In the beginning of this weeks Parsha, Vayeitzei, the Torah tells of Yaakovs journey to Charan. Yaakov had two reasons for leaving his parents home: 1) to get away from his brother Eisav, who wanted to kill him; 2) to find a wife from the daughters of his uncle, Lavan, who lived in Charan. Before reaching Charan, Yaakov spends one night at Mount Moriah. There he has a dream, probably the most famous dream in Jewish history. Yaakov sees a ladder extending from earth to heaven and angels are going up and down the ladder. In his dream G-d promised to protect and watch over him. When he wakes up, he makes a vow, If G-d will be with me and He will guard me on this way which I am going; and He will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear... then of all that You will give to me, a tenth I will give to You. Yaakov ends up working for his uncle Lavan for seven years to earn the right to marry his younger daughter, Rachel. However, the night of the wedding, Lavan fooled Yaakov and gave him Leah instead, with the excuse that, It is not done in our place to give the younger before the older one. When Yaakov confronted his father-in-law, Lavan agreed to give him Rachel in exchange for another seven years of work. Leah was blessed with children while Rachel was childless. The Torah tells us, When Rachel saw that she bore no children, she said to Yaakov, Give me children or else I die. Yaakov replied, Am I instead of G-d, Who had withheld from you the fruit of your womb. Eventually, G-d hears Rachels pleas and she gives birth. Yaakov came to Lavan empty handed. However, by the time he returns home, twenty years later, he had raised a family of eleven sons, one daughter and was blessed with great wealth. Yaakov makes a vow, If G-d will be with me and He will guard me on this way which I am going; and He will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear... In the Torah every word is precise. Why does Yaakov specify, bread to eat and clothes to wear. We know that bread is to eat and clothing is to wear? A small poor Jewish community once hired a rabbi, but his salary was so meager that his family never had enough to make ends meet. They would have to borrow money just to make it through each month. Once, the situation was so desperate, that he had to sell some of the clothing in the house to buy food for the children. Now I understand our grandfather Yaakovs prayer, said the rabbi. Yaakov was praying that he should have enough food to eat, so that he will not have to sell his clothing for food... his clothes should be only to wear. Moshiach NOW!!!
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 04:45:37 +0000
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