Conflict Resolution

(1) Now he heard the things that Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from that which was our father’s he has built up all this wealth.” (2) Jacob also saw that Laban’s manner toward him was not as it had been in the past. (3) Then ה' said to Jacob, “Return to your ancestors’ land—where you were born—and I will be with you.” (4) Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field, where his flock was, (5) and said to them, “I see that your father’s manner toward me is not as it has been in the past. But the God of my father’s [house] has been with me. (6) As you know, I have served your father with all my might; (7) but your father has cheated me, changing my wages time and again.*time and again Lit. “ten times.” God, however, would not let him do me harm. (8) If he said thus, ‘The speckled shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks would drop speckled young; and if he said thus, ‘The streaked shall be your wages,’ then all the flocks would drop streaked young. (9) God has taken away your father’s livestock and given it to me. (10) “Once, at the mating time of the flocks, I had a dream in which I saw*I had a dream in which I saw Lit. “I raised my eyes and saw in a dream, behold.” that the he-goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and mottled. (11) And in the dream a messenger of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Here,’ I answered. (12) And the messenger said, ‘Note well that all the he-goats which are mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, and mottled; for I have noted all that Laban has been doing to you. (13) I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now, arise and leave this land and return to your native land.’” (14) Then Rachel and Leah answered him, saying, “Have we still a share in the inheritance of our father’s house? (15) Surely, he regards us as outsiders, now that he has sold us and has used up our purchase price. (16) Truly, all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now then, do just as God has told you.” (17) Thereupon Jacob put his children and wives on camels; (18) and he drove off all his livestock and all the wealth that he had amassed, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. (19) Meanwhile Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household idols. (20) Jacob kept Laban the Aramean in the dark,*kept Laban the Aramean in the dark Lit. “stole the mind of Laban the Aramean”; similarly in v. 26. not telling him that he was fleeing, (21) and fled with all that he had. Soon he was across the Euphrates and heading toward the hill country of Gilead. (22) On the third day, Laban was told that Jacob had fled. (23) So he took his kinsmen with him and pursued him a distance of seven days, catching up with him in the hill country of Gilead. (24) But God appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night and said to him, “Beware of attempting anything with Jacob, good or bad.” (25) Laban overtook Jacob. Jacob had pitched his tent on the Height, and Laban with his kinsmen encamped in the hill country of Gilead. (26) And Laban said to Jacob, “What did you mean by keeping me in the dark and carrying off my daughters like captives of the sword? (27) Why did you flee in secrecy and mislead me and not tell me? I would have sent you off with festive music, with timbrel and lyre. (28) You did not even let me kiss my sons and daughters*sons and daughters So NJPS; Heb. levanai we-livnotai, a stock phrase (see, e.g., 46.15; 1 Sam. 30.6; Neh. 5.5) that means “progeny,” thus including grandchildren. good-by! It was a foolish thing for you to do. (29) I have it in my power to do you harm; but the God of your father’s [house] said to me last night, ‘Beware of attempting anything with Jacob, good or bad.’ (30) Very well, you had to leave because you were longing for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?” (31) Jacob answered Laban, saying, “I was afraid because I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. (32) But anyone with whom you find your gods shall not remain alive! In the presence of our kin, point out what I have of yours and take it.” Jacob, of course, did not know that Rachel had stolen them. (33) So Laban went into Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent and the tents of the two maidservants; but he did not find them. Leaving Leah’s tent, he entered Rachel’s tent. (34) Rachel, meanwhile, had taken the idols and placed them in the camel cushion and sat on them; and Laban rummaged through the tent without finding them. (35) For she said to her father, “Let not my lord take it amiss that I cannot rise before you, for I am in a womanly way.” Thus he searched, but could not find the household idols. (36) Now Jacob became incensed and took up his grievance with Laban. Jacob spoke up and said to Laban, “What is my crime, what is my guilt that you should pursue me? (37) You rummaged through all my things; what have you found of all your household objects? Set it here, before my kin and yours, and let them decide between us two. (38) “These twenty years I have spent in your service, your ewes and she-goats never miscarried, nor did I feast on rams from your flock. (39) That which was torn by beasts I never brought to you; I myself made good the loss; you exacted it of me, whether snatched by day or snatched by night. (40) Often,*Often Lit. “I was.” scorching heat ravaged me by day and frost by night; and sleep fled from my eyes. (41) Of the twenty years that I spent in your household, I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks; and you changed my wages time and again.*time and again Lit. “ten times.” (42) Had not the God of my father’s [house]—the God of Abraham and the Fear*Fear Meaning of Heb. paḥad uncertain. of Isaac—been with me, you would have sent me away empty-handed. But it was my plight and the toil of my hands that God took notice of—and gave judgment on last night.” (43) Then Laban spoke up and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks; all that you see is mine. Yet what can I do now about my daughters or the children they have borne? (44) Come, then, let us make a pact, you and I, that there may be a witness between you and me.” (45) Thereupon Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. (46) And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a mound; and they partook of a meal there by the mound. (47) Laban named it Yegar-sahadutha,*Yegar-sahadutha Aramaic for “the mound (or: stone-heap) of witness.” but Jacob named it Gal-ed.*Gal-ed Heb. for “the mound (or: stone-heap) of witness,” reflecting the name Gilead, v. 23. (48) And Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” That is why it was named Gal-ed; (49) and [it was called] Mizpah, because he said, “May ה' watch*watch Heb. yiṣeph, associated with Mizpah. between you and me, when we are out of sight of each other. (50) If you ill-treat my daughters or take other wives besides my daughters—though no one else*one else Or “participant,” i.e., one of the witnesses to this agreement, who is thereby authorized to intervene if it is violated; cf. Kimhi, and see the Dictionary under ’ish. be about, remember, it is God who will be witness between you and me.” (51) And Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this mound and here the pillar which I have set up between you and me: (52) this mound shall be witness and this pillar shall be witness that I am not to cross to you past this mound, and that you are not to cross to me past this mound and this pillar, with hostile intent. (53) May the God of Abraham’s [house] and the god of Nahor’s [house]”—their ancestral deities—“judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear*Fear Meaning of Heb. paḥad uncertain. of his father Isaac’s [house]. (54) Jacob then offered up a sacrifice on the Height, and invited his kinsmen to partake of the meal. After the meal, they spent the night on the Height.

(1) The commandment of love of Israel: To love [with] love of the soul each one of Israel — meaning to say that we have compassion for an Israelite and for his money, [just] like a person has compassion for himself and for his [own] money; as it stated (Leviticus 19:18), “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Shabbat 31a), “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” And they said in Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 4:12, “Rabbi Akiva said, ‘This is a great principle in the Torah’” — meaning to say that many commandments are dependent upon it. As one that loves his fellow like himself will not steal his money, have adultery with his wife, cheat his money from him nor hurt him from any angle. And so [too,] are there several other commandments dependent on this — the thing is well-known [revealed] to all who have intellect.

(2) The root of the commandment is well-known — as in the way that he acts to his fellow, so will his fellow act to him. And there will be peace among the creatures with this.

(3) And the laws of this commandment are included in the commandment, as the general principle of everything is that a man behave with his fellow in the way that a man behaves [with] himself — to guard his money and to distance all injury from him. And if he recounts things about him, he recounts them for praise, and he relates to his honor; and he does not become honored through his disgrace — and as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Talmud Yerushalmi Chagigah 2:1), “One who is honored by the disgrace of his fellow has no share in the world to come, but one who treats his fellow with love, peace and neighborliness, seeks their benefit and is happy about their good, the verse states about him, ‘Israel, through you will I be glorified’ (Isaiah 49:3).”

(4) And this commandment is practiced in every place and at all times. And one who transgresses it and is not careful about the money of his fellow, to guard it — and all the more so, if he injures him with money or caused him pain in any matter, volitionally — has violated this positive commandment; besides the liability that there is in it according to the matter in which he injured him, as is explained in its place.

He covers the matsa and lifts up the cup and says:

And it is this that has stood for our ancestors and for us; since it is not [only] one [person or nation] that has stood [against] us to destroy us, but rather in each generation, they stand [against] us to destroy us, but the Holy One, blessed be He, rescues us from their hand.

He puts down the cup from his hand and uncovers the matsa.

Go out and learn what Lavan the Aramean sought to do to Ya'akov, our father; since Pharaoh only decreed [the death sentence] on the males but Lavan sought to uproot the whole [people]. As it is stated (Deuteronomy 26:5), "An Aramean was destroying my father and he went down to Egypt, and he resided there with a small number and he became there a nation, great, powerful and numerous."

(4) Let every valley be raised,
Every hill and mount made low.
Let the rugged ground become level
And the ridges become a plain.

And on the side of the allusion (Remez), there is an ethical place to interpret Jacob's two names in the name of the two deliverances Yaan because we instructed the Razal (ibid. 12:) not to completely eradicate the 10th century, but to remember the miracles of the 10th century to be a treat, and to remember the miracles that will be the main thing in the future, and also here They said (Rev. 11:3) that Jacob's name will not be completely eradicated, but that it will be a part of Israel's name, and that both are one matter, and so he says in the final redemption (Isaiah 4:4) and he will be the follower to the plain.

Ekev is derived from the name of Jacob, and Mishor is derived from the name of Israel Ishar to God, and according to what is said (Micah 7:15) In the days when you came out of the land of Egypt we saw wonders, that miracles in the future will not be greater than the miracles of Egypt, and why should the miracles of Egypt be neglected, except according to the deliverance of The Egyptians did not have enough right to take them out with a high hand and they were consumed on the day in Aqaba and Ramya, because they said we will go to sacrifice to the Lord our God, and every fugitive goes in haste, Kmash (Ex. , and there it is also said (Isaiah 220) Get out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans.

But in the final deliverance, after the oppressor has been fully satisfied with the duration of this exile, it will be enough for them to leave with a high hand in the plain and not in the Aqaba and not in haste, as in Mish (ibid. Neb Yad) because you shall not go out in haste and in flight you shall not be lost, 75 and be the follower to the plain and M.M. The name of Jacob will not be completely eradicated, nor will the memory of the 17th century be completely eradicated, so that they remember the two redemptions together and know and recognize the difference between them which was caused by sin, because there was no doubt that there were bad people and sins in Egypt as explained in the prophecy of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 28) of which the side deserves to be treated, Likewise, the name of Jacob is not completely dislodged from this reason, and furthermore that the redemption serves two redemptions, the redemption of the bodies from slavery and troubles, and the redemption of the soul from the spiritual matters given to Israel, according to the instruction of the name of Jacob and Israel, one material, and one spiritual. The name of Jacob will not be completely uprooted, because man must give a part to one and the other, but the name of Abram will be completely uprooted, because forever in all generations he is the father of many nations, because the tents of Edom and Ishmael are also from the offspring of his loins.