ya'acov's mind. Then he stumbled upon a well, but not just any old well. I am sure there were many in the area of this city, but this well was the exact well where Lavan had his daughter Rachel water their sheep. An accident, a happenchance, I doubt it! This was from the L-rd and Ya'acov knew it! The kiss he planted on Rachel was a kiss of joy that HaShem had confirmed his promise and the lifting up of his voice was him praising HaShem for the conformation He gave him by this encounter. Now Ya'acov knew that he had heard right, that he had heard from G-d. From here on in he knew his destiny because all of HaShem promises are “Yea and Amen!!!”

Korintim Bet (2 Corinthians) {1:20} For all the promises of G-d in him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of G-d by us.

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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber

Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!

A little video for Children-Toledot (Generations)

This 8 1/2 minute video I found on You Tube and a fun way to let the children visualize the story of Jacob and Esau. Shabbot Tov, Bradley Avi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGmfxRNdauY