Vayeitzei - 5th Portion

Join me in learning kitas for Thursday parishes vets the fifth Torah reading chapter 30 verse 28. Yesterday we finished discussing about the birth of all the tribes besides Binyammen who has not yet been born. But at this point when Yakov sees that Yseph was born and believed that he would be the counterpart of Asov and he would be guaranteed to be victorious against Asov, he tells Lavan that it's time for him to return home. Y Lavan understands and realizes that he was successful because of Yakov and thereby tries to convince Yakov to stay. Today's Torah reading begins in this conversation. Today's to class is Gilka verse 28 says to pick a price tell me how much you want to get paid and I'll give it to you like the words like the says tell me your price verse 29 so Jacob responds to and says you surely know that when I worked for you and that when I had your cattle before you there was very few. Rashi explains this is connected to the that comes afterwards telling us that the accounting of how few cattle you had that when I first came here and was working with you how much was then and how much is now as he continues to the next verse and says that now you have plenty. Verse 30, for you had little before my arrival. And now it has increased substantially and God blessed you because of me. And now when will I have a chance to provide for my household as well? What does the word largely mean? So Rashi explains from when I got here because of me coming here meaning when I came here with my feet when I started coming here that's when the blessing came to you we find the similar terminology used in the book of Exodus the nation that's coming with you or the nation that we find in the nation that came with you which technically means that came with you meaning when am I going to work for the benefit of my household as well. Now the only ones that do for me are only my children but I also have to be there with them to help them to support them so that I should be able to earn some money as well. And that's why he says meaning not only for them but I should be joining them in making some money for myself that I can support my family. Verse 31. So Jacob said, "I'm sorry." So love and said to him, "Love and asked Jacob, so what should I give you? What are you requesting? So what are you asking for?" And said, "You know what? Don't give me anything outright. You will do this one thing with for me. I will continue. I will pasture to pasture your flock and I will tend to them and protect them. Verse 32, what is the condition? And as you know that most of the flock are going to be are solid blacker black or brown and therefore only minority have markings whether they're speckled or different kinds of things of it. This way will be easily to spot what belongs to Yakov as he's about to explain to him. And he tells him as follows. Ever let me pass through all your flock today and remove from there any sheep that is white speckled or white blotched the or every solid black or every solid brown amongst the lamb. and every white blotched or white speckled by the goat and that will be my reward. That will be my payment. Everything else you get to keep. Let's see what Rashi has to say in explaining about each one of these details. First of all, what does it mean? So Rashi explains to us the word means speckled with small little dots. That's why we know the vowels are called like vowels because they're little dots dotted. The next rashi the comes from the word lion like different pieces patches. So this is big blotches. The tarum explains the color which is brown is compared and is very close to the color red. Adam which is red similar to blood. That's what we find in the words of the Mishna that a person if he took wheat that he thought it was going to be dark was going to be brown and he find out that is why when it talks about wheat that the sun makes the wheat darker this will be my payment meaning this will be my future payment those flock that are going to be born from now onward those that spotted and speckled by Een by the the goats and those that are blotched and those [clears throat] and those that are and those that are burned the color those that are like brown by the flock those shal will be mine you shal however those that are spotted and speckled and brown that are there now half form separate them from the rest of the sheep and put them by your sons. You should not say you should not say, "Oh, those spotted and speckled. They were really mine. They were there from to begin with because of my males because they are spotted and speckled and blotched to so therefore they gave birth to females just like them and therefore from now on all of them that you see from now on those will be clear that are mine. Basically what Jacob was telling him in order that he knew already that love was a trickster and he knew already his tricks. He says, "Listen here. You take away all those that are spotted, speckled, you take them to the side, give them to your sons. I don't want them here. You shouldn't come along later and say that the reason why you have those spotted speckles, they belong to me." Verse 33, the way and and sometime in the future when you're going to come along and I'm going to have to prove which one are mine. My integrity will testify in a later time that when it comes to my payment before you, whatever is neither speckled nor blotched amongst the goats or brown amongst the sheep. Godi is in my possession by theft. So you'll know which ones belong to me. Rashi, what does this mean? And my righteousness will testify later. meaning by this advice that I'm giving you now this way if you can accuse me that I'm taking something from you this will testify for me in the future my righteousness and this will tell you about my payment in front of you will not find in my flock the only thing you will find find the ones that I separated for myself the spotted and speckled of any goat and lamb and anything that you'll find that is not spotted speckled or brown this will be well known that was stolen from you and therefore it was through thievery that it's by me and thereby the righteousness and who is right will prove that there's no way that you can deny it because you see clearly the difference between the sheep and the goat Verse 34. And lo and reluctantly respans like to say yes. Sure. Let it be. If only. If this is what you want, then so let it be. Very well. Let it be. as you say and you cannot go back on what you suggested. Verse 35 removed on that day the hegoats the male goats that were ankle ringed that had like rings around their ankles. That's what the word and in addition to all those blotched male goats the all the goats the the white speckled and the white blotched female goats anything that had had on it had white on it were anything that had brown on the sheep and he gave that to his sons the sons of We're going to take separate them this way. You should be able to distinct they should see clearly who belongs to whom. Rashi 35s going back to what he spoke about before was the one that removed. What did he remove? The word means male goats. That means anything that had white in it. Barban, if it had white patches on it, he love and removed it from Yakov, not only the ones that were speckled and spotted clearly. And what did he do with them? Love him of love and gave it to his sons that they should be the ones to deal with it. As we can see later on verse 36 and Lavan now made a space of three days. He separated himself from Yakov's flock and Lavan's flock a three-day journey between him and Yakovaris and Yakov continued to pass through the rest of Loven's flock. As we see in verse 36 verse 36, what does it mean? The leftover ones, the weak ones, the sick ones, and those that were barren. These were the leftovers from the flock. And he knew that they weren't going to be meeting him full of or anything. He gave those love and gave those to Yak. And why did he give those to Yak? because of course his loving him in his wicked ways tried to minimize the amount of reward that he was going to give him. So he gave him all those weaker ones that they shouldn't have any possibility of producing any offspring of his payment that he was going to give him. Verse 37 now [clears throat] [snorts] since love left him no way that genetically that his uh his goats can produce anything. So Yakov came up with the following method to induce the goats under his care that they should be able to create and have more of their kinds of goats. So what Yakov did was Yakov took a sticks. What kind of sticks? Leven of hazeline. He took fresh aspen sticks which were hazel sticks and chestnut sticks vivid and chestnut sticks and he peeled white stripes in them that you were able to expose the white that was on the sticks. So he used these aspen hazel and chestnut sticks peeled them so you should able to see the white that was underneath the bark. Rashi what kind of sticks? Sarashi tells us these types of sticks and he translates for us the sticks and he says as follows aspen sticks it's a type of wood and its name is liven under oaks and it says in the under the oak and so it's a type of tree which was called I say I believe that the livena is a type of wood which is called trenbula and in old French it's called trenbul which today we would call aspen shahoo ate love which was white this is not another kind of uh tree but he's telling you you took a he took a branch of the tree when it was moist Lo, what is he telling us? This is a this is another this is not a description of the wood, but this is another kind of tree. L is hazel. The he took another think another stick of hazel. It's a tree that grows on its small little nuts which we would call hazelnuts today. In old French it's called cauldri translates also like chestnut in old French chestner in old French palis. What does the word mean? He peeled it from the sides of the of the stick. He made it look as if it was stre. It had stripes on it. And this way you saw the different stripes. The purpose of it was and he explains as follows. What does it mean? The word the word means he he revealed the white of the stick that means by taking off the peel of the stick you were then able to see the white on the bottom of the stick. You would peel it then you would be able to see the reveal the white which was there in the place where it was peeled. So you had stripes, you had the darkness, you had the peel, you had the actual peel that was remaining and then the peel that was taken off which gave you then stripes on those sticks. So you had three kinds of sticks. You had on the sticks that he peeled them as well and you were able to see the white. We continue in the verse 37 38. What did he do with these sticks? He then placed the display these sticks that he had peeled. He placed them in the troughs of water where the water would be running through that the sheep would come there to drink. He would put them against we are facing the animals. Once they we put these sticks in the troughs which were where the water would come in from and while the sheep or goat were there drinking they would be facing it. And this way they mated with the hegoats with the male goats when they came to drink. Let's see rashi. Rashi explains what happened here. What does the word mean? like the UNLAS translates that he put it into something strong that it would stay there in the Aramaic language means that you stick something into the ground. We find this a lot of times in the Talmud. If a person stuck some shabas if a person stuck something in the ground and then pulled it out of the ground. If a person stuck something else we find it in but over here the was making it short but we find this your terminology of as in the terminology of sticking something into the ground. These are the troughs which the water would run through. The water would comfort in like these little pools that were made in the ground that the sheep would come to drink from there that the sheep would come to drink. He put it facing them but he put it in these troughs that the sheep would come drink over there is where he placed the sticks facing the sheep. So when the sheep would come drink, they would be facing, they would be looking at those sticks that Yakov placed in the water. Looking at those sticks caused the uh the the females to become pregnant. Once the animal saw the sticks that were striped and it would become all of a sudden bewildered uh and shaken because it sees something weird in the water and because of that it would shake them and cause them to mate and therefore the male goat would then mate with the female goat and it would then bring out children of what it looked like while it was in the water. And this says according to he says this in itself was a miraculous event that the females did not need the males to mate and it was just from the water itself that they caused them to have the children cause them to have that their um animals that came from them looked like what they saw in the water. Verse 39. [snorts] The animals mated at the sight of seeing the sticks. Because of that they gave birth to sheep toim to ankle ringed nicodim spotted white speckled utluim and white blotched. Verse 39. What does it mean? El hammock to the sticks. Marisak by seeing these uh sticks. That's what caused them to have children and sheep that way. The word means they look different. Meaning that there was something tied around their ankle that looks like they had a circle there. By the place where they would tie them, when they would tie sheep, when they wanted to slaughter them, they would tie them by their ankles. So therefore, he says, by the ankles of their legs and their feet. That's where you saw these rings. Many want to explain cabalistically of why to specifically these uh three different types of wood that he used aspen, hazel and chestnut. The combination of these different color type of sticks symbolized that who was the mid of synthesis was Yakov symbolized synthesis bringing the two together. And therefore he drew by the divine intellect of these emotions and uh is explained in Cababal and that by Yakov making the stripes on the sticks. This was his way of putting on fillin because he was able to achieve those levels spiritually through the gurifas and bringing it down into and accomplishing the same spiritual manifestation that fand could do. However, the difference was that fill and the item became holy itself. Because this was before the giving of the Torah, the actual sticks did not become holy. The Torah now continues with verse 40. And the sheep freed separated those white mark sheep. And what Yakov did was he had the goat flock face, the white ankle ringed sheep. And then also as well all the brown amongst those flock that he put and all the brown ones in the sheep of and he made them flocks herds on their own herds of sheep on their own and did not let them intermingle with the rest of love and sheep. So what Yakov did was those that were se those that were born to him with the circles and the spots he kept for himself and then he made separate herds for loving as well as we'll see Rashi explains. Sarashi tells us from those sheep Yakov took for himself only the brown ones. Those that were born with the stripes with the rings on their ankles were the spotted or the or the blotched. He separated them and gave them for himself made herds of them on their own. And he took those herds of those that were ringing before the other ones. And therefore the other sheep saw as the sheep passed by before them. This way they will be able to give birth to those similar. Therefore he says that he put the face of the sheep towards the ones that had the rings around them. that the face [clears throat] of the sheep were were looking and steering those that had the rings. And so to on the spotted and the blotched and then all of the brown goats that he found amongst love on sheep, meaning that even those that he separated in herds on their own, he would sep he would let them walk in front of the other sheep. So when the sheep saw them, they would make and they would see them and they would then have the same idea and have the same what they saw. Like I explained that he made them in herds so they should have an effect on those that see them and this way they should be able to mate like them. [snorts] Verse 41. And it would be the plan was that whenever the early ones the early bearing animals would were in the heat would give more would get warm then would put the sticks in the water in front of the sheep in the troughs of water. So they should be able to mate by seeing the sticks. What does it mean? Usually the word mukusher means to tie over here means the ones that would come that they were early they would breed early they would be um early the early bearing I don't have any other example in the poor to prove my point that this is what it means which is referring over here to we mentioned a few days ago about who was a grammar and translator of many words in the Torah Heashi's teacher when it came to these ideas and he says as follows. He found some words which are similar to it in the book of Samuel where it talks about that he was found amongst those that were the first to rebel against David and it was a strong not meaning that those that were connected with the with the sheep at an early stage so they should conceive and give birth early. Verse 42. However, but he did not place them when the latebearing animals came along and therefore the laterb born offspring became love because since they did not have any stripes or speckled on them and the early born offspring became yakovs. What does the wordif mean? So, Rashi explains it means that they were the ones that were born later. And explains it comes from as if somebody is wearing a garment. It's talking about those that were older. They [snorts] were uh latebearing and therefore they were so enclosed in their wool and in their skin and their hide that they had no interest in mating with the males. And because of that they weren't able to become pregnant and have flock from them as well. Verse 43. And thus the man became exceedingly prosperous and he owned lots of sheep, bondsmen, bondsmen, camels and dunkeys. Verse 43, rashi. Why does it use the terminology so many sheep and in a female terminology to tell us? Because his sheep would reproduce more than any other sheep. How did he have all these different things? If he only was a shepherd, where did he get bonds women, slaves, camels, donkeys? So he says because the sheep were young and they were healthy and they were reproducing he was able to sell his sheep for a lot of money and therefore he was able to buy with it camels, dunkeys, bondsmen and servants and all the good stuff that he had with him. Verse 30, we're now in chapter 31 verse one. And now the s the Yakov heard that what was being said by love and son and he heard the children of love saying took everything that belonged to our father and from our father's property he amassed this great wealthi gathered he was able to amass made and he killed verse two and saw the face of love and his attitude towards him was not the same like it was yesterday or the day before. Verse three and God comes to and tells him it's time for you to return to your father's land you were born and I will be with you says only when you go back to your father's land will I be with you and my divine presence will be with you but while you're still here with love and the impurity my divine presence cannot rest on Verse four when they were by the to the field to where his flock was verse four and only afterwards to Leia because was his main wife gave him because only because of did have this work relationship with even the children of Leah agreed agreed and his rabbitic tribunal were from the tribe of Yehuda which is from Leia. They would say that the words that they used to say like that they both built up the home they were the ones that before Leia they recognized that Raul was the one that was Jacob's original wife or main wife which was initially verse five and he said to them and I see your father's face and his attitude It's not the same like it was yesterday or the day before but God but the God of my father has been with me all these time and you know that I served your father with all my heart with all my power. Verse seven, your father yet deceived me changed my conditions of payment 100 times. But God did not allow him to harm me. What does it mean 100 times? But the word generally uses 10. We don't count less than 10. The word is giving you the total of the uh the total the tally of that means it's not a singular number 10 but it's telling you a large amount of tens which is 10 times 10 and therefore it's which is teaching us that he changed his conditions may 100 times of what they first decided on how it was going to be it was changed and now he gives them examples of how it changed for example if he would Say your payment will be with the speckled ones. The old saying then all the animals would produce speckled sports ring. But if you would say your payment will be like the ankle ringed ones then all the animals would produce ankle ringed offspring. Verse n. And it was this way that Hashem was able to redeem your father's livestock and thereby giving them to me. How did that happen? And he explains and it happened when it was that recently when your father told me what the payment was going to be. So at that time when the sheep were and I looked up during the time of the mating season and I looked up with my eyes and I saw in a dream and there were those and the and the bucks were mounting on the sheep theim and they were coming out ankle ringed spotted bruim and sp and belted white belted What does he mean by this? Zashi explains what was going on here as follows 10 even though he loved and separated all of them love and took away any of them that I that none of them should be able to mate and become pregnant of any of the sheep similar to it because that was the deal that he made and I would get the spotted in the speckled still in all I saw in the dream. that the angels were bringing them from the herds of bringing it to mind that they should be able to give birth and be able to have all these different types of sheep. What does the word brooden mean? It was belted. It looked like there was a strap of white mak which was surrounding a scuf which would wrap around the the body and there were patches were white and they were going from side to side there was no separation between the two of them and notes I don't have an example where I can tell you where this is coming from but this is the way he looked that it was a continuous stripe that would go around like a belted the way that you were able to see the white that was there on the animal. That's what the word brudim means. Verse number 11. And the angel told me, and in that same dream, the angel called to me and said, the same dream, the angel called me and said, and I replied, here I am. Verse 12. And he said raise your eyes and see all these bucks that are mounting that are coming up that are mounting on the goats on the she goats and look at them they're right they're ankle ringed they're belted I see everything that loan has done to you a kale base kale what does this mean so he says as follows kale The god in the god that revealed to you in a why does it have a hey this is the usual concept of how the verse is written you're coming to the land of cananan that you anointed there I'm sorry we didn't do that verse yet we'll go into the verse 13 I am the god from that you consecrated there a monument that you vowed to meow now it is time for you to leave the land leave this land return to the land that you were born as we said before is the extra this is the way the usually puts it putting meaning the one that you anointed for example like the one you anointed for to be the king. So too over here he's using you anointed oil on its head. You anointed it that it shall be something worthy that it shall be an altar to bring a sacrifice. You made a promise. You got to keep to your promise will be a place for God. You're going to bring sacrifices. Now it's time for you to go back to your homeland and bring the sacrifices that you promised. Verse 14 and responded to they told him, "Do we even still have a shir in the inheritance of our father?" Verse 14, they're asking, "Why should we even hold you back from going back? Are we even going to get something as the inheritance amongst the males now that there are boys?" Initially, there were no boys. Now there are boys around. We're not going to get anything from this. There's nothing worth for us to wait around. 15 why we were even considered to be him as strangers. He sold us off to you in exchange of 14 years of labor. And he spent our wage money for himself. He did give nothing. He did he's you're managing his flock. He took it for himself. We have nothing from it. Now we can have now we can have an even when a person usually gives a dowy live to his daughters when they got married. He treated us like strangers. He sold us to you. You worked for us for 14 years and he only gave you for what you worked. That's where you got money. He even withheld the money that you were supposed to get and we got nothing. Verse 16 all the things that belong all the wealth that God has senu from your from our father it belongs to us. The thing that belongs to us and to our children and to our children. The thing that belongs to us and our children is the wealth that Hashem has given you. Now anything that God tells you I say we will do. What does this mean? Rashi explains. If we look over here the word key as we mentioned many times key can be many different things. Mean in this case it means but from our father we have nothing. But what do we have? God saved. save that you have the wealth that's what we have save separated anytime we find the word to save in the verse means to separate a side as it says that he separates him from the enemy and from the bad this concludes the Torah reading for Thursday paras