Vayetzeh 2021

1“And he dreamed and BEHOLD a ladder was standing upon the earth with its top in the heaven and BEHOLD angels of the Lord are ascending and descending upon it. And BEHOLD G-d stood over him and spoke to him saying etc.” (Gen 28:12-13)

2Later: “And he saw and BEHOLD a well in the field and BEHOLD there were three flocks of sheep laying beside it etc. (ibid 29:2)

3“And Joseph dreamed and BEHOLD etc. And Pharaoh dreamed and BEHOLD etc.”

4These examples teach us that the use of the term BEHOLD indicates some sort of prophetic vision.

5Later: “And he spoke to the shepherds saying to them ‘is there peace with him (with Lavan)?’ and they said ‘there is peace’. And BEHOLD Rachael his daughter is arriving at the well with the sheep. (Ibid :6)

6Later: “and it came to pass when Jacob saw Rachael daughter of Lavan etc. And Jacob approached the well and rolled the heavy stone from upon the well (single handedly) and he watered the sheep of Lavan his mother’s brother. And Jacob kissed Rachael and he raised his voice and cried. (Ibid :10)

7The sudden supernatural enhanced strength associated with seeing Rachael for the first time can be explained with Torah’s use of the word “Behold”. The entire incident including seeing the well and the three laying flocks can also be explained with that term. The sudden forward behavior toward Rachael “And he kissed her”, all these make more sense when couched within a dream rather than within the real world. It also explains why Jacob had the audacity to challenge the group of local shepherds; “Why have you come so early? It is not yet time to gather in the flocks? Go feed your flocks and go and graze”. (Ibid 26:7). We do a lot of things in our dreams we would not dare in real life.

8[the washing of the hands upon rising in the morning “Netilat yadayim shacharit” may be required not because our hands go to impure places but rather it is our minds that go travel into realms improper and impure as we dream without the usual waking limitations.]

9Later: “And he awoke and BEHOLD it is Leah. And he said to Lavan “What have you done to me? I worked for Rachael Why have you deceived me?” Why did Jacob not immediately reject Leah sending her home and arguing correctly “No deal”. I married Rachael not Leah! Yet Jacob held on to Leah. The answer lies in the term BEHOLD it is Leah. What Jacob saw in his dream that night was that Leah would be the mother of the majority of his children. Sure, he loved Rachael, but he also knew that Leah would be the mother he dreamed of. This is why Leah is buried in the cave alongside Jacob because she represented the majority of the Jacob’s children.

10It is possible that Rachael was aware of her own barrenness and agreed to the switch in a way that would guarantee children to Jacob. Her trade of the signs that night reminds us of Sarah’s handing Hagar to Abraham. “Maybe I will be built from her”. Later when Rachael complains to Jacob “Give me children” her argument sounds like this: I gave you Leah to bear children, now you need to pray for me so I too can have children.”

11In this way the dreams play a pivotal role in all that developed in our Parsha.

12Dedicated to the memory of Joel Shulman A’H