ON THE PARSHA
          Parshas VaYeitzei

          by Dovid Lipman, Jerusalem


The World Of The Supernatural

     (32:23) "And Hashem's angels met him ... he said 'This is
Hashem's camp', and he called the place 'two camps'." The Or
HaChayim, to explain the place this has in the story, says that
Yaakov already had a camp of men with him, prepared for war
with Eisav, and Hashem sent him angels to help (as they did, by
actinb as his messengers). They appeared suddenly, as implied
by "VaYifge'u bo", and Yaakov observed that he now had two "camps"
with him, and he named the place after this situation. (See
Rashi for a completely different approach, which, at least
seemingly, has no bearing on the rest of the story.)

A Time To Laugh

     (29:11) Yaakov gave a kiss unto Rachel, and he cried."
Why did he kiss her, and why did he cry? The Vilna Gaon says
that it of course does not mean he kissed her (which would
have been a severe issur even without the stringency of
keeping the Torah), and in fact, the "lamed" of "unto Rachel"
means he "blew her a kiss", a common formal greeting. Maybe,
though, Yaakov thought afterwards that if this action would
be written in the Torah, some would misconstrue it to mean
that he actually kissed her.
     "...and he lifted his voice and he cried." (based loosely
on "Sefer HaParshiyos", R. Eliyahu Kitov)

Worthy Of Note

     (30:10) "And Zilpah gave birth..." Rashi says that
pregnancy is not mentioned, because Zilpah was the youngest
of the four, and was young enough not to really "show" her
pregnancy. This fact is used to explain why (29:24) Zilpah's
being given to Leah is mentioned during the story of Lavan
replacing Leah with Rachel. Since Zilpah was younger than
Bilhah, it seemed logical that she be given to Rachel, so
Lavan purposefully gave her to Leah, the eldest, so Yaakov
would continue to believe he was to receive Rachel as his
wife.

From the Gemara

     (29:17) Bava Basra 153a - Leah discovered people saying
that her uncle Yitzchak had two sons, and she, Lavan's eldest,
was destined to marry the elder son. She asked after his deeds,
and, discovering his evil ways, cried (in prayer) until her
eyes became unattractive, and for this she merited to precede
her sister in marrying the tzaddik.
     (29:32) Brachos 7b - The name Re'uvain is a combination of
"see" and "son". "See my son," said Leah. "Compare him to Eisav."
Eisav willingly sold his birthright, yet he complained bitterly.
Reuvain's birthright was given to Yoseif against his will, yet
he tried to save Yoseif's life.
     (31:4) Brachos 8b - One good thing about Medes is that they
wise enough to go out into the field to speak of secret matters,
as Yaakov did.

Rare And Unusual Words

     (31:47) "Y'gar Sahadusah" The word is simply an Aramaic
translation of Yaakov's "witness pile (of rocks)", but the gemara
(Shabbos 115b) brings an interesting halacha, that equates these
words' status with the regular Hebrew words', in that these
words (on a parchment, properly written) demand desecration of
Shabbos to save them from a fire.[This is qualified - see there.]