פרשת ויצא תש"ה - הצעת יעקב והמקלות

And Abram said: ‘O Lord GOD, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said: ‘Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is to be mine heir.’

the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying:

I will pass through all thy flock to-day, removing from thence every speckled and spotted one, and every dark one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and of such shall be my hire.

והיה שכרי AND THEY SHALL BE MY HIRE — those which from now on will be born speckled and spotted among the goats and the brownish ones amongst the sheep shall belong to me. Those that are at present such set them apart and place them in charge of your sons, so that you may not be able to say to me about those that will be born in the future spotted and speckled and brownish. “These were there originally”. And a further reason why these should be set apart is, in order that you may not be able to say to me, “Because of the male animals that are speckled and spotted the females will give birth from now onwards to offspring of their own kind” (i.e., speckled etc.).

והיה שכרי, it will become my wages, from now on.

So shall my righteousness witness against me hereafter, when thou shalt come to look over my hire that is before thee: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and dark among the sheep, that if found with me shall be counted stolen.’

'וענתה בי וגו AND MY RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL ANSWER FOR ME etc. — Should you suspect me of taking any animals that are yours my righteousness will answer for me, — for my righteousness will come and bear witness before thee as to my hire that you will find in my herd only speckled and spotted ones. Whatever, however, you find amongst them (amongst the animals) that is not speckled or spotted or brownish it will be certain that I have stolen it from your flocks and that it is in my possession by way of theft.

וענתה בי צדקתי, both today and in the future. לפניך, when you will come to check my wages, that it will not contain animals with a different skin pattern from what we agreed.

My righteousness … when it comes before you. Or, “When my righteousness shall go to show my wage, it will testify before you” — i.e., Hashem will reveal what Yaakov deserves for his faithful service by altering the coloration of the lambs.

וענתה בי צדקתי, an abbreviated verse; the meaning is: “my truthfulness will be demonstrated on the following day i.e. in the future, (when these animals will produce young) when you have a chance to check on what I have selected as the basis for my wages.

So shall my righteousness witness against me hereafter, when thou shalt come to look over my hire that is before thee: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and dark among the sheep, that if found with me shall be counted stolen.’

And the flocks conceived at the sight of the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.