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It is one of the Torah’s great paradoxes that the divine imperative to engender descendants and produce a great nation reaches fruition first in the land of Aram (Syria) and later in Egypt.
I read the haggadah backwards this year
The sea opens, the ancient Israelites slide back to
Egypt like Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk
Freedom to slavery
That’s the real story
One minute you’re dancing hallelujah with the prophetess
the next you’re knee deep in brown in the basement of some minor pyramid
The angel of death comes back to life
two zuzim are refunded.
When armies emerge from the sea like a returning scuba expedition
the Pharoah calls out for fresh towels.
The bread has plenty of time to rise.
I read the hagaddah backwards this year,
left a future Jerusalem,
scrubbed off the bloody doorposts,
wandered back to Aram.
When can man experience God’s nearness? Only when he is suffused by “I don’t know,” when he himself knows that he does not know and does not pretend to have wisdom and insight. Ya’akov has achieved this state the hard way; not only his material belongings but also his moral certainties and his family supports have been taken away. For all that his father may have taught him about God and the Covenant, he has experienced little of real life until now. The time is ripe.
This is a journey that is pointedly different from his grandfather’s originating journey: the lekh lekha wandering to the place yet to be shown, the place of promise and destiny. Jacob does not simply “go” (lekh); he “leaves” (va-yetze). What has been achieved and known for two generations he now relinquishes. And his destination is specific and named...The imprint, the full awareness of the indispensable person, is known only after he has removed himself from his place. Rashi speaks of a void left behind Jacob as he begins his journey. But perhaps the void is in Jacob, as well.
(יא) וַיִּפְגַּ֨ע בַּמָּק֜וֹם וַיָּ֤לֶן שָׁם֙ כִּי־בָ֣א הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁ וַיִּקַּח֙ מֵאַבְנֵ֣י הַמָּק֔וֹם וַיָּ֖שֶׂם מְרַֽאֲשֹׁתָ֑יו וַיִּשְׁכַּ֖ב בַּמָּק֥וֹם הַהֽוּא׃
(11) He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.
Prematurely, the sun then set in the west. Jacob looked and saw that the sun had set in the west, so he tarried there all night, because the sun was set.
On the way to Haran, he met the place (Gen. 28:11). What does this mean? That Jacob did indeed go all the way to Haran. Then he remembered that he had passed the place where his father and grandfather had prayed, and he had failed to stop. He said to himself, “Is it possible that I passed by the place where my forefathers prayed and I did not pray?” Just as his forefathers prayed for the building of Jerusalem and the holy Temple, and their prayers were answered during the time of the two Temples, so too did Jacob want to pray for the future rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. At that moment a miracle occurred, and he immediately arrived at that place, the site where, in the future, the Temple would one day be built. There Jacob prayed as never before. And when he finished praying, the sun, which was high in the sky, set two hours before its time. (emphasis mine)
Genesis Rabbah quotes God as saying to Jacob: “On your departure I caused the orb of the sun to set for you, and on your return I restored to you the hours you lost.” This is an example of how anything is possible for God, even changing the natural order that He Himself had created. According to Ba’al Shem Tov, God rolled up all of the Holy Land and put it under Jacob so that he would not have to travel everywhere in the land to retrieve the holy sparks that had been scattered there at the time of the shattering of the vessels. Instead, he would find all the sparks in one place (Sefer Ba’al Shem Tov, va-Yetze 8, 9).
In leaving home, Jacob goes out into exile. This is an exile not only from his geographical home but, in some radical sense, from himself. His going out makes an imprint on himself: how is he to know himself in that strange country, that darkness of exile? As he begins his journey, the sun sets (28:11); when he returns, twenty years later, the narrative describes a sunrise (32:32). Both these markers of time, the midrash suggests, are functions of Jacob’s personal sense of time.11 Between these two points, there is darkness, the Dark Night of the Soul.
(יב) וַֽיַּחֲלֹ֗ם וְהִנֵּ֤ה סֻלָּם֙ מֻצָּ֣ב אַ֔רְצָה וְרֹאשׁ֖וֹ מַגִּ֣יעַ הַשָּׁמָ֑יְמָה וְהִנֵּה֙ מַלְאֲכֵ֣י אֱלֹהִ֔ים עֹלִ֥ים וְיֹרְדִ֖ים בּֽוֹ׃ (יג) וְהִנֵּ֨ה יְהֹוָ֜ה נִצָּ֣ב עָלָיו֮ וַיֹּאמַר֒ אֲנִ֣י יְהֹוָ֗ה אֱלֹהֵי֙ אַבְרָהָ֣ם אָבִ֔יךָ וֵאלֹהֵ֖י יִצְחָ֑ק הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֤ר אַתָּה֙ שֹׁכֵ֣ב עָלֶ֔יהָ לְךָ֥ אֶתְּנֶ֖נָּה וּלְזַרְעֶֽךָ׃ (יד) וְהָיָ֤ה זַרְעֲךָ֙ כַּעֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֔רֶץ וּפָרַצְתָּ֛ יָ֥מָּה וָקֵ֖דְמָה וְצָפֹ֣נָה וָנֶ֑גְבָּה וְנִבְרְכ֥וּ בְךָ֛ כׇּל־מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת הָאֲדָמָ֖ה וּבְזַרְעֶֽךָ׃ (טו) וְהִנֵּ֨ה אָנֹכִ֜י עִמָּ֗ךְ וּשְׁמַרְתִּ֙יךָ֙ בְּכֹ֣ל אֲשֶׁר־תֵּלֵ֔ךְ וַהֲשִׁ֣בֹתִ֔יךָ אֶל־הָאֲדָמָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את כִּ֚י לֹ֣א אֶֽעֱזׇבְךָ֔ עַ֚ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר אִם־עָשִׂ֔יתִי אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּ֖רְתִּי לָֽךְ׃
(12) He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and messengers of God were going up and down on it. (13) And standing beside him was יהוה, who said, “I am יהוה, the God of your father Abraham’s [house] and the God of Isaac’s [house]: the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and to your offspring. (14) Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants. (15) Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
But God defends Jacob—like a nurse who fans away flies from the sleeping prince.28 “God was standing beside him” (28:13)—God dispels all the charges of the angels, simply by being there, standing protectively over Jacob, endowing Jacob with the strength of knowing His presence.
Then Jacob peered into the highest heaven and saw God’s throne. He saw that there was a face carved into the throne, and the face that Jacob saw there was his own.
Thus Jacob has begun a double journey: a dream journey toward increasing proximity to God parallels his physical wanderings across the horizontal plane of space. Jacob encounters his angels while traveling. The stations between home and exile have a corollary in the rungs between heaven and earth.
(א) וַיִּשָּׂ֥א יַעֲקֹ֖ב רַגְלָ֑יו וַיֵּ֖לֶךְ אַ֥רְצָה בְנֵי־קֶֽדֶם׃
(1) Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the Easterners.
(1) וישא יעקב רגליו THEN JACOB LIFTED UP HIS FEET —As soon as he received the good tidings that he was assured of God’s protection his heart lifted up his feet and he walked swiftly. Thus is it explained in (Genesis Rabbah 70:8).
But the imagery of Jacob’s feet suggests the paradox of the foot: the basis of stability, and at the same time dynamic, with a complex motion in which the vertical and horizontal interact. In order to move, one separates the unity of the leg-“pedestal.” What drives one to separate, to disperse the coherent strength of the standing position? ... Jacob responds to his fate with a long-legged leap, inspired by the knowledge that in his “walking,” God is with him: “I shall be with you, wherever you walk [lit.].” He almost flies. Space shrinks in the buoyancy of his motion. But his steps remain earthbound; we hear the heel strike the ground, which “gives power to anyone who rebounds from it.” There is a richness in the earth that gives resilience to Jacob as he goes into exile. His motion, vertical and horizontal at once, has a paradoxical superiority to that of the angels, who can only step up or down the rungs of the ladder at one time. Angels are meant to fly: but in Jacob’s dream, they are restricted to the stepping space of the ladder, careful, gradual, perhaps cramped. What Jacob experiences is the power and resilience of his whole being, enriched by the rebound of the earth. Jacob takes off (va-yetze) as he leaves his parents’ home.
His prayer at an end, Jacob set out on his way to Haran, and the third wonder happened. In the twinkling of an eye he arrived at his destination. The earth jumped from Mount Moriah to Haran. A wonder like this God has executed only four times in the whole course of history.
Parashat Vayeitzei (“he went out”) is the Torah’s greatest love story. In it the lovers—Rachel and Jacob—figure as doubles. Their lives are in many ways parallel. Each of them works as a shepherd, flees from home, steals a father’s legacy, contends with sibling and God alike, tricks others and is in turn tricked, and bargains for the blessing of having children.
At the Well Malka Heifetz Tussman (transl. Marcia Falk) Genesis 29:1–8
My whole life straining—
and but a crack
I’ve moved the stone from the well
where in darkness
the water is clear.
And now, when a star
blinks there,
at once
I taste tomorrow’s tears.
14. “Truly, you are my bone and my flesh!” Laban’s effusive statement of recognition and solidarity will soon become ironic as uncle and nephew prove equal in chicanery.
29:26. the firstborn. Not the younger before the “older” (as many translations mistakenly have it) but the younger before the firstborn. Jacob, who appropriated his brother’s birthright, now suffers because of the birthright of his beloved’s sister!
(א) וַתֵּ֣רֶא רָחֵ֗ל כִּ֣י לֹ֤א יָֽלְדָה֙ לְיַעֲקֹ֔ב וַתְּקַנֵּ֥א רָחֵ֖ל בַּאֲחֹתָ֑הּ וַתֹּ֤אמֶר אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹב֙ הָֽבָה־לִּ֣י בָנִ֔ים וְאִם־אַ֖יִן מֵתָ֥ה אָנֹֽכִי׃ (ב) וַיִּֽחַר־אַ֥ף יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּרָחֵ֑ל וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הֲתַ֤חַת אֱלֹהִים֙ אָנֹ֔כִי אֲשֶׁר־מָנַ֥ע מִמֵּ֖ךְ פְּרִי־בָֽטֶן׃
(1) When Rachel saw that she had borne Jacob no children, she became envious of her sister; and Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die.” (2) Jacob was incensed at Rachel, and said, “Can I take the place of God, who has denied you fruit of the womb?”
GIVE ME CHILDREN. The commentators98Rashi and Ibn Ezra. said that this means that Rachel asked Jacob to pray on her behalf. Or else I die — Rashi comments: “For one who is childless may be considered as dead.” This is a Midrash of our Rabbis.99Bereshith Rabbah 71:19. But I wonder. If so, why was Jacob angry with her? And why did he say, Am I in G-d’s stead?100Verse 2 here. for G-d hearkens to the righteous.101See Psalms 69:34. [I wonder concerning] that which Jacob said [to Rachel, as quoted in Rashi:100Verse 2 here. “You say that I should do as did my father, who prayed on behalf of Rebekah, but I am not circumstanced as my father was. My] father had no children at all. I, however, have children. It is from you that He had withheld children and not from me.” Do not the righteous pray on behalf of others?
Now all the wives of Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah, united their prayers with the prayer of Jacob, and together they besought God to remove the curse of barrenness from Rachel.
Leah bore once more, and this last time it was a daughter, a man child turned into a woman by her prayer. When she conceived for the seventh time, she spake as follows: "God promised Jacob twelve sons. I bore him six, and each of the two handmaids has borne him two. If, now, I were to bring forth another son, my sister Rachel would not be equal even unto the handmaids." Therefore she prayed to God to change the male embryo in her womb into a female, and God hearkened unto her prayer.
(לא) וַיֹּ֖אמֶר מָ֣ה אֶתֶּן־לָ֑ךְ וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יַעֲקֹב֙ לֹא־תִתֶּן־לִ֣י מְא֔וּמָה אִם־תַּֽעֲשֶׂה־לִּי֙ הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֔ה אָשׁ֛וּבָה אֶרְעֶ֥ה צֹֽאנְךָ֖ אֶשְׁמֹֽר׃ (לב) אֶֽעֱבֹ֨ר בְּכׇל־צֹֽאנְךָ֜ הַיּ֗וֹם הָסֵ֨ר מִשָּׁ֜ם כׇּל־שֶׂ֣ה ׀ נָקֹ֣ד וְטָל֗וּא וְכׇל־שֶׂה־חוּם֙ בַּכְּשָׂבִ֔ים וְטָל֥וּא וְנָקֹ֖ד בָּעִזִּ֑ים וְהָיָ֖ה שְׂכָרִֽי׃ (לג) וְעָֽנְתָה־בִּ֤י צִדְקָתִי֙ בְּי֣וֹם מָחָ֔ר כִּֽי־תָב֥וֹא עַל־שְׂכָרִ֖י לְפָנֶ֑יךָ כֹּ֣ל אֲשֶׁר־אֵינֶ֩נּוּ֩ נָקֹ֨ד וְטָל֜וּא בָּֽעִזִּ֗ים וְחוּם֙ בַּכְּשָׂבִ֔ים גָּנ֥וּב ה֖וּא אִתִּֽי׃ (לד) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר לָבָ֖ן הֵ֑ן ל֖וּ יְהִ֥י כִדְבָרֶֽךָ׃ (לה) וַיָּ֣סַר בַּיּוֹם֩ הַה֨וּא אֶת־הַתְּיָשִׁ֜ים הָֽעֲקֻדִּ֣ים וְהַטְּלֻאִ֗ים וְאֵ֤ת כׇּל־הָֽעִזִּים֙ הַנְּקֻדּ֣וֹת וְהַטְּלֻאֹ֔ת כֹּ֤ל אֲשֶׁר־לָבָן֙ בּ֔וֹ וְכׇל־ח֖וּם בַּכְּשָׂבִ֑ים וַיִּתֵּ֖ן בְּיַד־בָּנָֽיו׃ (לו) וַיָּ֗שֶׂם דֶּ֚רֶךְ שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֔ים בֵּינ֖וֹ וּבֵ֣ין יַעֲקֹ֑ב וְיַעֲקֹ֗ב רֹעֶ֛ה אֶת־צֹ֥אן לָבָ֖ן הַנּוֹתָרֹֽת׃ (לז) וַיִּֽקַּֽח־ל֣וֹ יַעֲקֹ֗ב מַקַּ֥ל לִבְנֶ֛ה לַ֖ח וְל֣וּז וְעַרְמ֑וֹן וַיְפַצֵּ֤ל בָּהֵן֙ פְּצָל֣וֹת לְבָנ֔וֹת מַחְשֹׂף֙ הַלָּבָ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־הַמַּקְלֽוֹת׃ (לח) וַיַּצֵּ֗ג אֶת־הַמַּקְלוֹת֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר פִּצֵּ֔ל בָּרְהָטִ֖ים בְּשִֽׁקְת֣וֹת הַמָּ֑יִם אֲשֶׁר֩ תָּבֹ֨אןָ הַצֹּ֤אן לִשְׁתּוֹת֙ לְנֹ֣כַח הַצֹּ֔אן וַיֵּחַ֖מְנָה בְּבֹאָ֥ן לִשְׁתּֽוֹת׃ (לט) וַיֶּחֱמ֥וּ הַצֹּ֖אן אֶל־הַמַּקְל֑וֹת וַתֵּלַ֣דְןָ הַצֹּ֔אן עֲקֻדִּ֥ים נְקֻדִּ֖ים וּטְלֻאִֽים׃ (מ) וְהַכְּשָׂבִים֮ הִפְרִ֣יד יַעֲקֹב֒ וַ֠יִּתֵּ֠ן פְּנֵ֨י הַצֹּ֧אן אֶל־עָקֹ֛ד וְכׇל־ח֖וּם בְּצֹ֣אן לָבָ֑ן וַיָּֽשֶׁת־ל֤וֹ עֲדָרִים֙ לְבַדּ֔וֹ וְלֹ֥א שָׁתָ֖ם עַל־צֹ֥אן לָבָֽן׃ (מא) וְהָיָ֗ה בְּכׇל־יַחֵם֮ הַצֹּ֣אן הַמְקֻשָּׁרוֹת֒ וְשָׂ֨ם יַעֲקֹ֧ב אֶת־הַמַּקְל֛וֹת לְעֵינֵ֥י הַצֹּ֖אן בָּרְהָטִ֑ים לְיַחְמֵ֖נָּה בַּמַּקְלֽוֹת׃ (מב) וּבְהַעֲטִ֥יף הַצֹּ֖אן לֹ֣א יָשִׂ֑ים וְהָיָ֤ה הָעֲטֻפִים֙ לְלָבָ֔ן וְהַקְּשֻׁרִ֖ים לְיַעֲקֹֽב׃ (מג) וַיִּפְרֹ֥ץ הָאִ֖ישׁ מְאֹ֣ד מְאֹ֑ד וַֽיְהִי־לוֹ֙ צֹ֣אן רַבּ֔וֹת וּשְׁפָחוֹת֙ וַעֲבָדִ֔ים וּגְמַלִּ֖ים וַחֲמֹרִֽים׃
(31) He said, “What shall I pay you?” And Jacob said, “Pay me nothing! If you will do this thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flocks: (32) let me pass through your whole flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted animal—every dark-colored sheep and every spotted and speckled goat. Such shall be my wages. (33) In the future when you go over my wages, let my honesty toward you testify for me: if there are among my goats any that are not speckled or spotted or any sheep that are not dark-colored, they got there by theft.” (34) And Laban said, “Very well, let it be as you say.” (35) But that same day he removed the streaked and spotted he-goats and all the speckled and spotted she-goats—every one that had white on it—and all the dark-colored sheep, and left them in the charge of his sons. (36) And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was pasturing the rest of Laban’s flock. (37) Jacob then got fresh shoots of poplar, and of almond and plane, and peeled white stripes in them, laying bare the white of the shoots. (38) The rods that he had peeled he set up in front of the goats in the troughs, the water receptacles, that the goats came to drink from. Their mating occurred when they came to drink, (39) and since the goats mated by the rods, the goats brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted young. (40) But Jacob dealt separately with the sheep; he made these animals face the streaked or wholly dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock. And so he produced special flocks for himself, which he did not put with Laban’s flocks. (41) Moreover, when the sturdier animals were mating, Jacob would place the rods in the troughs, in full view of the animals, so that they mated by the rods; (42) but with the feebler animals he would not place them there. Thus the feeble ones went to Laban and the sturdy to Jacob. (43) So the man grew exceedingly prosperous, and came to own large flocks, maidservants and menservants, camels and asses.
(א) וַיִּשְׁמַ֗ע אֶת־דִּבְרֵ֤י בְנֵֽי־לָבָן֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לָקַ֣ח יַעֲקֹ֔ב אֵ֖ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר לְאָבִ֑ינוּ וּמֵאֲשֶׁ֣ר לְאָבִ֔ינוּ עָשָׂ֕ה אֵ֥ת כׇּל־הַכָּבֹ֖ד הַזֶּֽה׃ (ב) וַיַּ֥רְא יַעֲקֹ֖ב אֶת־פְּנֵ֣י לָבָ֑ן וְהִנֵּ֥ה אֵינֶ֛נּוּ עִמּ֖וֹ כִּתְמ֥וֹל שִׁלְשֽׁוֹם׃ (ג) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֔ב שׁ֛וּב אֶל־אֶ֥רֶץ אֲבוֹתֶ֖יךָ וּלְמוֹלַדְתֶּ֑ךָ וְאֶֽהְיֶ֖ה עִמָּֽךְ׃
(1) Now he heard the things that Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from that which was our father’s he has built up all this wealth.” (2) Jacob also saw that Laban’s manner toward him was not as it had been in the past. (3) Then יהוה said to Jacob, “Return to your ancestors’ land—where you were born—and I will be with you.”
(19) Meanwhile Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household idols. (20) Jacob kept Laban the Aramean in the dark, not telling him that he was fleeing, (21) and fled with all that he had. Soon he was across the Euphrates and heading toward the hill country of Gilead. (22) On the third day, Laban was told that Jacob had fled. (23) So he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days, catching up with him in the hill country of Gilead. (24) But God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Beware of attempting anything with Jacob, good or bad.” (25) Laban overtook Jacob. Jacob had pitched his tent on the Height, and Laban with his kinsmen encamped in the hill country of Gilead. (26) And Laban said to Jacob, “What did you mean by keeping me in the dark and carrying off my daughters like captives of the sword? (27) Why did you flee in secrecy and mislead me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with festive music, with timbrel and lyre.
Evidence from there suggests that possession of the household gods was associated with clan leadership or inheritance rights. Thus Rachel, like Jacob before her, deceives the father in order to gain tokens of power and authority. Once again, Rachel is a counterpart to Jacob (Ilana Pardes, Countertraditions in the Bible, 1992, p. 61).
31:22. And it was told to Laban … that Jacob had fled. And he took … and pursued … and caught up. Compare the words describing Egypt’s pursuit of Israel to the Red Sea: “And it was told to the king of Egypt that the people had fled … and he took … and he pursued… . And they caught up” (Exod 14:5–9). The Laban episode prefigures the flight from Egypt, and it hints once again that the merit of the patriarchs lies in the background when Israel is saved from dangers.
32:2–3. Now Jacob went on his way and angels of God met him. As Jacob retreats from the border and heads homeward, he crosses an additional boundary guarded by angels. Mahanaim. In the company of angels, Jacob recognizes the place as “the camp of God” and himself as the dweller in Mahanaim, “Two Camps.” This encounter with angels indicates that he crosses the threshold between home and exile, as well as that between heaven and earth.