Vayetze

Vayetze, Vayeitzei, or Vayetzei (וַיֵּצֵא — Hebrew for “and he left,” the first word in the parshah) is the seventh weekly Torah portion ("parshah") in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0128.htm#10 28:10–32:3.] Jews in the Diaspora read it the seventh Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in November or December.

ummary

A ladder to heaven

When Jacob left Beersheba for Haran, he stopped at a place for the night, using a stone for a pillow. () Jacob awoke afraid, remarked that surely the place was the house of God, the gate of heaven, and called the place Bethel (although the Canaanites had called the city Luz). ()

Rachel at the well

Jacob came to an eastern land where he saw a well with a great stone rolled upon it and three flocks of sheep lying by it. () Jacob asked if Laban was well, and they said that it was, and that his daughter Rachel was coming with his sheep. () Jacob kissed Rachel, wept, and told her that he was her kinsman, and she ran and told her father. () After Jacob had lived with Laban for a month, Laban asked Jacob what wages he wanted for his work. () Jacob served the years, but his love for Rachel made them seem like just a few days. () Laban gave Leah Zilpah to be her handmaid. () Jacob did so, and Laban gave him Rachel to wife, and gave Rachel Bilhah to be her handmaid. () She bore a second son, and called him Simeon, saying that God had heard that she was hated. ()

Rachel envied her sister, and demanded that Jacob give her children, but Jacob grew angry and asked her whether he was in God's stead, who had withheld children from her. () And Bilhah bore Jacob a second son, and Rachel called him Naphtali, saying that she had wrestled with her sister and prevailed. () And Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, and Leah called him Asher, saying that she was happy, for the daughters would call her happy. () When Jacob came home that evening, Leah told him that he had to sleep with her because she had hired him with the mandrakes, and he did. () And afterwards Leah bore a daughter, and called her nam Dinah. () Laban conceded that God had blessed him for Jacob’s sake, and asked Jacob to name how much he wanted to stay. () Laban agreed, but that day he removed the speckled and spotted goats and dark sheep from his flock and gave them to his sons and put three day’s distance between Jacob and himself. () Jacob’s flocks and wealth thus increased. () Jacob called Rachel and Leah to the field and told them that Laban had changed his opinion of Jacob, but Jacob had served Laban wholeheartedly and God had remained with Jacob. () Rachel and Leah answered that they no longer had any portion in Laban’s house and all the riches that God had taken from Laban were theirs and their children's, so Jacob should do whatever God had told him to do. () On the third day, Laban heard that Jacob had fled and he and his kin pursued after Jacob seven days, overtaking him in the mountain of Gilead. () Laban said that while he had the power to harm Jacob, God had told him the previous night not to speak to Jacob either good or bad, and now Laban wanted to know why Jacob had stolen his gods. () Rachel had hidden the idols in the camel’s saddle and sat upon them, apologizing to her father for not rising, as she was having her period. () Jacob protested that he had worked for Laban for 20 years, through drought and frost, bearing the loss of animals torn by predators, and not eating Laban’s rams, only to have his wages changed 10 times. ()

Instead, Laban proposed that they make a covenant, and Jacob set up a stone pillar and with his kin heaped stones, and they ate a meal by the heap. () And Laban designated the heap and the pillar as a boundary between him and Jacob; Laban would not pass over it to Jacob, and Jacob would not pass over it to Laban, to do harm. () And when Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him, and Jacob told them that this was God's camp, and he called the place Mahanaim. ( reports that Jacob left Beersheba in the south of the Land of Israel and went toward Haran north of the Land, and reports) “the sun was set.” (Babylonian Talmud Chullin 91b.)The Gemara noted that for the proposition that Jews derived the evening prayer from Jacob, arguing that within the meaning of (according to the Babylonian Talmud). (Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 43a; Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 26b.)

Interpreting Jacob’s dream of a ladder in reports of an angel that “His body was like the Tarshish,” and by tradition the sea of Tarshish is 2,000 parasangs long. (Babylonian Talmud Chullin 91b.)

A Tanna taught that the angels ascended to look at the sight of Jacob above and descended to look at the sight below, and they wished to hurt him, and thus immediately (as that Jacob spoke as if God was not Jacob’s God when Jacob was not in the land of Canaan. (Tosefta Avodah Zarah 4:5.)

Rabbi Jacob bar Idi pointed out a contradiction between God’s promise to protect Jacob in as proof for the proposition, as in the words “And of all that You shall give me, I will surely give a tenth to You,” repetition of the verb “to give a tenth” or “tithe” implies two tenths or one fifth. The Gemara did the math and questioned whether the second tenth would not be less than the first tenth, as it would be taken from the nine-tenths that remained after the first tenth had been given away and thereby represented only 1/10 x 9/10 = 9/100 of the original capital. Rav Ashi replied that the words “I will . . . give a tenth "of it"” in (Babylonian Talmud Baba Batra 123a.)

Rabbi Eleazar interpreted the words “He withdraws not his eyes from the righteous” in reports, “And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah,” we are not to infer that up until then she had not been Leah, but rather that on account of the tokens that Rachel had given Leah, Jacob did not know until then that it was Leah. Therefore God rewarded Rachel with having Saul among her descendants. (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 13a–b, Bava Batra 123a.)
Rabbi Helbo quoted Rabbi Jonathan to teach that the firstborn should have come from Rachel, as ) So she cried about her fate until her eyelashes fell out. This accounts for the words of showed that from the day that God created the world, no man praised God until Leah did upon the birth of Judah. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 7b.)

Genesis chapter 30

Rebbi (or some say Rabbi Judah ben Pazi) said in the name of the academy of Yannai that Dinah was originally conceived as a boy, but when Rachel prayed for another son in she prophesied that she would bear another son, and by using the singular “son” she foretold that Jacob would have just one more son. (Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 92a.)

The Tosefta deduced from , where Jacob called Rachel and Leah to the field, could be cited in support of the practice. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 8b.)

Commandments

According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are no commandments in the parshah. (Maimonides. "Mishneh Torah". Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. "The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides". Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. "Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education". Translated by Charles Wengrov, 1:87. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1991. ISBN 0-87306-179-9.)

Haftarah

The haftarah for the parshah is:
*for Ashkenazi Jews: Hosea [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1312.htm#13 12:13–14:10]
*for Karaite Jews: Hosea [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1311.htm#7 11:7–13:5]

The Weekly Maqam

In the Weekly Maqam, Sephardi Jews each week base the songs of the services on the content of that week's parshah. For Parshah Vayetze, Sephardi Jews apply Maqam Ajam, the maqam that expresses happiness, commemorating the joy and happiness of the weddings of Jacob to Leah and Rachel.

Further reading

The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:

Biblical

* (courtship at the well); [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0144.htm#9 44:9] (improvident oath).
*Exodus [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0202.htm#15 2:15–21] (courtship at the well); [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0222.htm#13 22:12] (domestic animals lost to wild animals).
*Judges [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0711.htm#30 11:30–31] (improvident oath).

Classical rabbinic

*Tosefta: Sotah 10:7–8; Avodah Zarah 4:5. Land of Israel, circa 300 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., "The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction". Translated by Jacob Neusner, 1:877; 2:1275. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 2002. ISBN 1-56563-642-2.
*Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 43a, 92a. Land of Israel, circa 400 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., "Talmud Yerushalmi". Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vols. 1–2. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.
*Genesis Rabbah 68:1–74:17. Land of Israel, 5th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., "Midrash Rabbah: Genesis". Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
*Babylonian Talmud: Berakhot 4a, 7b, 8b, 26b, 42a, 60a, 62b; Shabbat 80b, 115b; Eruvin 100b; Yoma 38b, 74b, 77a; Sukkah 53a; Rosh Hashanah 11a; Taanit 2b; Megillah 9a, 10b, 13b, 17a; Moed Katan 7b, 15a, 21b; Yevamot 26b–27a, 28b, 62b, 97b, 103b; Ketubot 7b, 47b, 50a, 91b; Nedarim 20b, 64b; Nazir 23b, 50a; Bava Kamma 65b; Bava Metzia 93b; Bava Batra 123a–b; Sanhedrin 29a, 39b, 98b; Makkot 19b; Avodah Zarah 3a, 5a, 9a, 24b; Menachot 63a; Chullin 18b, 91b; Bekhorot 45a; Niddah 31a–b. Babylonia, 6th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., "Talmud Bavli". Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.

Medieval

*Rashi. "Commentary". [http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=8223&showrashi=true Genesis 28–32.] Troyes, France, late 11th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. "The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated". Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 1:309–57. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-89906-026-9.
*Judah Halevi. "Kuzari". Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. Reprinted in, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. "Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel." Intro. by Henry Slonimsky, 91, 114, 133. New York: Schocken, 1964. ISBN 0-8052-0075-4.
*Zohar [http://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p=zohar/zohar&vol=9 1:146b–65b.] Spain, late 13th Century. Reprinted in, e.g, "The Zohar". Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1934.

Modern

*Thomas Hobbes. "Leviathan", England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, 437, 460, 676–77. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0140431950.
*Moshe Chaim Luzzatto "Mesillat Yesharim", ch. 4. Amsterdam, 1740. Reprinted in "Mesillat Yesharim: The Path of the Just", 53. Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1966. ISBN 0-87306-114-4.
*Irving Fineman. "Jacob, An Autobiograhical Novel". New York: Random House, 1941.
*Thomas Mann. "Joseph and His Brothers". Translated by John E. Woods, 24–25, 37, 47, 51, 87, 103–12, 119–20, 124–25, 135, 138, 142, 173–305, 307, 313, 323, 334, 337, 384–86, 388–92, 425, 460, 474, 488, 491–93, 502–03, 511, 515, 517, 519, 524, 530, 669–70, 676–77, 690–91, 693, 715–16, 729–30, 778, 805, 814, 883, 915. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as "Joseph und seine Brüder". Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943.
*Charles Reznikoff. "Luzzato: Padua 1727". Mid 20th Century. In Harold Bloom. "American Religious Poems", 247. Library of America, 2006. ISBN 978-1-931082-74-7.
*Margaret Atwood. "The Handmaid's Tale". Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1986. ISBN 0-395-40425-8.
*Denise Levertov. “The Jacob’s Ladder” in Harold Bloom, "American Religious Poems", 379. Library of America, 2006. ISBN 978-1-931082-74-7.

External links

Texts

* [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0128.htm#10 Masoretic text and 1917 JPS translation]
* [http://bible.ort.org/books/torahd5.asp?action=displaypage&book=1&chapter=28&verse=10&portion=7 Hear the parshah chanted]

Commentaries

* [http://www.jtsa.edu/community/parashah/archives/index.shtml#gen Commentaries] from the Jewish Theological Seminary
* [http://judaism.uj.edu/Content/InfoUnits.asp?CID=902 Commentaries] from the University of Judaism
* [http://www.uscj.org/Vayetze_57677104.html Torah Sparks] from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
* [http://www.ou.org/torah/archive1.htm Commentaries] from the Orthodox Union
* [http://ajrsem.org/index.php?id=199 Commentaries] from the Academy for Jewish Religion
* [http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?AID=9173 Commentaries] from Chabad.org
* [http://urj.org/torah/genesis/index.cfm? Commentaries] and [http://urj.org/shabbat/genesis/ Family Shabbat Table Talk] from the Union for Reform Judaism
* [http://www2.jrf.org/recon-dt/index.php Commentaries] from Reconstructionist Judaism
* [http://www.torah.org/learning/parsha/parsha.html?id1=7 Commentaries] from [http://www.torah.org/ Torah.org]
* [http://www.aish.com/torahportion/pArchive.asp?eventType=7&eventName=Vayetzei Commentaries] from [http://www.aish.com/ Aish.com]
* [http://www.shiur.com/index.php?id=C0_239_6&spar=239&s_id=239 Commentaries] from [http://www.shiur.com/ Shiur.com]
* [http://www.tfdixie.com/parshat/vayeitze/ Commentaries] from [http://www.tfdixie.com/ Torah from Dixie]
* [http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/2413 Commentary] from [http://ohr.edu/index.php Ohr Sameach]
* [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Weekly_Torah_Commentary/vayetze_index.htm Commentaries] from [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/index.htm MyJewishLearning.com]
* [http://www.judaic.org/addtl_files/vayese.htm Commentaries] and [http://www.judaic.org/tabletalk/vayese5762.htm Shabbat Table Talk] from [http://www.judaic.org/ The Sephardic Institute]
* [http://www.parshaparts.com/archive/5767/vayeitze.php Commentaries] from [http://www.parshaparts.com/index.php Parshah Parts]
* [http://www.anshe.org/parsha/vayetze.htm Commentary] from [http://www.anshe.org/ Anshe Emes Synagogue, Los Angeles]
* [http://www.rabbishmuel.com/browse.cgi?type=torah_sermons Torah Sermons] and [http://www.rabbishmuel.com/browse.cgi?type=torah_tidbits Torah Tidbits] from [http://www.ostt.org/ Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah]
* [http://www.teach613.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=48 Commentary] from [http://www.teach613.org/index.php Teach613.org, Torah Education at Cherry Hill]