Parashat Va'yeitzei
Genesis 28:10-32:3
Man on the run.
Tricked Into marriage.
A father's love.
Enslaved by my own father-in-law.
Insight into the inside.
What's in a name?
There's so much in this portion. I say this about many of the portions but this is the jackpot of "stuff".
Yaakov(Jacob) is still fleeing from his brother, Esav(Esau) for stealing/not stealing the birthright. It's nighttime and he stops to sleep. He is so tired, the rocks he places under his head are as a soft as a pillow. He dreams of a ladder with angels ascending and descending.
He finally makes it to his uncle Laban's home and falls madly in love (the first "documented" case of love at first sight) with the younger daughter, Rachel. Like all good men of that time, and some would say of any time, he asks Laban for Rachel's hand in marriage (even though back then there wasn't a ceremony just a giving over from father to husband). Laban is thrilled and says "yes, but". He can marry Rachel but, only after he has worked for seven years (not a bad way to secure free labor). Yaakov would have agreed to work seventy years. He is madly in love. The years seem like minutes and it's time to marry Rachel.
Everyone is thrilled. Except Yaakov, Rachel and probably Leah too. You see Laban, worried that his eldest would not marry, tricks Yaakov and gives him Leah instead of Rachel. The Torah says that Yaakov doesn't realize he has married the wrong person until the next morning. Really? That's for another time. Yaakov is madly in love with Rachel and agrees to work another seven years to marry her. This time, he can marry her before working the seven years.
So, did Lavan trick Yaakov because he wanted to make sure that Leah would have a husband - thus securing her future? Or did Lavan trick Yaakov so he could get fourteen years of free labor out of him?
The sisters move into a competition to see who can produce more babies. Leah has five in row and Rachel is barren. Then Rachel has one and Leah is barren. Then they each give their maidservants to Yaakov and more babies are born. The women name their children according to how they are feeling or how they think Yaakov feels about them. To name a few; "And God heard I was hated." "And God saw that I was hated." "Now my husband will love me." "Now my community will know that I am loved." Imagine having to write that at the top of your spelling test. It's pretty vicious and doesn't sound anything like how sisters, partners and families should behave.
Maybe that's the point.
Maybe that's the point?
There has to be more.
The title of the portion, Va'yeitzei means "and he went out". It seems like that's the point, or actually more the problem. Everyone in this portion "went out". Everyone in this portion looked outwardly and maybe they needed to look inward? Maybe this would have given each of them the opportunity to do a little self reflection and then maybe there would have been a different outcome.
Maybe that's the point.
Mekor Ha'chayiim, Source of life, as we move into Shabbat, let us be mindful of our own tendency to look outward and blame others. Let us make a choice to look inward recognizing the power of this act to bring clarity and even healing.
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach(and blessed),
Laurie
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