Parashas Vayeitzei

Our Parsha this Shabbos is Parashas Vayeitzei , where Yaakov continues on his way to bring in the next generation of our Jewish people and the Haftorah is Hosea 11:7 - 14:10 , also referring to the progeny of Yaakov .
Yaakov has just left his family to find a wife and become the Father of the Twelve Tribes of Israel . As we remember , Eisav wanted to kill him and as Yaakov left his home , Eisav sent his son Elifaz , who became the father of Amalek ( our greatest enemy ) to kill Yaakov .
Elifaz , was not like his father Eisav , and he learnt Torah with Yitzchak . Elifaz was one of the men that had come to visit Iyov Job , when Iyov was being tested and it was Elifaz that tried to remind Iyov to trust in HaShem . Before Elifaz left to go after Yaakov , his Mother Adah advised him not to attack Yaakov , for Yaakov was much stronger and when Elifaz caught up with Yaakov , as he didn't want to totally disobey his father Eisav , all Elifaz did , was rob Yaakov of his things and clothes . This was why , when Yaakov arrived at Lavan , he arrived penniless and looking very poor . We note that this Parsha tells us that Yaakov departed from Beer-sheba and went 'toward' Haran . The word ' toward' suggests that Yaakov didn't go straight there, but 'toward' there and only got there much later . The reason for that was that before he went to Haran , Yaakov stopped to learn in the Yeshiva of Shem and Eiver , in order to prepare himself spiritually for the evil of Lavan and also , Yaakov knew that Eisav would be after him and so a Yeshiva was the safest place . Yaakov also had another reason , for on the way , after being robbed by Elifaz , and being left without clothes , as he got to the river , a man came and sadly had an accident riding and fell in , and miraculously , the clothes appeared outside the river bank and the man disappeared . Yaakov had no choice , but to dress in these clothes and continue on his journey . Not fully knowing the meaning of this incident , Yaakov feared he may be blamed for this man's accident and so , the Yeshiva was to him like a City of Refuge , from the point of Law ( Bamidbar Numbers 35:22-28 ) of the " Go'el HaDam " - " Redeemer of the Blood " ( the relative of the one killed who can avenge his murdered relative ) , even though he had not done anything wrong . After Yaakov's visit to the Yeshiva, he headed toward his destination and when he had almost reached it , he realized that he had passed Har Moriah , where the Akeidah Revelation had happened with his Father and Grand-Father at the Akeidah , without praying at the Very Holy Site ( which is our Religious Custom to say a Prayer Tefillah at the site of a Miracle From HaShem or Saving From HaShem , so he returned all the way back there , and so , HaShem Rewarded him for returning , with a most special Vision . So he didn't go straight to Charan .
This vision was the Dream of Yaakov with the Ladder .
When Yaakov arrived back at Har Moriah , it suddenly got dark , and he was forced to spend the night there . He heard the sound and Song of Holy Spiritual Malachim and knew this was a Holy Place .He took the 12 Stones that Avraham had used to make the Altar previously for the Akeidah , and put it around his head , putting his head as a cushion on one of them , thinking if he is worthy to become the Farther of the Twelve Tribes , then all these stones will merge into one and that is exactly what happened , for when he awoke , Torah Tells us in Bereishis 28 : 18 that it was one stone , thus all the stones wanted to be under this Tzaddik's head and so became one and Yaakov knew he would be the Father of the Twelve Tribes .
Yaakov dreamt of a " Sulam , " - " Ladder , " reaching up to Heaven , with its bottom part Earthward with Malachim going up and down on it . This is the journey of a holy man , who starts on Earth and makes his way up toward Shamaim Heaven . Yaakov was thus given foreknowledge of the Kingdoms that will come and attack us , the Babylonian , Perian - Median , Greek and Roman Empires and as he climbed the Ladder in his dream , each rung was akin to a year we would be in or under these nation's exile . Thus for Babylon , he climbed 70 rungs and then the Angel Sar of that nation fell and for each other nation , the same thing . Yaakov continued to climb higher and noticed that our present exile seemed never ending , and HaShem Informed him it would be a very long present exile , but this exile and it's Sar Angel would also have an end , for each nation has its protecting Angel and only when that ' Sar ' - Nation's Angel is defeated , can the nation no longer be . Yaakov also saw the Malachim of Eretz Yisroel and of Chutz La' Aretz coming and going and Yaakov as we know was accompanied during his travel and stay in the Holy Land which would escort him while there , and Angels that escorted him in Chutz La' Aretz outside the Holy Land would then take over and escort him outside the Land wherever he would go . Yaakov also saw some of the workings of the Malachim here on Earth and also going up toward Heaven . HaShem Renewed the Covenant with Yaakov and his progeny and again Promised us Jews the Land of Eretz Yisroel . The whole idea of the " Sulam " - " Ladder , " is as the Hebrew Word also suggests , for "Sulam " also means a ' scale , ' is that each and every thing we do , is on a scale , to build ourselves to be more and more Holy every day , and as on a scale , everything we do is weighed like on a scale , and so counts for or against us , a means for us to raise our level of Holiness toward HaShem , if we grow Holier .
Yaakov awoke , realizing the Holiness of This Place and the Stones had become one . This Stone , he set up as a pillar and poured oil on its top and named the place Beit El . Yaakov vowed that if HaShem Would Be With him , Guard him on his way , Give him bread to eat and clothes to wear and if Yaakov returns to his Father in peace and that HaShem Will be G-D To him , then Yaakov would make this pillar a House of G-D ( And It became so , for this was the site of the First and Second Beis HaMikdash Temples and is to be the site of the Third Beis HaMikdash Temple to come in Moshiach's time ) and that Yaakov would repeatedly Tithe to HaShem . So Yaakov got up and went on to the destination of his journey . He ended at a well where three flocks of sheep lay waiting to drink at the Well covered by a large stone over the mouth of the Well . The Shephards said , after letting him know this was the town of his relative Lavan and Rachel his daughter was also coming to the well , that they couldn't roll the stone away till all the flocks had come . When Yaakov saw Rachel , he alone rolled away the stone that needed many men together to move . This was the meeting of Yaakov and Rachel . Yaakov kissed Rachel on the forehead and Torah Tells us that he wept , for he foresaw this beloved of his passing away early . Yaakov told her who he was and that he was a relative and she ran to tell her Father .
It had already been decided long ago , that Leah and her sister Rachel would be wives to Eisav and Yaakov and Leah , knowing what kind of person Eisav was , Leah spent days crying , which caused her eyes to be pained and inflamed around her eyelids . It was decided then and there , knowing Lavan was a swindler as his name suggests,that Rachel would give Yaakov a sign so he would know he is marrying Rachel . This sign , say our Rabbis , was the three Mitzvos encumbent on a Jewish Woman . Yaakov was brought to Lavan and when he heard Yaakov had come and remembered that long ago , Eliezer had come with great jewels , Lavan ran out to meet Yaakov and was shocked at the poverty of him and his dress , and so Lavan kept trying to feel through his clothes if he might be hiding jewels underneath but he wasn't . Yaakov stayed a month and then discussed payment for looking after the sheep . Yaakov asked to marry Rachel and for her he would work seven years . And so Yaakov did work seven years ,and when the time came , asked for her . Lavan , seeing that while Yaakov arrived and stayed there , Lavan had prospered and also bore sons and so Lavan didn't want him to leave .So Lavan the swindler , asked the whole town to back him up and they would make a scheme to replace Leah for Rachel . The towns people agreed not to say anything at the wedding , even though they did try warn Yaakov by singing ' Oy Lay Oy Lay , ' which meant ' Oh this is Leah Oh this is Leah , ' not because they cared for Yaakov , but just so they could say afterwards that they tried to warn him . Lavan managed to extract money from the townspeople , to keep them silent , which he never returned . At the wedding , he , Lavan , replaced Rachel with Leah . Rachel felt sorry for her sister and so , taught her sister the signs and put Leah in her place . Lavan also gave Zilpah , who was actually Lavan's daughter through a concubine , with Leah and in the morning , Yaakov realized what had happened . When he asked Leah why she had decived him , she said to Yaakov that Yaakov too had once , for a good reason , also pretended to be his brother , and she did the same ( so what we do , has a return ) . Yaakov was upset with Lavan and asked him why he had done this , and Lavan said it isn't done in their place to give the younger before the elder and that if Yaakov works another seven years , then he will give Rachel to Yaakov , within the week ( the word 'week' is in Torah - Bereishis 29: 27-28 ) and so Yaakov worked another seven years and just after the Sheva Brochas within the week of marrying Leah , Lavan gave him Rachel , and also Bilhah , who was also Lavan's daughter with a concubine . Yaakov , faithful as he was , still worked another seven years for Rachel , even though he married her within the first week after marrying Leah .
Leah , because HaShem saw she was unloved , gave her the first four children Reuvein , Simeon , Levi and Yehudah .
Rachel saw she had no children and told Yaakov to give her children . Yaakov reprimanded her and HaShem Was Upset at Yaakov for this reprimand . Rachel remembered how Sarah had given Avraham her handmaid and so Rachel did the same and gave Bilhah to Yaakov and two more sons were born - Dan and Naphtali . Leah did the same thing with Zilpah and two more sons were born - Gad and Asher . Reuvein went out in the days of the wheat harvest and brought Dudaim to his Mother Leah and Rachel wanted them but Leah said no . Leah bore to Yaakov two more sons Yissaschar and Zevulun , so now Leah had borne to Yaakov half the amount of the Twelve Tribes and so , when Leah conceived the next child , HaShem Judged that the last two tribes must come form Rachel and so , this child of Leah's came out a girl called Dinah , who ended up to be the Mother of Asenath , who married Yosef .
Rachel conceived and bore Yosef and prophetically named him in prophecy knowing there would still be by Rachel , another son . It was after Yosef was born , whose progeny have power over Eisav and Amalek , that Yaakov knew he must return home and face Eisav . So Yaakov asked Lavan permission to go . But Lavan , knowing that Yaakov had brought from HaShem Blessings , tried to keep him there making one false deal after another with sheep , trying to cheat Yaakov a hundred times . But HaShem Protected Yaakov . Yaakov heard Lavan's sons and Lavan jealous at how wealthy Yaakov had become and HaShem Ordered Yaakov to return home to his family . Yaakov told Rachel and Leah that he wanted to go and they agreed . So Yaakov took his children and wives and livestock and started his return home without telling Lavan . Rachel stole her Father's teraphim . But what are teraphim ? They were the skulls of children to which rituals were done to get these skulls to talk . When Lavan heard that Yaakov had left , Lavan took his men and sons ( who were only actually born in Yaakov's merit via Blessings from HaShem and it was from one of these sons that the evil Bilaam got born that hated and tried to curse the Jewish people in Moshe's time ) and hotly pursued Yaakov . HaShem Appeared To Lavan in a dream and Warned Lavan not to do any harm to Yaakov . Lavan caught up with Yaakov and loudly blamed Yaakov for leaving and asked who stole his teraphim . Yaakov once and for all , answered Lavan how he had worked for Lavan for fourteen years for his daughters and six years for the livestock , for which not a single full night did Yaakov sleep , for he cared and watched constantly over Lavan's flocks . It was Yaakov who wrote many Psalms that came down to Dovid prophetically for their souls were linked . Yaakov said that with whomever the teraphim are , they shall not live , not knowing that Rachel had taken them . Rachel's time of the month was upon her and so she hid them in the camel packsaddle and sat on it and when Lavan , who suspected her , came into her tent to check , she said she couldn't get up for the reason that it was her monthly time . Yaakov answered Lavan and even so , Lavan still thought everything and everyone was his . Yaakov and Lavan made a covenant agreement with a stone and Yaakov's brethren took other stones and made a mound and this became a witness that none was to go over this mound against each other and that Yaakov would not take wives in addition to Lavan's daughters . How deceitful then was Lavan's grandson Bilaam , who took no notice of the agreement between us and them , when he was on his way to curse and hurt us , and his donkey took him past here and banged his leg on this very mound , to remind him of the covenant between Yaakov's family and his , a covenant that Bilaam showed openly he shuns and so did the events to Bilaam happen as Torah tells us in Moshe's time in Bamidbar 22:25 and the rest of the Chapters around it . The next morning , Lavan left and returned to his place , which also means that even though he was in the holy presence of Yaakov , he was a man of evil and negativity and this time with holy Yaakov , never made an impression on his negative character to change for the better and become more holy . Yaakov , too went on his way and seeing that he was coming to the Holy Land , the Angels Malachim that had accompanied Yaakov outside the Holy Land left Yaakov to be replaced with Malachim Angels from the Holy Land , that would now accompany him in Eretz Yisroel . He named this place Machanaim So ends the Parsha .
This Parsha is called Parashas Vayeitzei , where the word " Vayeitzei , " means " Departed , " for Yaakov is leaving the Holy Land , to continue his destiny toward holiness .
It is interesting that in order for Yaakov to grow in Holiness, he must leave a Holy Place to go to a place much less Holy . Shouldn't it be the other way around to gain in Holiness . This is similar to Adam Ve Chava , leaving Gan Eiden , to come down here to a place more physical and less Holy , in order to work their way back there to Holiness , It shows , how sometines , in order to grow , we need to , at times , go through physical trials and tests in a place less holy , in order to grow above that , it holiness . We find how in Pirkei Avos , the Mishna says that we are to prepare ourselves in the antechamber ( Earth ) so that we can enter the banquet hall ( Gan Eiden Shamaim ) . No place we have to go through or experience we have to go through is ever wasted . We may not know the reason for the hardships and tests and trials we face , but there is a reason . The whole idea of a Ladder , is the same , where the Ladder starts Earthbound and works up toward Shamaim - Heaven . Every step we take is an opportunity to grow Spiritually .
We need to sometimes depart from what we know , as Avraham did when he was told " Lech Lecha , " for as we said then , the ' Going , ' was for his benefit . Everything HaShem Does For us , though it may not appear so at the time , is for our benefit . We need to sometimes leave or " Vayeitzei , " - " Depart " from our comfort zone , in order to move forward . Heaven isn't gained on a silver platter , for nothing . We need to work at it all the time , every day , every hour , to earn it's Beauty and Holy Specialness . Every day , is a trip up the rungs of the Ladder , leading to HaShem , if only we overcome the physical Earth-bound World around us and climb above it and our Yetzer Horahs , in order to overcome anything and everything negative and work toward HaShem . For each step toward Holiness , is a step toward Olam Habah , The World To Come , that comes just after Moshiach will come . The word Moshiach has the Gematrical value of 7 and the period after that into the Spiritual , is the number 8 . Within our Parsha , the word " Vayeitzei , " has a Gematrical value of 6+10 + 90 + 1 = 107 and 1+0+7 = 8 . The very " Vayeitzei , " - " Departing , " on the journey of growing , leads to Olam Habah .
Like holy Yaakov , we are always headed toward our destination . If we are called upon to make certain detours along the way toward our destination , we mustn't be disheartened , for HaShem Knows All and Knows what we need along the way and that we stick to Torah along the way as our mode of travel . For that is the depth of the Test . To stay and stand by HaShem's Commandments and Torah , no matter what , in whatever situation we find ourselves . The physical appearance around us is just that , a physical appearance . The True Truth , is the Destination of HaShem and His Torah . That alone is the only True Reality . So walk out of your Earth-bound physicality and " Vayeitzei " - " Depart , " by following HaShem and His Torah , toward your Only True Detination , HaShem Ha Kadosh Baruch Hu The Holy One Blessed Be He .
I wish HaShem with Deep and Beautiful Love , A Very Sweet and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh With Love and to all of Creation , A Very Sweet and Beautiful Shabbos Kodesh with love .