IN A NUTSHELL
In this parasha, Yaakov ran away from home because his brother Esav had promised to kill him for sneakily getting the firstborn’s blessing from his father. On his way to his Uncle Lavan’s home in Ḥaran, he stopped for the night on Mount Moria. While asleep, he dreamed of angels climbing up and down a ladder that reached heaven. During this vision, God promised that he would become father to many children and that his family would inherit the land of Israel.
He awoke and realised it was a prophetic dream, then continued his journey towards Ḥaran. He met Raḥel, the daughter of Lavan, at a nearby well, and fell in love with her. Raḥel had an older sister called Leah. Lavan agreed to let Yaakov marry Raḥel (although she was the younger sister) if Yaakov worked for him for seven years. After the wedding finally took place, Yaakov realised that Lavan had tricked him and he had really married Leah. Lavan said that he had done this because the custom was to marry the older child first, but if Yaakov agreed to another seven years of work, he could also marry Raḥel. They married, but both Raḥel and Leah became unhappy. Leah felt unloved, but had many children (six sons and one daughter). Raḥel was deeply loved by Yaakov, but could not have children. Both wives asked their maidservants to also be wives to Yaakov, and Yaakov became father to four more sons. Eventually Raḥel had her first child, a son who she called Yosef.
There was tension between Yaakov and Lavan over the flocks, as Lavan often changed the agreement of who owned which sheep. Eventually Yaakov decided to leave with his wives and children. Lavan followed behind and tried to stop him, but they finally parted ways in peace, and twenty years after leaving home, the four wives, twelve children, and all their sheep journeyed together, led by Yaakov, towards the place of his birth – Israel.
QUESTION TO PONDER
How do you think Yaakov kept going despite the many difficulties he experienced?