Parsha Pizzazz - VaYeitzay

The Chase is On

Having successfully taken Eisav's place when their father, Yitzchak, gave out the blessings, Yaakov was now running for his life. Eisav hadn't taken too kindly to what his better half had done, and he wanted revenge! So Yaakov was hurried out of town by his mother, Rivkah, to save his life.

His parents had another reason for sending Yaakov to Charan: to find a nice girl to marry from Lavan's family. (Charan was where Avraham's family had lived and Lavan was Rivkah's brother.)

Yaakov sneaked quietly out of town so that his brother couldn't follow him. But Eisav still found out! He sent his son, Elifaz, on a mission to kill Uncle Yaakov.

Your Money or Your Life

Elifaz wasn't excited about his assignment, but he had no choice. Armed with his weapons, he ran and ran until he finally caught up to Yaakov. Then he threatened to kill him!

"Wait, Elifaz!" Yaakov said. "You don't have to kill me! Just take everything I own and go! Without money, I'm as worth less as a dead man... right?"

Elifaz, relieved to find a way out, agreed. "Yeah... right, Uncle Yaakov!"

He robbed Yaakov of every last little thing-including all the expensive gifts he had brought along for his future wife. But Yaakov was just thankful to be alive!

Sweet Dreams!

On his way to Charan, Yaakov stopped off at Mount Moriah. He prayed Maariv, the evening prayer, and got ready to go to sleep. But where would he sleep? He didn't have a bed, of course. Well, he noticed that there were some stones lying around, so he took twelve of them and laid them in a circle, and he lay down inside.

The ground was his mattress, and Yaakov used one of the stones as a pillow (not too comfortable, but he didn't mind!). While he was sleeping, all of the stones were arguing about who should have the honor of being Yaakov's pillow. They all moved closer and closer together, each one trying to get under his head... until they miraculously became one big rock!

During the night, Yaakov had a dream. He saw a huge ladder near him, which stretched all the way up to the sky. He saw malachim (angels) going up and down the ladder.

And then HaShem spoke to Yaakov in his dream: "I am the G-d of your grandfather, Avraham, and of Yitzchak, your father. I will give you this entire land and I will bless you. I will protect you until you return home."

When Yaakov woke up from his dream, he thought: "What an amazing dream! How could I have slept on such holy ground? I had no idea that this was the gateway to heaven!" Yaakov knew then that the Bet HaMikdash (Holy Temple) would someday be built on that very spot.

Then he made a promise to HaShem: "If You will protect me while I am in Charan, and give me enough bread to eat and clothing to wear, I will give plenty of tzedakah (charity) from everything I earn."

All's Well That End's Well

Yaakov continued on his journey, and arrived at the well near Charan.

There was a giant stone covering the opening of the well. Shepherds were gathering at the well with their herds, waiting to give their sheep water. Since the stone was too heavy for any one person to lift, they would wait until all of the shepherds had come, and then they would lift the giant stone together.

Yaakov approached them and asked, "Excuse me, do you know Lavan, from Charan?"

"Lavan? Sure we know him! And here comes his daughter, Rachel!"

Rachel was a shepherdess, and she was coming to the well with her sheep. She looked just like Rivkah! Yaakov knew that she was the girl he was supposed to marry.

Yaakov immediately stepped forward and single-handedly lifted the huge stone off the well. It was as easy for him as popping the cap off a bottle! He gave water to Rachel's sheep.

He introduced himself to Rachel: "I am your cousin, Yaakov. My mother, Rivkah, is your father's sister. I have come here from the faraway land of Canaan."

"Come with me, and meet my father," Rachel said. And with that, she ran off to tell her father, Lavan, the exciting news.

Nothing Up My Sleeve

When Yaakov and Rachel arrived at Lavan's house, Lavan ran to greet Yaakov and hugged and kissed him. Wasn't that sweet?

Well, not really-he was actually hugging him so he could try to feel for Yaakov's money belt under his robe! He remembered when Avraham's servant, Eliezer, had come to Charan with ten camels stacked high with jewels and riches, and he thought, "Hmm... If the servants of that family bring such expensive gifts when they travel here, imagine what Yitzchak's own son must have brought!"

But what a disappointment! Yaakov didn't seem to have any money at all for him to steal! (Elifaz had taken all those presents when he robbed Yaakov.) Still, Lavan invited Yaakov to his house, since they were relatives, after all.

Two Sisters

Yaakov started working as a shepherd for Lavan. Lavan wanted to pay him a salary, but Yaakov didn't want money.

He said to Lavan, "What I really want is to marry your younger daughter, Rachel. I'll work seven years for her!"

Lavan had two daughters. Rachel was beautiful, and her older sister, Leah, was also beautiful, but her eyes were red and swollen from crying. (Everyone in town assumed that Leah and Eisav would get married, since they were both the oldest in their families... and wouldn't the thought of marrying the evil Eisav be enough to make any girl cry?)

Lavan agreed to Yaakov's request to marry Rachel—but secretly he planned to give Yaakov his older daughter, Leah, instead!

He Was Outstanding in His Field

Just as he had promised, Yaakov took care of Lavan's flocks for seven years. He faithfully tended Lavan's sheep and goats in the scorching hot sun during the day, and stood watch over them in the freezing wind and rain at night. Year after year, he did the best job he possibly could—and Lavan's flocks were thriving.

And Lavan? He just took it easy and enjoyed counting all the money he made thanks to Yaakov!

Switcheroo

Finally, it was the day of the wedding! Lavan made a big, fancy party and invited everyone in town. He was smiling, because he knew he had a little trick up his sleeve...

Rachel knew her father's tricks, and she told Yaakov what he was planning to do. They came up with a scheme of their own. They made up a secret code, so that Yaakov would be able to double-check that Rachel was indeed the bride under the veil.

It was a clever idea, and it would have worked, except for one thing: At the last minute, Rachel felt sorry for Leah. She didn't want Leah to be embarrassed when her identity would be exposed in front of everyone.

So Rachel did a very kind thing. Right before the wedding, she whispered the secret passwords to Leah, so that she would know what to say to Yaakov when he used the secret code.

When Yaakov used the secret code, and Leah knew all the right answers, he was convinced that she was Rachel—and he went ahead with the wedding!

When he discovered what had happened, he shouted, "Lavan! You tricked me!"

Lavan answered, "Well... around here we don't marry off a younger daughter before her older sister. But, all right. In a week you can marry Rachel, too... only if you agree to work for me for another seven years..."

Yaakov agreed without hesitation. He married Rachel the very next week, and he loved her more than Leah. He kept his word to Lavan, and worked hard for him for another seven years.

The Next Generation

Soon after their marriage, Leah began having children. She had four sons all in a row, and she named them Reuven, Shimon, Levi, and Yehudah.

Meanwhile, Rachel had no children at all, which made her very unhappy. Rachel remembered that when Sarah was childless, she gave her maidservant, Hagar, to Avraham to marry - and then Sarah was blessed with children! So Rachel asked Yaakov to marry her maidservant, Bilhah. She figured that perhaps then HaShem would answer her prayers and give her the children she longed for. Yaakov did marry Bilhah, and she gave birth to two sons, Dan and Naftali.

Leah also gave her maidservant, Zilpah, to Yaakov as a wife and Zilpah gave birth to two sons, named Gad and Asher.

After that, Leah had more children—two sons, named Yissachar and Zevulun, and finally, a daughter named Dinah.

Still - Rachel had no child! How much longer could she possibly wait, while everyone else already had children to be proud of? Rachel and Yaakov both prayed and prayed to HaShem to bless her with a child... and finally, after so many years of waiting, she had a son! She was a mother at last! She named her son Yosef. (Later, she would have a second son, Binyamin.)

By now Yaakov had quite a large family: four wives, eleven sons, and one daughter. He had established his family in Charan - but they would soon be moving on.

Time to Say Goodbye

HaShem told Yaakov, "Go back to the land of Israel." Yaakov went right to Lavan and said, "It's time for me to move on. Let me take my wives and children and go back home."

Lavan said, "All right. Let's figure out what I owe you. Let's see... you worked here for 20 years, and 14 of those years were for my two daughters. So that leaves six years that I owe you for. What would you like as payment?"

Yaakov thought and replied, "I'll take all of the spotted goats and brown sheep that will be born this season."

What Lavan thought was, "Heh, heh! That won't be very many animals at all. Few of the animals right now are brown and have spots and certainly their babies will be the same!" But all he said to Yaakov was, "It's a deal," and he smiled his wicked smile.

To Lavan's surprise, almost all of the newborn goats had spots! And almost all of the baby sheep were brown!

When Yaakov was ready to claim his payment, Lavan realized that something went wrong for him, He exclaimed, "Hold it, I'm the one who's supposed to get these brown and spotted animals... You pick something else!"

Even though Yaakov knew that Lavan was playing tricks with him, he went along with it.

"OK, I'll take the animals with white stripes instead."

"You got it," said Lavan.

Can you guess what happened next? That's right—all of the animals from then on were born with white stripes!

Lavan was beside himself. "Huh? What's going on? I must have made a mistake... Let's make a new agreement..."

And so it went, on and on and on. In the end, Lavan changed his mind about the deal 100 TIMES! Whew!

Give It Up!

It seemed that Lavan would never willingly let Yaakov leave. There was only one solution. Yaakov would have to sneak away when Lavan wasn't looking.

His chance finally came when Lavan was away on a three-day trip. Yaakov gathered his four wives, eleven sons and one daughter, and all of their possessions, and secretly fled Lavan's house.

Rachel saw a golden opportunity to do something she had wanted to do for a long time—rid her father's house of idols! So she took them and hid them under the saddle of her camel.

When Lavan returned home and found out that Yaakov, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, Zilpa, Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Dan, Naftali, Yissachar, Zevulun, Gad, Asher, Yosef, and Dinah had all run off... he was furious! He was fuming! He was boiling MAD!

He ran out and chased after them—and caught up with them as they made their way out of town.

"Why did you run away? And WHY did you steal my idols?!" he demanded.

Yaakov had no idea what on earth he was talking about when he mentioned the idols, so he gave permission for Lavan to search everywhere. Rachel stayed seated up on her camel, so Lavan never discovered the idols she had stashed under the saddle.

"Lavan," Yaakov exclaimed, "this is ridiculous! I worked for you in good faith for 20 years. You've been cheating me all along. Enough already! Let us go in peace!"

Lavan thought for a moment. He couldn't really argue with anything Yaakov had said. So Lavan replied, "You know what? You're 100% right. I will let you go in peace, and let's make it official. Let's agree that neither one of us will ever harm the other—and also our children, and our children's children."

Set In Stone

Yaakov thought that was an excellent idea, so he brought an enormous stone and set it upright as a reminder of their peace agreement. Yaakov's sons gathered more stones and piled them up near the big stone, to show that they and their descendants would also keep the agreement.

Lavan then returned to Charan, while Yaakov and his family continued on their way back to their own land—Canaan.

One Big Happy Family

Yaakov's twelve sons would grow up to become the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel! And so the ways of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were passed down to another generation, and the chain of tradition continued unbroken...

But back to our story: HaShem sent a new group of malachim (angels) to protect Yaakov and his family from his enemies as he headed home. And who was enemy #1? Eisav! He was still angry, and preparing for a major fight!