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Shabbat Shalom!
Welcome to Vayetzei / And He Left - this week’s Torah reading

Prophecy 2, 83, 118;
Genesis 28:10-32:2;
Hosea 12:12-14:10;
John 1:41-51;



Genesis 28:10-32:2
10 And Jacob went out from Beer-Sheba and went toward Haran.
11 And he came on a place and stayed the night there, for the sun had gone. And he took stones of the place and placed them at his head; and he lay down in that place.
12 And he dreamed. And, behold, a staircase was placed on the earth, its top reaching to the heavens. And, behold, the messengers of ELOHIM were going up and going down on it!
13 And, behold, YAHUVEH stood above it and said, I am YAHUVEH the ELOHIM of your father Abraham, and the ELOHIM of Isaac; the land on which you are lying, I will give it to you and to your seed.
14 And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your Seed.
15 And, behold, I will be with you and will guard you in every place in which you may go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not forsake you until I have surely done that which I have spoken to you.
16 And Jacob awakened from his sleep, and said, Surely YAHUVEH is in this place, and I did not know.
17 And he was afraid, and said, How fearful is this place! This is nothing except the house of ELOHIM, and this is the door to Heaven.
18 And Jacob started up early in the morning and took the stone which he had placed at his head, and he placed it as a pillar; and he poured oil on the top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place, Beit-El . And yet the name of the city was at first Luz.
20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If ELOHIM is with me and keeps me in this way which I am going, and gives to me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
21 and I return in peace to the house of my father, then YAHUVEH shall be my ELOHIM,
22 and this sandstone which I have placed as a memorial pillar shall become the house of ELOHIM; and all which You shall give to me, I will tithe the tenth to You.

*~Genesis Chapter 29 ~*

1 And Jacob lifted his feet and went to the land of the sons of the east.
2 And he looked, and, behold, a well in the field. And, behold, three flocks of sheep were lying by it; for from that well they watered the flocks, and the stone on the mouth of the well was great.
3 And all the flocks were usually gathered there, and they rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep, and replaced the stone on the mouth of the well, to its place.
4 And Jacob said to them, My brothers, from where are you? And they said, We are from Haran.
5 And he said to them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him.
6 And he said to them, Well-being to him? And they said, Well-being. And, behold, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep.
7 And he said, Behold, the day is still high; it is not time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and go feed them.
8 And they said, We are not able until all the flocks are gathered and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.
9 He still was speaking with them, and Rachel came with the sheep which were her father’s; for she was feeding them.
10 And it happened when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, brother to his mother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban, his mother’s brother.
11 And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept.
12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was the son of Rebekah. And she ran and told her father.
13 And it happened when Laban heard the report of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him. And he took him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.
14 And Laban said to him, Truly you are my bone and my flesh. And he lived with him a month of days.
15 And Laban said to Jacob, are you not my brother? And should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall be your wages?
16 And Laban had two daughters, the name of the older, Leah, and the name of the younger, Rachel.
17 And the eyes of Leah were weak, and Rachel was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance.
18 And Jacob loved Rachel, and said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.
19 And Laban said, It is better for me to give her to you than to give her to another man; live with me.
20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they were in his eyes like a few days, in his love for her.
21 And Jacob said to Laban, Give my wife, for my days are completed. And let me go in to her.
22 And Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast.
23 And it happened in the evening, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and he went in to her.
24 And Laban gave to her Zilpah, his slave-girl, to his daughter Leah as a slave.
25 And it happened in the morning; behold! She was Leah. And he said to Laban, What have you done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? And why have you tricked me?
26 And Laban said, It is not done this way in our place, to give the younger before the first-born.
27 Fulfill the week of this one and we will also give you this other one, for the service which you will serve with me, yet another seven years.
28 And Jacob did so, and he fulfilled the week of this one, and he gave to him his daughter Rachel, to him for a wife.
29 And Laban gave his slave-girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel, to her for a slave-girl.
30 And he also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with him yet another seven years.
31 And YAHUVEH saw that Leah was hated. And He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32 And Leah conceived and bore a son. And she called his name Reuben; for she said, Surely YAHUVEH has looked on my affliction, for now my husband will love me.
33 And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, Surely YAHUVEH has heard that I am hated and has given this one to me also. And she called his name Simeon.
34 And she conceived again and bore a son. And she said, Now, this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne to him three sons. So his name was called Levi.
35 And she conceived again and bore a son. And she said, This time I will praise YAHUVEH. So she called his name Judah. And she ceased from bearing.

*~Genesis Chapter 30 ~*

1 And Rachel saw that she did not bear to Jacob, and Rachel was jealous of her sister. And she said to Jacob, Give me sons; and if there is none, I shall die.
2 And Jacob’s anger glowed against Rachel, and he said, Am I in ELOHIM’s place, who has kept you from the fruit of the womb?
3 And she said, Behold my servant Bilhah! Go in to her and let her bear on my knees; yea, let me be built up from her, me also.
4 And she gave her slave-girl Bilhah to him for a wife. And Jacob went in to her.
5 And Bilhah conceived and bore a son to Jacob.
6 And Rachel said, ELOHIM has judged and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son. So she called his name Dan.
7 And Bilhah, Rachel’s slave-girl, conceived again, and bore a second son to Jacob.
8 And Rachel said, With struggles of ELOHIM I have struggled with my sister; yea, I have prevailed. And she called his name Naphtali.
9 And Leah saw that she had ceased from bearing. And she took Zilpah, her slave-girl, and gave her to Jacob for a wife.
10 And Leah’s slave-girl Zilpah bore a son to Jacob.
11 And Leah said, With fortune. And she called his name Gad.
12 And Zilpah, Leah’s slave-girl, bore a second son to Jacob.
13 And Leah said, In my happiness; for the daughters shall call me happy. And she called his name Asher.
14 And in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went out and found mandrakes in the field. And he brought them to his mother Leah. And Rachel said to Leah, Please give to me from the mandrakes of your son.
15 And she said to her, is your taking my husband a little thing? Will you also take my son’s love-apples? And Rachel said, So he shall be with you tonight, for your son’s mandrakes.
16 And Jacob came in from the field at evening. And Leah went out to meet him. And she said, You must come in to me, for surely I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her during that night.
17 And ELOHIM listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore a fifth son to Jacob.
18 And Leah said, ELOHIM has given my hire; I gave my slave-girl to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 And Leah said, ELOHIM has given me a good present. This time my husband will live with me, because I have borne six sons to him. And she called his name Zebulun.
21 And afterwards she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22 And ELOHIM remembered Rachel; and ELOHIM listened to her and opened her womb.
23 And she conceived and bore a son. And she said, ELOHIM has taken away my reproach.
24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, May YAHUVEH add to me another son.
25 And it happened when Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Send me away so I may go to my own place and to my land.
26 Give my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go. For you know my service with which I have served you.
27 And Laban said to him, Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, stay. I have seen omens, also YAHUVEH has blessed me because of you.
28 And he said, Set your wages on me and I will give.
29 And he said to him, You know how I have served you and what your livestock has become with me.
30 For little was yours before my presence, and it has spread out into a host. And YAHUVEH has blessed you at my foot. And now when shall I work for my house, I also?
31 And he said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said, You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will remain. I will feed your flock and keep it.
32 I will pass among all your flock today, taking from there every speckled and spotted sheep, and every black sheep among the lambs, also the spotted and speckled goats; these shall be my wages.
33 And my righteousness shall testify for me in the day to come. When you come in about my wages, before your face everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the lambs, it is stolen with me.
34 And Laban said, Yes, if it be so let it be as you speak.
35 And he turned out in that day all the striped and spotted lambs, and all the speckled and spotted goats, every one which had white, and every black one among the lambs. And he gave them into the hands of his sons.
36 And he put three days journey between himself and Jacob. And Jacob was feeding the remaining flocks of Laban.
37 And Jacob took for himself rods of a fresh white popular tree, and the almond and plane tree. And he peeled white stripes in them, laying bare the white on the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had peeled by the troughs, by the water troughs where the flocks came to drink, across from the flocks. And they were in heat when they came to drink.
39 And the flocks were in heat before the rods and bore striped, speckled and spotted offspring.
40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and he set the faces of the flock toward the striped, and every black one in the flocks of Laban. And he put his own droves by themselves, and did not put them with the flock of Laban.
41 And it happened that whenever the strong flocks conceived, Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the flocks, before the troughs, that they might conceive by the rods.
42 And the flocks being feeble, he did not set them. And usually it happened that the weak were for Laban, and the strong for Jacob.
43 And the man increased very much, and many flocks were his, and slave-girls, and male slaves, and camels and donkeys .

*~Genesis Chapter 31 ~*

1 And he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was to our father, and from that which was to our father he has gotten all this wealth.
2 And Jacob saw the face of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.
3 And YAHUVEH said to Jacob, Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred. And I will be with you.
4 And Jacob sent and called for Rachel and for Leah to come to the field, to his flocks.
5 And he 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.
6 And you know that with all my power I have served your father.
7 And your father has cheated me and has changed my wages ten times. And ELOHIM has not let him do evil to me.
8 And if he said this: The speckled shall be your wages, then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said this, The striped shall be your wages, then all the flocks bore striped.
9 And ELOHIM has taken away the livestock of your father and has given to me.
10 And it happened at the time the flock was in heat, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream: And behold! The rams leaping on the flock were striped, speckled, and spotted.
11 And the Messenger of ELOHIM spoke to me in a dream, Jacob! And I said, I am here.
12 And He said, Lift up your eyes and see all the rams leaping on the flock; they are striped, speckled and spotted. For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
13 I am the El of Bethel, there where you anointed the pillar, where you vowed a vow to Me. Now rise up; go out of this land and go back to the land of your kindred.
14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there yet to us a portion and an inheritance in the house of our father?
15 Are we not counted strangers by him. For he has sold us, and selling he has sold us for silver.
16 For all the wealth which ELOHIM has taken from our father, it is for us and for our sons. And now all that which ELOHIM has said to you, do.
17 And Jacob arose and set his sons and his wives on camels.
18 And he drove all the livestock, and he took all his goods which he had gotten, livestock of his property which he had gotten in Padan-Aram, to come to his father Isaac, to the land of Canaan.
19 And Laban went to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the terafeen idols which were her father’s.
20 And Jacob deceived the heart of Laban the Syrian, for he did not tell him that he was about to flee.
21 And he and all that was to him fled. And he rose up and crossed the River and set his face to Mount Gilead.
22 And on the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
23 And he took his brothers with him and pursued him, seven days journey. And he overtook him in the Mountain of Gilead.
24 And ELOHIM came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, Watch out for yourself, that you not speak with Jacob from good to evil.
25 And Laban overtook Jacob. And Jacob had pitched his tent at the Mount. And Laban with his brothers had pitched at Mount Gilead.
26 And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done? And you have deceived my heart and have taken my daughters like captives of the sword.
27 Why did you hide so as to flee, and have deceived me and have not told me. And I would have sent you away with rejoicing and with music, with tabret and with harp.
28 And you have not let me kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have been foolish to do this.
29 It is in the power of my hand to do you harm. But the ELOHIM of your fathers spoke to me last night, saying, Watch out for yourself that you do not speak with Jacob from good to evil.
30 And now surely you have gone because you have longed after your father’s house. Why have you stolen my gods?
31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid. For I said, Lest by force you take your daughters from me.
32 With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live before our brothers here. See for yourself what is with me, and take it to you. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 And Laban went into Jacob’s tent and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two slave-girls; and he did not find. And he went out of Leah’s tent and came into Rachel’s tent.
34 And Rachel had taken the household idols and put them into the camel’s saddle; and she sat on them. And Laban felt around all the tent, but did not find.
35 And she said to her father, Let no anger be in the eyes of my master, for I am not able to rise before your face, for the way of women is to me. And he searched for and did not find the household idols.
36 And Jacob was angry, and he argued with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression; what is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?
37 For you have felt around all my articles; what have you found from all the articles of your house? Set it here before my brothers and your brothers and let them decide between the two of us.
38 Now I was with you twenty years. Your ewes and your she-goats have not failed to bear, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.
39 I did not bring to you the mangled; I replaced it. From my hand you exacted it, that stolen by day and that stolen by night.
40 I was there; by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night. And my sleep fled from my eyes.
41 Now I have been twenty years in your house; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock. And you have changed my wages ten times.
42 Except the ELOHIM of my father, the ELOHIM of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been for me, truly now you would have sent me away empty. ELOHIM has seen my affliction and the toil of my palm, and last night He judged.
43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters and the sons my sons. And the flocks are my flocks; yea, all which you see, it is mine and my daughters’. What can I do to these today, or to their sons whom they have borne?
44 And now come, let us cut a covenant, you and me; and let it be a witness between you and me.
45 And Jacob took a stone and set it up as a memorial.
46 And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones. And they took stones and they made a memorial pillar.
47 And Laban called it, Heap of the Testimony. And Jacob called it in Hebrew, Galeed .
48 And Laban said, This heap is a witness between you and between me today; so he called its name Galeed (Heap of Testimony);
49 also, Mitzpah ; for he said, May YAHUVEH watch between you and me, for we are hidden, when we are out of sight, each from his neighbor.
50 If you will not afflict my daughters, and if you will not take wives above my daughters, no man is with us. Behold! ELOHIM is a witness between you and me.
51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me.
52 This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a testimony. As for me, I will not pass over this heap to you; and as for you, you will not pass over this heap and this pillar for evil to me.
53 The ELOHIM of Abraham, the elohim of Nahor, the elohim of their father, let judge between us. And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
54 And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread. And they ate bread and lodged on the mountain.
55 And Laban rose up early in the morning and kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. And Laban went away and returned to his own place.

*~Genesis Chapter 32 ~*

1 And Jacob went on his way, and the cherubs of ELOHIM met him.
2 And when he saw them, Jacob said, This is the camp of ELOHIM. And he called the name of that place, Mahanaim .