PARASHA 007 MAIN PAGE
B'resheet/Genesis
28:10−32:3 Vayetze “and he
went out”
Jacob leaves his hometown of Beersheba
and journeys to Charan. On the way, he encounters “the place”
and sleeps there, dreaming of a ladder connecting heaven and
earth, with angels climbing and descending on it;
YEHOVAH appears and promises that the
land upon which he lies will be given to his descendants. In the
morning, Jacob raises the stone
on which he laid his head as an altar and monument, pledging that it
will be made the house of YEHOVAH.
In
Haran, Jacob stays with and works for
his uncle Laban, tending Laban’s
sheep. Laban agrees to give him his younger daughter, Rachel—whom
Jacob loves—in marriage, in return for seven years’ labor. But on the
wedding night, Laban gives him his elder daughter, Leah,
instead—a deception Jacob discovers only in the morning. Jacob marries
Rachel, too, a week later,
after agreeing to work another seven years for Laban.
Leah
gives birth to six sons—Reuben,
Simeon, Levi,
Judah,
Issachar and Zebulun—and
a daughter, Dinah, while Rachel remains barren. Rachel gives
Jacob her handmaid, Bilhah, as a wife to bear children in her
stead, and two more sons, Dan and
Naphtali, are born. Leah does the same
with her handmaid, Zilpah, who gives birth to
Gad and
Asher. Finally, Rachel’s prayers are answered and she gives birth
to Joseph.
Jacob has
now been in Charan for fourteen years,
and wishes to return home. But Laban persuades him to remain, now
offering him sheep in return for his labor. Jacob prospers,
despite Laban’s repeated attempts to swindle him. After six years, Jacob
leaves Charan in stealth, fearing that Laban would prevent him from
leaving with the family and property for which he labored. Laban pursues
Jacob, but is warned by YEHOVAH in a dream not to harm him. Laban and
Jacob make a pact on Mount Gal-Ed, attested to by a pile of
stones, and Jacob proceeds to the Holy Land, where he is met by
angels.
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