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Parashat Vayetzei |
Torah Portion: Genesis 28:10 - 32:3 1: 28:10-22 (13 p'sukim) 2: 29:1-17 (17 p'sukim) 3: 29:18-30:13 (31 p'sukim) 4: 30:14-27 (14 p'sukim) 5: 30:28-31:16 (32 p'sukim) 6: 31:17-42 (26 p'sukim) 7: 31:43-32:3 (15 p'sukim)
Haftarah for Ashkenazim: Hosea 12:13 - 14:10 Reading One Gen 28:10-22 10 Supplanter left Well of Oath and set out for Mountaineer. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a ladder resting on the earth, with its top reaching to the heavens, and the messengers of Mighty were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood Eternal, and he said: "I am Eternal, the Mighty of your father Abraham and the Mighty of Laughter. I will give you and your descendents the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendents will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 16 When Supplanter awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely Eternal is in this place, and I was not aware of it." 17 He was fearful and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of Mighty; this is heavens gate." 18 Early the next morning Supplanter took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a monument and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place ‘The House of Mighty’, though the city used to be called ‘Almond Tree’. 20 Then Supplanter made a vow, saying, "If Mighty will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father's house, then Eternal will be my Mighty 22 and this stone that I have set up as a monument will be established as the house of Mighty, and of all that You give me I will give You a tenth." Gen 29:1-17 CHAPTER 29 1 Then Supplanter continued on his journey and came to the land of the peoples of antiquity. 2 There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were given to drink from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. 3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well's mouth and give the sheep to drink. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well. 4 Supplanter asked the shepherds, "My brothers, where are you from?" "We're from Mountaineer," they replied. 5 He said to them, "Do you know Whitey, the grandson of Snort?" "Yes, we know him," they answered. 6 Then Supplanter asked them, "Is he well?" "Yes, he is," they said, "and here comes his daughter Ewe with the sheep." 7 "Look," he said, "the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture." 8 "We can't," they replied, "until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep." 9 While he was still talking with them, Ewe came with her father's sheep, for she was a tender of sheep. 10 When Supplanter saw Ewe the daughter of Whitey, his mother's brother, and Whitey's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep. 11 Then Supplanter kissed Ewe and began to weep aloud. 12 He had told Ewe that he was a relative of her father and a son of Dazes. So she ran and told her father. 13 As soon as Whitey heard the news about Supplanter, his sister's son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Supplanter told him all these things. 14 Then Whitey said to him, "You are my own flesh and blood." After Supplanter had stayed with him for a whole month, 15 Whitey told to him, "Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages must be." 16 Now Whitey had two daughters; the name of the older was Weary, and the name of the younger was Ewe. 17 Weary had tender eyes, but Ewe had a beautiful figure and ever so kind to the eyes. Gen 29:18-30:13 18 Supplanter was quite taken with Ewe and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Ewe." 19 Whitey said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me then." 20 So Supplanter served seven years for Ewe, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. 21 Then Supplanter said to Whitey, "Give me my woman. My time is completed that I may go in to her with her." 22 So Whitey brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. 23 But when evening came, he took his daughter Weary and gave her to Supplanter, and Supplanter went in with her. 24 And Whitey gave his servant girl Trickling to his daughter as her slave girl. 25 When morning came, there was Weary! So Supplanter said to Whitey, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Ewe, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?" 26 Whitey replied, "It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter's bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work." 28 And Supplanter did so. He finished the week with Weary, and then Whitey gave him his daughter Ewe to be his woman. 29 Whitey gave his slave girl called ‘Troubled’ to his daughter Ewe as her slave girl. 30 Supplanter lay with Ewe also, and he loved Ewe more than Weary. And he worked for Whitey another full seven years. 31 When Eternal saw that Weary was not favored, he opened her womb, but Ewe’s was closed. 32 Weary became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him ‘Behold a Son’, for she said, "It is because Eternal has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now." 33 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because Eternal heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Heard. 34 Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Now at last my husband will become more joined to me, because I have borne him three sons." So he was named ‘Joined To’. 35 She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise Eternal." So she named him Praised. Then she stopped having children. CHAPTER 30 1 When Ewe saw that she was not bearing Supplanter any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Supplanter, "Give me children, or I'll shall die!" 2 Supplanter became angry with her and said, "How do I stand in the place of Mighty, it is He who has kept you from conceiving?" 3 Then she said, "Here is Troubled, my maidservant. Go in to her so that she can bear children for me. Through her I too can build a family." 4 So she gave him her servant Troubled as his woman. Supplanter went into her, 5 and she became pregnant and bore him a son. 6 Then Ewe said, " Mighty has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son." Because of this she named him Judge. 7 Ewe's servant Troubled conceived again and bore Supplanter a second son. 8 Then Ewe said, "I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won." So she named him Struggle. 9 When Weary saw that she had stopped having children, she took her maidservant Trickling and gave her to Supplanter as a woman. 10 Weary's servant Trickling bore Supplanter a son. 11 Then Weary said, "Arrives a troop!" So she named him Troop. 12 Weary's servant Trickling bore Supplanter a second son. 13 Then Weary said, "How happy I am! The women will call me happy." So she named him Happy. Gen 30:14-27 14 During wheat harvest, Behold a Son went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Weary. Ewe said to Weary, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." 15 But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes as well?" "Very well," Ewe said, "he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes." 16 So when Supplanter came in from the fields that evening, Weary went out to meet him. "You must sleep with me," she said. "I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he slept with her that night. 17 Mighty listened to Weary, and she became pregnant and bore Supplanter a fifth son. 18 Then Weary said, “Mighty has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband." So she named him Recompense. 19 Weary conceived again and bore Supplanter a sixth son. 20 Then Weary said, "Mighty has presented me with a precious gift. Now my husband will dwell with me exaltedly, because I have borne him six sons." So she named him ‘Dwell Exaltedly’. 21 Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and called her name Judgment. 22 Then Mighty remembered Ewe; He listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and she said, "Mighty has taken away my disgrace." 24 She named him Eternal Has Added, then said, "May Eternal add to me another son." 25 After Ewe gave birth to ‘Eternal Has Added’, Supplanter said to Whitey, "Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. 26 Give me my woman and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I've done for you." 27 But Whitey said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have discovered by the observance signs that Eternal has blessed me because of you." Gen 30:28-31:16 28 He then added, "Name your wages, and I will pay them." 29 Supplanter said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared with my care. 30 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and Eternal has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?" 31 "What shall I give you?" he asked. "Don't give me anything," Supplanter replied. "But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32 Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen." 34 "Agreed," said Whitey. "Let it be as you have said." 35 That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Supplanter, while Supplanter continued to tend the rest of Whitey's flocks. 37 Supplanter, however, took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 38 Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39 they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40 Supplanter set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Whitey. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Whitey's animals. 41 Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Supplanter would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, 42 but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Whitey and the strong ones to Supplanter. 43 In this way the man grew very exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, with both men and women slaves and with camels and donkeys. CHAPTER 31 1 Supplanter heard that Whitey's sons were saying, "Supplanter has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father." 2 And Supplanter noticed that Whitey's attitude toward him was not what it had been. 3 Then Eternal said to Supplanter, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you." 4 So Supplanter sent word to Ewe and Weary to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5 He said to them, "I see that your father's attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the Mighty of my father has been with me. 6 You know that I've worked for your father with all my strength, 7 yet your father is cheating me by changing my wages ten times. However, Mighty has not allowed him to harm me. 8 If he said, 'The speckled ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, 'The streaked ones will be your wages,' then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9 So Mighty has taken away your father's livestock and has given them to me. 10 "In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. 11 The angel of Mighty said to me in the dream, 'Supplanter.' I then answered, 'Here I am.' 12 And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Whitey has been doing to you. 13 I am the Mighty of ‘The House of Mighty’, where you anointed a monument and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'" 14 Then Ewe and Weary replied, "Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father's estate? 15 Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. 16 Surely all the wealth that Mighty took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever Mighty has told you." Gen 31:17-42 17 Then Supplanter put his children and his woman on camels, 18
and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the
goods he had accumulated in the fields of the Highlands, to go to his
father Laughter in the soil of 19 When Whitey had gone to shear his sheep, Ewe stole her father's household idols. 20 Moreover, Supplanter deceived Whitey the Exalted by not telling him he was running away. 21 So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Rocks. 22 On the third day Whitey was told that Supplanter had fled. 23 Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Supplanter for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Rocks. 24 Then Mighty came to Whitey the Exalted in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful not to say anything to Supplanter, either good or bad." 25 Supplanter had pitched his tent in the hill country of Rocks when Whitey overtook him, and Whitey and his relatives camped there too. 26 Then Whitey said to Supplanter, "What have you done? You've deceived me, and you've carried off my daughters like captives in war. 27 Why did you steal away secretly and deceive me? Why didn't you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of tambourines and harps? 28 You didn't even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-by. You have done a foolish thing. 29 I have the power to harm you; but last night the Mighty of your father said to me, 'Be careful not to say anything to Supplanter, either good or bad.' 30 Now you have moved away, you left without warning because you longed to return to your father's house. But why did you steal my idols?" 31 Supplanter answered Whitey, "I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 32 But if you find anyone who has your idols, he shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it." Now Supplanter did not know that Ewe had stolen the idols. 33 So Whitey went into Supplanter's tent and into Weary's tent and into the tent of the two maidservants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Weary's tent, he entered Ewe's tent. 34 Now Ewe had taken the household idols and put them inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Whitey searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. 35 Ewe said to her father, "Don't be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I'm having my period." So he searched but could not find the household idols. 36 Supplanter was angry and took Whitey to task. "What is my crime?" he asked Whitey. "What sin have I committed that you hunt me down? 37 Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us. 38 "I have been with you now for twenty years. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39 I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 40 This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night when sleep fled from my eyes. 41 It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 42 If the Mighty of my father, the Mighty of Abraham and the one Laughter Fears, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But Mighty has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you." Gen 31:43-32:3 43 Whitey answered Supplanter, "The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? 44 Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us." 45 So Supplanter took a stone and set it up as a monument. 46 He said to his relatives, "Gather some stones." So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47 Whitey called it Mound of Witness, and Supplanter called it Heap of Witness. 48 Whitey said, "This Heap is a Witness between you and me today." That is why it was called Heap of Witness. 49 It was also called Watchtower, because he said, "May Eternal keep watch between you and me when we are away from one another. 50 If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any woman instead of my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that Mighty is a witness between you and me." 51 Whitey also said to Supplanter, "Here is this heap, and here is this monument I have set up between you and me. 52 This heap is a witness, and this monument is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and monument to my side to harm me. 53 May the Mighty of Abraham and the Mighty of Snort, the Mighty of their father, be judge between us." So Supplanter took an oath in the name of the one feared of his father Laughter. 54 He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there. 55 Early the next morning Whitey kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home. CHAPTER 32 1 Supplanter also went on his way, and the messengers of Mighty met him. 2 When Supplanter saw them, he said, "This is the host of Mighty!" So he named that place Double Camp. 3 Supplanter sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Hairy in the Rough Country at Red Field. Haftarah for Ashkenazim: Hosea 12:13 - 14:10 Hosea 12:13-14 13 By a prophet Eternal brought those who Persevere as Mighty up out of Double Straits and by a prophet he preserved them. 14 But Doubly Fruitful bitterly provoked him to anger; his Lord shall leave upon him the blood guilt and will repay him for his contempt. Hosea 13:1-16 1 When Doubly Fruitful spoke, men trembled; he was exalted by all who Persevere as Mighty. But he became guilty of worshipping the ‘Lord Mighty’ (Ba’al of the Phoenicians) and he died. 2 Now these sinned more and more; making idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of skilled craftsmen. It is said of these people, "They offer human sacrifice and kiss the bull-calf idols." 3 Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears, like chaff swirling from a threshing floor, like smoke escaping through a window. 4
"But I am Eternal your Mighty, [who brought you] out of 5 I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat. 6 When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot Me. 7 So I will come upon them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk by their path. 8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open. Like a lion I will devour them; as a wild animal will tear them apart. 9 "You are destroyed, O Persevere as Mighty, because you are against Me, against your helper. 10 Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes'? 11 So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away. 12 The guilt of Doubly Fruitful is stored up, his sins are kept on record. 13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him, but he is a child without wisdom; when the time arrives, he does not come to the opening of the womb. 14 "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? "I will have no compassion. 15 Even though he thrives among his brothers, from the east a wind from Eternal will come, blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His storehouse will be plundered of all their treasures and desirable objects. 16
The people of CHAPTER 14 1 Return, you who Persevere as Mighty, to Eternal your Mighty. Your perversity has been your downfall! 2 Take words with you and return to Eternal. Say to him: "Forgive all our perversity and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. 3
4 "I will heal their apostasy and love them freely, for My anger has turned away from them. 5 I will be like the dew to those who Persevere as Mighty; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; 6 his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of the white capped mountains. 7 Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the grain. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine of those white capped mountains. 8 Doubly Fruitful, what more have I to do with images? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from Me." 9 The one who is wise will perceive these things. The one discerning will know them. The ways of Eternal are right; the righteous walk in them, but the words will surely stumble the rebellious ones.
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