‘To and Fro’  Parashat Vayetze 5785

The Portion of Vayetze begins with Jacob leaving his home in Be’er Sheba and heading to his uncle Laban, who lives in Haran in southeastern modern-day Türkiye [Bereishit 28:10]: “Jacob left Be’er Sheba, and went to (va’yelech) Haran”. Why did Jacob leave home? When he arrived at Immigration at the airport and was asked, “What is the purpose of your trip, Sir?”, what did he answer?

The most straightforward answer is that Jacob left home so as to run away from his brother, Esau. At the behest of his mother, Rebecca, Jacob had disguised himself with the look and feel of Esau and had stolen Esau’s blessings from their blind father, Isaac. After realising he has been swindled, Esau says [Bereishit 27:41] “Let but the mourning period of my father come, and I will kill my brother Jacob.” Rebecca overhears Esau’s threat and quickly calls for Jacob, telling him [Bereishit 27:42] “Your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you”. Not to worry – Rebecca already has an escape route planned out [Bereishit 27:43]: “Flee (b’rach) at once to Haran, to my brother Laban”. She tells Jacob to wait in Haran until things have cooled down and then she will send him a message that the coast is clear and that he can come home. And so it appears that Jacob could have told the Immigration Officer that he was an asylum seeker.

After Rebecca orders Jacob to flee to Haran, she tells Isaac [Bereishit 27:46] “I am disgusted with my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries a Hittite woman like these, from among the native women, what good will life be to me?” My son marry a shiksa? Over my dead body. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh[1] asserts that Rebecca’s words to Isaac were just a cover story. Jacob was leaving to save his own life but Isaac did not have to know that and neither did Esau. Isaac agrees wholeheartedly with Rebecca. He calls Jacob and tells him [Bereishit 28:1-2] “Do not take a wife from among the Canaanite women. Get up and go to Paddan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take a wife there from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother”. Isaac then implements his own directive [Bereishit 28:5]: “Isaac sent Jacob off, and he went to (va’yelech) Paddan-Aram”. Esau also finds his mother’s ruse convincing [Bereishit 28:6]: “Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him off to Paddan-Aram to take a wife from there, charging him, as he blessed him, ‘You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanite women’”. Indeed, Esau is so convinced that he goes to his uncle Ishmael and takes one of his daughters as a wife in an effort to placate his parents, who are still bitter about the two Canaanite women he has married. So it appears that Jacob could have told the Immigration Officer that the purpose of his trip was “family business”.

Rabbi Asher Wasserteil[2], writing in “Birkat Asher”, is troubled by the Torah’s description of Jacob both “going to (holech)” and “fleeing from (bore’ach)”. The Torah describes Jacob as “going to” three times[3]. On the other hand, it describes Jacob as “fleeing from” also three times[4]. Rabbi Wasserteil points to the explanation of the Da’at Mikra[5], who makes two observations. First, he notes that, as a rule, whenever scripture uses the word “flee (bore’ach)”, the person who is doing the fleeing is in mortal danger. Jacob fled from Esau not in fear, but, rather, in terror. The second observation of the Da’at Mikra is that every time the Torah uses the word “go (holech)” in the context of Jacob’s trip to Haran, it is in the context of obeying his father’s orders. For example, the Torah tells us [Bereishit 28:7] “Jacob obeyed his father and mother and went to Paddan-Aram”. Jacob knew he was “fleeing from” his vengeful brother but Isaac did not. Hence, as far as Isaac was concerned, Jacob was “going to” find a bride and start a new phase of his life. This explanation is highly reminiscent of the “Cover Story Hypothesis” forwarded by the Or HaChaim HaKadosh. The problem with the second observation of the Da’at Mikra is that in the verse that begins the Portion of Vayetze, “Jacob left Be’er Sheba, and went to (va’yelech) Haran”, Isaac’s name is not mentioned in the verse. According to the Da’at Mikra, the verse should have read “Jacob fled from Be’er Sheba…”

Rabbi Alex Israel, a contemporary rabbi teaching in Yeshivat Har Etzion, proposes an answer along the lines of the Da’at Mikra. He differentiates between Jacob going to Padan-Aram, as per Isaac’s directive in Bereishit [28:2], and his going to Haran, as per his mother’s orders in Bereishit [27:43]. The problem with Rabbi Israel’s solution is that it, too, does not address all of the above-mentioned instances in the Torah that use “flee” and “go” interchangeably. That is to say, it does not offer us a rule. Our search for a solution continues.

I suggest that an answer can be found in the first verse of the haftarah of the Portion of Vayetze [Hosea 12:13]: “Jacob fled to the land of Aram; There Israel served [Laban] for a wife and for a wife he had to guard [sheep]”. The verse amalgamates the two reasons that Jacob left Be’er Sheba: he was fleeing from his brother and running to Haran to find a wife. Notice that the verse uses both of Jacob’s given names, Jacob and Israel, almost as if to say that “Jacob” fled the land of Aram while some other person named “Israel” worked for Laban in exchange for his daughter’s hand in marriage. In some earlier essays[6], we discussed the essence of a name, noting that a person’s name is more than what identifies him on his passport. According to the esoteric Torah, a person’s name offers a glimpse into a his personality and his destiny, such that that when parents name their child, they are, in some way, engaging in prophecy. The child’s name will guide him for his entire life. Jacob had two names. He was born with the name “Jacob” and later in life, after defeating an unknown assailant, he is given the name “Israel”. The name “Jacob (Ya’akov)” comes from the word “heel (a’kev)”, pointing to Jacob’s grabbing on the Esau’s heel at birth. A heel is the lowest part of the body. Years ago, a “heel” was a derogatory term. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “heel” as “a contemptible person : a person who is self-centred” or untrustworthy. The name “Jacob” is synonymous with trickery. After Esau discovers that Jacob has stolen his blessing, he exclaims [Bereishit 27:36]: “It is fitting that he is named ‘Jacob’ as he has tricked me (“vaya’keveini”) twice”. Not a particularly pleasant name. The name “Israel”, on the other hand, comes from the word “Majesty (s’rara)”. After Jacob defeats his assailant, his assailant gives him a new name “Israel”, telling him [Bereishit 32:29] “Because you have fought ably with kings”. But even after Jacob’s name is changed, scripture still bounces back and forth, seemingly randomly, between the two names, sometimes referring to him as “Jacob” and other times as “Israel”. Leveraging the “Name equals Destiny Theory”, I suggest that Jacob had a dual personality. On the one hand he was “Jacob the Street Rat”, always knowing how to get what he needed, whatever it takes. On the other hand, he was “King Israel”, an imposing and majestic person, unafraid to demand what is rightfully his..

Looking at the first verse of the haftarah through this lens, it is clear that it was “Jacob” who fled but it was “Israel” who served and guarded to secure a wife. One person, two personality’s. And thorough this same lens, we can address Rabbi Wasserteil’s question. When Jacob leaves home, he has only one name, “Jacob”, but he still retains two personalities. The “Jacob” personality fled from Esau while the “Israel” personality went to Laban.

Jacob’s dual personality is burnt into the national DNA of the Jewish People. As history will attest, sometimes we are “Jacob” and sometimes we are “Israel”. Because of “Jacob” we can survive and because of “Israel”, we can thrive.

Ari Sacher, Moreshet, 5785

Please daven for a Refu’a Shelema for Shlomo ben Esther, Sheindel Devorah bat Rina, Esther Sharon bat Chana Raizel, and Meir ben Drora.

[1] Rabbi Chaim ben Atar, better known as the “Or HaChaim HaKadosh”, lived in Morocco and in Israel in the first half of the 17^th century,

[2] Rabbi Wasserteil lived in Jerusalem in the previous century.

[3] See Bereishit [28:5,7,10]

[4] See Bereishit [27:43] and Bereishit [35:1,7]

[5] The “Da’at Mikra” is published by Mossad HaRav Kook and edited by Amos Hakham.

[6] Vayeshev 5776 and Shelach-Korach 5784