‫בס״ד‬

VAYEITZEI ‫ַוּיֵ ֵצא‬ In loving memory of Yosef Dov ben Yehoshua z”l

Volume 36 | #13 3 December 2022 9 Kislev 5783 Shabbat ends:

Vayeitzei Artscroll p.144 Hertz p.106 Soncino p.164 Haftarah Artscroll p.1140 Hertz p.118 Soncino p.188

Daf Hashavua

London 4.47pm Hull 4.45pm Edinburgh 4.44pm Birmingham 4.51pm Sheffield 4.51pm Glasgow 4.50pm Southport 4.56pm Jerusalem 5.15pm

“The man (Yaakov) became exceedingly prosperous and he attained large flocks, maidservants and servants, camels and donkeys” (Bereishit 30:43)

INSIDE:

The Truth is Written in Stone by Laurie Reznik

Talking About the Weather by Rabbi David Lister

Shmuel II: David's Repentance by Pnina Savery

Tribe Weekly by Eli Foux

Sidra breakdown

‫ַוּיֵ ֵצא‬ Vayeitzei 7th Sidra in:

‫אׁשית‬ ִ ‫ְּב ֵר‬ Bereishit By Numbers:

148 verses 2,021 words 7,512 letters Headlines:

Birth of 11 of the 12 tribes

The Truth is Written in Stone by Laurie Reznik, US Jewish Living Projects Executive As with a few other parshiot in the Book of Bereishit, Vayeitzei contains a scene by a well. This week, our protagonist Yaakov finds a well that is blocked up by a massive stone. Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for the flocks were watered from that well. The stone on the mouth of the well was large.

When all the flocks were gathered there, the stone would be rolled from the mouth of the well and the sheep watered; then the stone would be put back in its place on the mouth of the well (Bereishit 29:2-3). Yaakov asks the shepherds why they are not working. He says, “It is still broad daylight, too early to round up the animals; water the flock and take them to pasture” (ibid v.7). The

In loving memory of Reuven ben Avraham z”l

Sidra Summary United Synagogue Daf Hashavua Produced by US Living & Learning together with the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue Editor-in-Chief: Rabbi Baruch Davis Editorial and Production Team: Rabbi Daniel Sturgess, Rabbi Michael Laitner, Rebbetzen Nechama Davis, Joanna Rose www.theus.org.uk ©United Synagogue 2022 To sponsor Daf Hashavua please contact Danielle Fox on [email protected] If you have any comments or questions regarding Daf Hashavua please email [email protected]

1st Aliya (Kohen) – Bereishit 28:10-22 On Yaakov’s journey to Charan, he falls asleep and dreams of a ladder resting on the ground and reaching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending. God is at the top of the ladder, telling Yaakov that he will inherit the Land and that he will have plentiful offspring. Yaakov wakes up, having realised the holiness of the place, which is where the Temple would later be built (Rashi). He builds an altar and takes a vow committing to serve God fully (Ramban). 2nd Aliya (Levi) – 29:1-17 Yaakov travels eastwards. He sees a well in a field, covered by a large stone. The local shepherds tell Yaakov that the daughter of his uncle Lavan is approaching. Yaakov moves the boulder blocking the well and waters Rachel’s flock. He kisses Rachel and weeps. 3rd Aliya (Shlishi) – 29:18-30:13 Yaakov wants to marry Rachel, the younger sister of Leah, and offers to work for

shepherds respond, “We cannot do so until all the flocks are rounded up; then the stone will be rolled off the mouth of the well and we will water the sheep” (ibid v.8). After this exchange, Rachel joins the party and Yaakov simply rolls the stone off himself, as though it were nothing. This is seen by many as an extraordinary display of physical strength by Yaakov, who lifted a stone that was usually lifted by many shepherds. However, there are those who interpret this verse differently. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) explains that the reason why the shepherds were not lifting the stone was because they would not open the well until the rest of the flocks had arrived. The local shepherds did not

trust one another; they thought that if they left the well open, people could not be relied upon to take a fair share of the water. So suspicious were they of each other that they would waste time waiting until all were present. Rabbi Dr Abraham Twerski (19302021) writes: “Trust and diligence are likely to go hand in hand, as are distrust and sloth. Yaakov knew that

The shepherds had placed self-imposed restraints upon themselves. They could not ever envisage a time when the large stone could safely be left off the well.

Lavan for seven years as payment. Although Lavan agrees, when the time comes, he tricks Yaakov, swapping Rachel for Leah. Lavan defends his actions and agrees to let Yaakov marry Rachel a week later, if he works for another seven years. Leah, unlike Rachel, is blessed with children: Reuven, Shimon, Levi and Yehuda. Rachel gives Yaakov her maidservant Bilhah to conceive ‘on her behalf’. Bilhah gives birth to Dan and Naftali. Leah then gives Yaakov her maidservant Zilpah, who gives birth to Gad and Asher. 4th Aliya (Revi’i) – 30:14-27 Reuven finds some dudaim (jasmine – Rashi) in the field and brings them to his mother Leah. Rachel asks for some of the jasmine. Leah agrees, but only in return for the right to sleep that night with Yaakov. Leah conceives and has a fifth son, Yissachar. This is followed by a sixth, Zevulun. She then has a daughter, Dinah. Rachel finally has a child, Yosef. Yaakov demands that Lavan let him return home after all his years of work.

they had not even tried to uncover the well.” Distrustful or just plain lazy, these shepherds were unlikely to accomplish anything. Rabbi Twerski, a renowned psychiatrist who dedicated his life to helping people, teaches us a lesson that he learned from one of his patients, a struggling alcoholic. Before this patient started attending Alcoholics Anonymous, he did not believe that he could ever stop drinking. However, at these meetings he was taught to shift his mindset. Instead of aiming to cut out the drink forever, he should focus on not drinking that day. Before he knew it, he had been sober for weeks, months and eventually years. The shepherds had placed selfimposed restraints upon themselves. They could not ever envisage a time when the large stone could safely be left off the well. Yaakov advised the shepherds that there was still daylight. They should focus on the day ahead and not worry about whether they would be able to overcome this huge obstacle in its entirety. He encouraged the shepherds to believe in themselves.

Point to Consider: What is the connection between the birth of Yosef and Yaakov’s demand to leave? (see Rashi to 30:25) 5th Aliya (Chamishi) – 30:28-31:16 Lavan asks Yaakov to stay on and to specify his payment. Yaakov replies that he will keep the plain-looking animals currently in the flock, and any offspring born to them with unusual-patterned skin. Yaakov becomes very prosperous. Lavan’s sons accuse Yaakov of theft. God tells Yaakov to return to Cana’an immediately. Rachel and Leah agree to leave. 6th Aliya (Shishi) – 31:17-42 Yaakov’s entire family leaves. Lavan finds this out three days later and chases after Yaakov, catching up with him at Mount Gilad. God appears to Lavan in a dream, telling him not to harm Yaakov. Lavan criticises Yaakov for fleeing and for stealing his idols. Yaakov denies the latter charge, unaware

Talking About the Weather: Part 3 – Cloud by Rabbi David Lister – Edgware United Synagogue We have explored the possible for the Jewish people to message behind the look at the Temple: glory of the sun. But God’s glory was visible within not every day is sunny. the cloud…, for without the cloud it Clouds can mask the would not have been possible to look sun’s beauty from morning to night, at it. After all, a person cannot even and on such days we are barely look at the sun! How much more so aware of its golden radiance beyond. can we not gaze on the light of the What, then, is the message of the radiance of God’s divine presence! clouds? Here is the key to our Cloud cover in Torah has a special function since it is often depicted alongside the domain of God’s glory. Thus we find in the book of Shemot (40:34-35) that a cloud rested upon the newly-constructed Mishkan (miniature Temple) which the Jewish people made in the desert as a place for A cloud in front of the sun (Øyvind Holmstad, 2012) God to reside among them: “The cloud covered the understanding of the metaphor tent of meeting, and the glory of offered to us by the clouds. Yes God filled the Mishkan. And Moshe indeed, they cover the sun. But they was unable to come to the tent of also enable us to look at the sun at meeting, because the cloud rested upon it and the glory of God filled the times when it would otherwise not be possible to do so. The midday sun Mishkan.” blazes with such a bright light that Rabbi Shlomo Luntschitz (1550we cannot fix our eyes upon it. Yet 1619) in his work Kli Yakar explains that God’s glory was not in the cloud, if a film of cloud passes before the sun, we can look at it in a certain but rather that the cloud made it

way and have some appreciation of its radiance. Thus it is with our perception of God. We might want to see Him and understand His plan a bit more clearly. But if He were directly visible to us, we would be so overwhelmed by the splendour and force of His presence that we would have no room for doubt about anything. We would not be able to make moral choices because the right thing would be so clear to us. Consequently, we would not be able to form meaningful relationships with God and with those around us. Just as a cloud can partially obscure the sun’s light and thereby enable us to see it, so too God’s presence is hidden in our world; because of that, we can ponder His greatness and realise the beauty of His Torah in our own lives. This, then, is the lesson of the clouds. As they pass before the sun, we see in them an ongoing illustration of the concealment of God and remember that His concealment is the very means by which we can see Him.

In memory of Harav Dovid ben Avraham z”l that Rachel was hiding them. Yaakov also defends his record in Lavan’s house, where he worked tirelessly, despite Lavan’s trickery.

7th Aliya (Shevi’i) – 31:43-32:3 Lavan proposes a peace treaty, which Yaakov agrees to, symbolised by a stone monument built by Yaakov’s sons. Lavan and Yaakov part ways.

Sefer Shmuel II (the Second Book of Samuel)

Chapter 12: David’s Repentance by Pnina Savery, Ma’ayan and US Jewish Living Educator

In our last article we discussed the episode of David and Batsheva. As explained, whilst the Rabbis of the Talmud teach that David did not technically break any laws, his actions were most certainly not within the spirit of the law. The prophet, Natan, now approaches David to deliver the Divine message of rebuke. He begins with a story of two men, one rich and one poor. The rich man, the owner of much cattle, steals the one small sheep that is as beloved as a daughter to the poor man and is his only possession. David is outraged that someone should act like this and immediately calls for the rich man to be gravely punished. Natan responds stating: “You are that man!” Whilst God has anointed David as king, protected him from Shaul, showered him with military success and material wealth, David has repaid Him with sin. The prophet refers to Batsheva several times as “Uriyah’s wife”, emphasising that a misdeed was carried out. Natan also explicitly states that David has “killed Uriyah with the sword of Ammon”. Finally, Natan prophesies David’s harsh punishment for this crime.

We are almost holding our breath to hear how David will respond to this scathing criticism. His response is astounding: “I have sinned to God” (2 Shmuel 12:13). There is no hesitation and no attempt to justify his actions. David accepts responsibility for what he has done and confesses to his wrongdoing. Human nature often leads us to avoid such confessions. As king, David would not have been used to hearing such rebuke and could have had his critic executed. Here we see David’s greatness: despite his sin, he admits it and wishes to set it straight. This admission is followed by a gap in the text called a stuma. This indicates a pause, which allows the tension to build further as David awaits the response of God to his confession. The prophet responds: God accepts David’s repentance, and the punishment will be reduced. David’s punishment will follow him for the rest of his life. For instance, one punishment is that the “sword will not depart” from his house. As we will soon see, three of David’s sons will die by the sword. Another punishment is that the son born to Batsheva becomes ill and dies. However, David and Batsheva have another son, Shlomo

(Solomon), who will become the next king of Israel. By choosing Shlomo as David’s successor and builder of the Temple, God ultimately puts a stamp of approval on their union. This demonstrates the immense power of David’s repentance. Our chapter ends with a return to the war with Ammon, during which the Batsheva episode took place. David now returns to the battlefield and, together with Yoav, wins a decisive victory over Ammon. The Spanish commentator Don Yitzchak Abarbanel (1437-1508) struggled with the approach which maintains that, in technical terms, David did not sin. He wrote: “If Scripture called him a sinner, and he confessed to his sin, how can a person be in error if he believes him? It is better that I say that he grievously sinned and greatly confessed, and fully repented, and received his punishment, and thus his sins achieved atonement”. Perhaps the mark of a great leader is not that they never sin, but how they respond when their sin is revealed. In earlier articles we have seen that King Shaul (Saul) sinned and shirked his responsibilities. In contrast, David’s acceptance and repentance highlights his greatness.

In memory of Zora bat Shmuel z”l Haftarah The haftarah, according to the general United Synagogue custom, is taken from the Book of Hoshea (ch. 12-14). The prophet Hoshea rebukes the tribe of Ephraim for their

rebelliousness, warning them of the dire consequences. However, they will ultimately return to God, Who will welcome them back.