Vayetze
Genesis 28:10-32:3

This week we learn about Jacob’s twenty-year sojourn with Laban. It might be titled like a fairy tale, “How Jacob Made His Fortune.” By way of trivia, some common synagogue names are found here: Beth El and Shaarei Shamayim. I grew up at Hollywood Temple Beth El in Los Angeles, where there was an inscription above the bima, “And I come again in peace to my father’s house.” I remember gazing at those words many times as a child, and I remember my excitement in discovering that here in Vayetze, Jacob awakens from his dream of the ladder and calls the place Beth El (the house of God) and Shaarei Shamayim (the gate of heaven), and vows to tithe to God if God protects him on his journey so that he will, “come again in peace to my father’s house.” (Gen 28:21)

The tale of Jacob’s ladder has always been a favorite of mine. I have passed through times of great turmoil, strengthened by the sense that, despite how hard things were, God was calling the shots and sending me where I belonged. I have longed for, and sometimes received, that sense of connection that makes everything meaningful, even if not at all easy. And I have always adored the skeptical nature of Jacob’s response: if God in fact takes good care of me as promised, then Adonai will be my God. Here he has just had a magnificent revelation, and he’s still going to just wait and see, as if he has a choice. There is such a funny and endearing discrepancy between what he knows with his soul, and what his mind is willing to concede.

Vayetze begins right after Jacob has been sent hurriedly away for his own protection, with Jacob laying down to sleep in the wilderness and having the extraordinary dream of a ladder with angels going up and down, and God’s strong reassurance of fertility and protection. Then Jacob arrives at Haran, meets Rachel at the well, and goes to work for Laban for seven years in exchange for marrying her. He is deceived into marrying Leah instead, and then must work seven more years for Rachel. His wives and concubines produce thirteen children, and his flocks increase wondrously. God tells him to go back home, and he sneaks away with all his household without telling Laban, for fear that Laban would try to stop him. Laban pursues him and accuses him of stealing his household idols, which Rachel did secretly steal. They are not found. Jacob and Laban make a pact not to travel near each other again, and Jacob continues toward home. The portion ends as it began, with an encounter with angels.

There are several interesting parallel deceptions and ironies in this part of the narrative. Jacob has just deceived his father and brother, and soon he is deceived in marrying Leah. He and his brother were rivals for the birthright, and now the sisters Leah and Rachel become rivals for Jacob’s affection. Leah wants love and is granted fertility. Rachel wants fertility and is given love. The husband is the master, but the wives decide where and with whom he sleeps. And through the complications and heartbreaks of these women’s lives, the children who will be the heads of the tribes of Israel come into being. And we know, that in the next generation, the rivalry among the children, based on the favoritism and rivalry of the parents, will lead to the victimization of Joseph, whose abduction is ultimately the salvation of the whole clan. Or in other words, if Jacob did not favor Rachel and her children, particularly Joseph, he would never have been hated by Leah’s children, they would never have attacked him, he would never have come to Egypt, or been in a position to provide for his family during the famine.

So even what we might call the dysfunctional aspects of this large and complex family ultimately serve God’s plan. Although it couldn’t have been a happy life for Rachel and Leah, their very unhappiness seems to serve a divine purpose in building up a large family. Jacob is in great conflict with Laban, who takes advantage of him in a number of ways. But this is part of what sends Jacob back home to meet his destiny. Biblical figures are always complex and human; they are not perfect saints. But God’s purposes come to fruition through their shortcomings as much as through their strengths.

So our lives may unfold and find their purpose as much through our failures as our successes, as much through our times of doubt as our times of faith. Rather than spending a lot of time blaming ourselves about past mistakes or trying to control the future, it is more effective to immerse ourselves in the challenges of the moment, trusting that the big picture is in good hands. Jacob finds his way home and all of God’s promises are kept. The journey has made him ready to become Israel.

- Rabbi Alexis Roberts
(c) 2002

updated November 8, 2002