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The Stones

Our Parsha opens with Yaakov Avinu on his way to Uncle Lavan to find a wife. He lies down on what is today the Temple Mount and surrounds himself with a set of 12 stones. Chazal teach us that the stones began to quarrel. Each one claiming that Yaakov should rest his head on it. They quarreled until they united into a single stone. They lost their respective distinctness and blended into one single stone.

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FROM WHERE DO WE SPROUT?

Later in the Torah Yisro tells Moshe that he plans on leaving the Jewish people to return ‘to my land and to my birthplace’. This is the natural order because when you leave a place and you go to your birthplace you will first encounter your native land and only later arrive at your birthplace. It is therefore noteworthy in our Parsha when Yaakov tells Lavan that he intends to go home; he inverts the order. He says to Lavan ‘send me and I will go to my place and to my land’. Why does Yaakov invert the order?

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HASHGACHA PRATIS

This week’s Parsha, Vayeitzei, opens with our father Yaakov on his way to his uncle Lavan where he hoped to find a wife and begin his family. He knew that his family would be the beginning of the Jewish people. He also knew that Lavan was a man of evil design and recognized the dangers he would encounter living with him and raising his family there. With this in mind HaShem came to Yaakov and promised him that He will be with him and provide His direct Providence wherever he should go. HaShem’s promise of hashgacha pratis, personal providence, has been the legacy of our people which we inherited from our fathers. To the extent that a Jew places his trust and reliance on HaShem, to that extent HaShem supports and provides for him. As the prophet Yirmiyahu writes “Blessed is the person who relies upon HaShem, and HaShem will be his support.”

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TRANSPARENCY

Adapted from Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky’s talks

This week’s Parsha, Vayeitzei, opens with the scene of Yaakov sleeping on what will become the Temple Mount and dreaming. In his dream is a ladder on which angels are ascending and descending. The Midrash teaches us that these angels were fascinated by the image of Yaakov. In heaven his image appeared on the Throne of HaShem and down below they see him in complete physical form. The implication is that Yaakov is the ultimate image of what HaShem intended for Man to be. Somehow, Yaakov captured the essence of the perfect Man. What was Yaakov’s quality that won him that title?

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ENTITLEMENT OR INDEBTEDNESS

In this week’s Parsha, Vayeitzei, we find the first expression of thanks in the Torah. Upon giving birth to Yehudah, Leah states that she now gives thanks to HaShem. The obvious question is why did she wait until the birth of her fourth child and not express her thanks at the birth of her first? The answer lies in the nature of ‘hodo-ah’, thanks, which derives from ‘hodah’ which means to concede, to admit or to confess. Leah felt that she somehow deserved her first three children because she knew that Yaakov was to father 12 sons from four wives. Therefore, each wife deserved three children. Once she was given a fourth child, she acknowledged that she received more than she deserved.

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THE ORCHESTRA AND THE ROLEX

This week’s Parsha, Vayeitzei, teaches us a great lesson in the unity to which we must aspire and achieve for us to accomplish our mission.

The Parsha begins with a scene of our father, Yaakov, laying down for the night on the ground on the way to his Uncle Lavan’s home in search of a wife. “He took from the stones of the place and placed them around his head…And he took the stone which he placed around his head and set it as a monument.” Our Sages point out the seeming inconsistency. Initially he took multiple stones to place around his head and when he awoke he took the stone (singular) which he placed around his head; was it many stones or was it just one stone? Our Sages teach us that initially Yaakov took 12 stones to place around his head but the stones began to quarrel, each stone argued that it should be the one upon which Yaakov’s head shall rest. After all the stones made their argument they merged into one single stone. This story requires an explanation. What does it mean that a stone has a position on what it should be doing? Furthermore, the argument sounds competitive with each stone trying to claim that other stones are wrong. Is there competition among stones?