Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed! Baruch ata YHVHEloheinu
melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu eht Torah-to.Baruch
atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the
blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us
your Torah.
Gen 31:3 And יהוה said to Yaʽaqoḇ,
“Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives. And I am with you.” (“relatives”
– “moledet” plural for “birthplaces”)
This is the first time in
the Torah that the land is referenced to individuals – “Return to the land of
your fathers” (Hegg)
Hidden in this and
following Torah portions seems to the reality that the return of Yaqov’s
descendants will be a hazardous journey and they will have to face dangers from
all sides – family and foe.
Gen 31:4 And Yaʽaqoḇ sent
(vayishlach) and called (vayikra) Raḥĕl and
Lĕ’ah to the field, to his flock, Gen 31:5
and said to them, “I see your father’s face, that it is not toward me as
before, but the Elohim of my father has been with me. Gen 31:6 “And you know that I have served your father
with all my strength. Gen 31:7 “Yet your
father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but Elohim did not allow
him to do evil to me. Gen 31:8 “When he
said this, ‘The speckled are your wages,’ then all the flocks bore speckled.
And when he said this, ‘The streaked are your wages,’ then all the flocks bore
streaked. Gen 31:9 “So Elohim has taken
away the livestock of your father and given them to me. Gen 31:10 “And it came to be, at the time when the
flocks conceived, that I lifted my eyes and looked in a dream and saw the rams
which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled, and mottled. Gen
31:11 “And the Messenger of Elohim spoke
to me in a dream, saying, ‘Yaʽaqoḇ.’ And I said, ‘Here I am.’ Gen 31:12 “And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see,
all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and mottled,
for I have seen all that Laḇan is
doing to you. Gen 31:13 ‘I am the Ěl of Bĕyth
Ěl, where you anointed the standing column and where you made a vow to Me. Now rise
up, get out of this land, and return to the land of your relatives.’ ”
Gen 28:19 And he called the name of that
place Běyth Ěl, however, the name of that city had been Luz previously.
Gen 28:20 And Ya‛aqoḇ made a vow, saying,
“Seeing Elohim is with me, and has kept me in this way that I am going, and has
given me bread to eat and a garment to put on – Gen 28:21 when I
have returned to my father’s house in peace, and יהוה has been
my Elohim, Gen 28:22 then this stone which I have set as a standing
column shall be Elohim’s house, and of all that You give me, I shall certainly
give a tenth to You.”
Gen 31:14 And Raḥĕl and
Lĕ’ah answered and said to him, “Do we still have any portion or inheritance in
our father’s house?
Gen 31:15 “Are we
not reckoned by him as strangers? For he has sold us, and also entirely
consumed our silver. Gen 31:16 “For all
the wealth which Elohim has taken from our father are ours and our children’s.
Now then, do whatever Elohim has told you.”
Gen 31:17 So Yaʽaqoḇ rose
and put his sons and his wives on camels, Gen 31:18 and he drove off all his livestock and all
his possessions which he had acquired, his property of the livestock which he
had acquired in Paddan Aram, to go to his father Yitsḥaq in
the land of Kenaʽan. Gen 31:19 And
when Laḇan had gone to shear his sheep, Raḥĕl
stole the house idols that were her father’s. Gen 31:20 And Yaʽaqoḇ
deceived Laḇan the Aramean, because he did not inform him that he was
about to flee. Gen 31:21 And he fled
with all that he had. And he rose up and passed over the river, and headed
toward the mountains of Gilʽaḏ. Gen 31:22 And on
the third day Laḇan was told that Yaʽaqoḇ had
fled. Gen 31:23 Then he took his
brothers with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he overtook him
in the mountains of Gilʽaḏ. Gen 31:24 But in
a dream by night Elohim came to Laḇan the
Aramean, and said to him, “Guard yourself, that you do not speak to Yaʽaqoḇ either good or evil.” Gen 31:25 Then
Laḇan overtook Yaʽaqoḇ. Now Yaʽaqoḇ had
pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laḇan
with his brothers pitched in the mountains of Gilʽaḏ. Gen
31:26 And Laḇan
said to Yaʽaqoḇ, “What have you done, that you have deceived me, and
driven my daughters off like captives taken with the sword? Gen 31:27 “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me,
and not inform me, and I would have sent you away with joy and songs, with
tambourine and lyre? Gen 31:28 “And you
did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have been foolish to
do this. Gen 31:29 “It is in the power
of my hand to do evil to you, but the Elohim of your father spoke to me last
night, saying, ‘Guard yourself, that you do not speak to Yaʽaqoḇ
either good or evil.’ Gen 31:30 “And now
you have gone because you greatly long for your father’s house, but why did you
steal my mighty ones?” (idols élohim) Gen 31:31
And Yaʽaqoḇ answered and said to Laḇan,
“Because I was afraid, for I said, ‘Lest you tear your daughters away from me.’
Gen 31:32 “With whomever you find your
mighty ones, do not let him live. In the presence of our brothers, see for
yourself what is with me and take it with you.” For Yaʽaqoḇ did
not know that Raḥĕl had stolen them. Gen 31:33 And Laḇan
went into Yaʽaqoḇ’s tent, and into Lĕ’ah’s tent, and into the tents of the
two female servants, but he did not find them. And he came out of Lĕ’ah’s tent
and entered Raḥĕl’s tent. Gen 31:34
Now Raḥĕl had taken the house idols and put them in the camel’s
saddle, and sat on them. And Laḇan searched all about the tent but did not find them. Gen
31:35 And she said to her father, “Let
it not displease my master that I am unable to rise before you, for the way of
women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the house idols. Gen
31:36 And Yaʽaqoḇ was
wroth and