learning parshah vayeitzei

This week we read Vayeitzei, Bereshit 28:10-32:3.

In this sidra Jacob spends time with his uncle and marries Rachel and Leah, his twelve sons children (see comments) are born. (summary)

Right. I’ve not been able to do the learning I wanted to this week. I was distracted in the Uni stacks and read two other books (more about them next Monday) instead.

Despite this, I’m going to attempt to round up some sources which discuss Leah’s eyes. Why? Well, I have bad eyes. I don’t know if I’d call them weak, but I’ve always been fascinated by 29:17 “Leah’s eyes were tender, but Rachel had beautiful features and a beautiful complexion.” (from chabad’s site, © Judaica Press).

What does tender mean? The original Hebrew is “rachot”. Rashi says that this is because she cried a lot.. as the eldest daughter she was expected to marry Esau, while Rachel would marry Jacob. (I forget exactly from which classical commentator I found the next part, I’ve misplaced my notes) Leah would sit “at the crossroads” and ask about Esau. She would be told that he was “evil”. When she inquired further on Jacob, she was told he was “good”. Thus she cried. There is further information in Bava Basra 123A (at the bottom third of the page). This paragraph is based on my memory, proceed at your own risk.

Does anyone know of a chumash set similar to that of Judaica Press’s Neviim and Ketuvim? I desire strongly that the Hebrew Mikraoth Gedoloth to look proper (er, traditional, but am ok with the type reset so it’s legible) but am interested in some decent English nearby without having to balance multiple seforim at my work area. I can actually read some of that daf and found the relevant part without relying on the English (though I did “check my work”). NEVERMIND. I found it. Now to find the budget and a local store which carries it. ;) [why is it that I hadn’t located this in the past few years despite knowing almost every nook and cranny of the major publishers websites?]

שׁבּת שׁלום

• Category: judaism