Parsha Pearls
וַיֵּצֵּא יַעֲקֹב מִבְּאֵּר שָׁבַע וַיֵּלֶךְ חָׁרָׁנָׁה
And Yaakov came out from Be’er Sheva and went to Charan. -- Bereishis 28:10
We can call Vayeitze as “the parsha of Yaakov Avinu.” At the end of last week’s parsha, Yitzchok and Rivka tell Yaakov to go to Lavan, who lives in Charan. This week’s parsha starts with the words: “And Yaakov came out from Be’er Sheva and went to Charan.” Since this is the beginning of “the parsha of Yaakov Avinu”, and the beginning of everything in the Torah has a great significance, we learn that fulfilling the mitzva of his father and mother was of prime importance in Yaakov Avinu’s life.
Every morning, after saying Bircas Hatorah, we say that honoring one’s father and mother is one of the mitzvos from which a person benefits even in this world. Besides from the great blessing of arichus yomim that the Torah promises in return for honoring one’s father and mother, Shlomo Hamelech tells us in Mishlei (6:23) - ner mitzva v’Torah ohr. - A candle is a mitzva and Torah is light. Rashi explains this verse in the following way. The fulfillment of the mitzva of one’s father becomes a ‘candle’ for that person that will illuminate for him in a dark place. And the fulfillment of the torah (instruction) of one’s mother is his ‘light’.
