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Bereishit 29:2
וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה בְאֵר בַּשָּׂדֶה
Vayar vehineh ve'er basadeh
he looked, and behold here there was a well on a field.
Every single one of our Patriarchs had an encounter with a well and in each case the well was an allusion to future happenings. In Yitzchak's case the well he encountered was called בְּאֵר מַיִם חַיִּים (be'er mayim chayim) "a well of living water." (26:19) Bereishit Rabbah 70:8 explains that to the Jewish people Torah is equivalent to spring water.
וְהִנֵּה-שָׁם שְׁלֹשָׁה עֶדְרֵי-צֹאן
vehineh-sham shloshah edrei-tzon
and here there were three flocks of sheep.
The Torah could have written "here there were three flocks of sheep and there was a well.." The reason the syntax was changed was to allude to a similar sequence in Yechezkel 3:23 "and here the glory of HASHEM was standing." Yisrael is called "the flock of G-d" as we know from Yechezkel 34:31, "and you are My sheep, sheep of My pasture, you are Adam..." The same thought is in Tehillim 79:13 "and we are Your people and the flock of Your pasture." The reason the Torah mentioned three flocks is that the Jewish peple consist of three flocks, i.e. the Kohanim, the Levi'im, and the Benei Yisrael. All of the Benei Yisrael used to make a pilgrimage to the Temple three times a year in order to be in the Presence of G-d.
כִּי מִן-הַבְּאֵר הַהִוא יַשְׁקוּ הָעֲדָרִים וְהָאֶבֶן גְּדֹלָה
ki min-habe'er hahi yashku ha'adarim veha'even gedolah
for from that well the flocks would be watered. And the large stone...
There is an allusion here to the Holy Name of G-d which was engraved in the Holy Temple. The line "for from that well the flocks would be watered," is a clear hint that the Temple would serve as the basic inspiration of the various sections of the Jewish people. The words וְהָאֶבֶן גְּדֹלָה (veha'even gedolah) is a reference to a "golden crown", i.e. the letter ד (dalet) in the Shema - שמע ישראל ה׳ אלוקינו ה׳ אחד (Shema Yisrael HASHEM Elokeinu HASHEM Echad). The last letter ד which is in larger script in the Torah is equivalent to the final letter in the Ineffable Name, which alludes to G-d's Attribute גדולה (Gedolah).
29:3
וְנֶאֶסְפוּ-שָׁמָּה כָל-הָעֲדָרִים
Vene'esfu-shamah chol-ha'adarim
all the flocks would be assembled there [next to the well];
This is an allusion to all the Tribes of Yisrael from the extreme north to the extreme south who would assemble at the Holy Temple. The word וְגָלְלוּ (vegalelu) "would roll [the stone]" may be understood as similar in meaning to Berachot 7 "they will roll over Your Attribute of Mercy to 'exile' Your other Attribute." The Talmud there discusses the effectiveness of prayer. The words וְהִשְׁקוּ אֶת-הַצֹּאן (vehishku et-hatzon) "they watered the flock," describe how the Ruach HaKodesh was drawn down in order to provide the Benei Yisrael with blessing emanating from the Inner Sanctuary (in the Celestial Temple). The words "and they would replace the stone to its place," mean that seeing that they had previously elevated the stone (figure of speech) to lofty spiritual regions, once they had absorbed the proper spiritual imput from that region they descended from such a spiritual "high." There is a parallel comment in Sefer Yetzirah 1:4 "leave a matter in its proper state and restore the Creator to His realm."
A Midrashic approach: rabbi Yochanah interpreted the words וְהִנֵּה בְאֵר בַּשָּׂדֶה (vehineh ve'er basadeh) "behold here there was a well on a field" (v2) as an allusion to the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The words בְאֵר בַּשָּׂדֶה (be'er basadeh) are a reference to Mount Sinai. The words שְׁלֹשָׁה עֶדְרֵי-צֹאן (shloshah edrei-tzon) "three flocks of sheep," refer to the Kohanim, the Levi'im, and the Benei Yisrael. The words "for from that well the flocks would be watered," refer to the Ten Commandments whereas the words וְהָאֶבֶן גְּדֹלָה (veha'even gedolah) are a reference to G-d. The words וְנֶאֶסְפוּ-שָׁמָּה (vene'eshfu-shamah) "they were gathered there," refer to the Jewish people whereas the words וְהֵשִׁיבוּ אֶת-הָאֶבֶן עַל-פִּי הַבְּאֵר לִמְקֹמָהּ (veheshivu et-ha'even al-pi habe'er limekomah) "they put the stone back on the mouth of the well, its original place," are a simile for Moshe saying to the people at the end of the revelation (Shemot 20:22) "You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven."
29:5
לָבָן בֶּן-נָחוֹר
Lavan ben-Nachor
Lavan son of Nachor.
The Torah should have described him as "Lavan the son of Betu'el," seeing Betu'el was his father. However, this is another instance where the Torah shows that grandchildren are equal to children (Yevamot 62). We have another such example in 20:12 where Avraham described Sarah as "my sister the daughter of my father," although in effect Sarah was the daughter of Avraham's brother Haran. He had meant "daughter of my father's son (Haran). It also possible that the Torah described Lavan as the son of Nachor, seeing that Avraham's brother Nachor was a well known personality, whereas Betu'el was relatively unknown. When people spoke of Lavan they never referred to him as teh son of Betu'el but as the son of Nachor. The Torah simply described things as they were.
29:10
וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר רָאָה יַעֲקֹב
Vayehi ka'asher ra'ah Ya'akov
it happened that as soon as Yaakov looked...
We find that in this verse the Torah repeats the expression אֲחִי אִמּוֹ (achi imo) "brother of his [Yaakov] mother" repeatedly. This is partly in order to explain why Ya'akov was so concerned with helping to water the flocks as he had pity on Rachel, Lavan's daughter. Whatever Ya'akov did, whatever feat of strenght he performed, he did not perform for the sake of Lavan but for the sake of his mother Rivkah. This is why every time the Torah had to mention the name of wicked Lavan, it constrasts him with his sister, Ya'akov's mother. Ya'akov remembered his mother who had advised him to go to Lavan.
There is yet another reason for the repeated mention of the words אֲחִי אִמּוֹ "brother of his mother." Whenever a person hears or sees an object he desires, he is suddenly capable of performing tasks which he cannot perform in order to secure something which his heart does not covet. The reader of this passage could be forgiven if he had thought that seeing Ya'akov was taken with Rachel's beauty he desired her physically and this is what gave him the strength to move the rock single-handedly. The Torah refers time and again to the fact that Lavan was the brother of Ya'akov's mother in order to make us aware that physical passion had nothing to do with Ya'akov's sudden burst of strength in moving the rock. The Torah was so concerned not to create the impression that Ya'akov's sudden burst of strength was inspired by passion that instead of writing, "as soon as Ya'akov set eyes on Rachel he rolled the rock...," the Torah wrote instead (in somewhat clumsy style) "it was when Ya'akov saw Rachel the daughter of Lavan, the brother of his mother, and the flock of Lavan the brother of his mother, Yaakov approached and rolled the rock..."
וַיִּגַּשׁ יַעֲקֹב וַיָּגֶל אֶת-הָאֶבֶן מֵעַל פִּי הַבְּאֵר
vayigash Ya'akov vayagel et-ha'even me'al pi habe'er
Ya'akov approached and rolled the rock from the top of the well.
Ya'akov clearly displayed superior physical strength seeing that at least three shepherds had been unable to move that rock with their combined efforts. When you consider in addition that Ya'akov must have been tired both from the long journey and from Torah study, which traditionally weakens a person physically, his feat was even more remarkable. Yaakov had spent the last 14 years studying in the academy of Ever (even though this detail has not been recorded in the Written Torah).
We find that when Yitzchak his father commanded Ya'akov, "arise and go to padan Aram and take for yourself from there a wife" (28:2), that he understood that the meaning of the word אִשָּׁה (ishah) also included another element, something that Yitzchak had not spelled out to him. The hidden meaning of the word אִשָּׁה was that it referred to Torah. King Shlomo in Mishlei 31:10 already alluded to this meaning of the word אִשָּׁה, when he headlined his last paragraph with the words "who can find a woman of valor?" He described such a "woman" as עֲטֶרֶת בַּעְלָהּ (ateret balah) "the crown of her husband." (Mishlei 12:4)
Chazal, when commenting on Devarim 33:4 where Moshe described the Torah as "as an inalienable possession handed down from generation to generation," that the word ought not merely be read as מוֹרָשָׁה (morashah) "inheritance," but as מאורשה (me'orasah) "betrothed," something a Jew is betrothed to. In other words, Torah is to us what a wife is to a husband. Keeping this thought in mind, Ya'akov decided to fulfill the implied command of his father first and instead of proceeding directly to Lavan he stayed at the Yeshivah for 14 years. The number of years he must have stayed there can be arrrived at by comparing the age at which e met Pharaoh (130 - he lived in Egypt for 17 years and died at 147 years of age). When you deduct 22 years during which he had not seen Yosef who had been 17 years of age at the time of his abduction, this made Ya'akov 91 years old at the time Yosef had been born. Yosef was born after Ya'akov had stayed at Lavan's for 14 yaers. This means he was 77 years of age when he came to Charan. Yitzchak dispensed the blessing when he was 123 years of age, i.e. when Ya'akov was 63 years old (compare Rashi wo said that when one approaches within 5 years of the age at which either parent died it is time to make arrangements concerning one's own death. The Talmud Megillah 17 arrives at the same conclusion). All this support the view that the only way to account for an obvious discrepeancy in dates supplied by the Torah is to conclude that Ya'akov studied Torah for 14 years before arriving at Lavan's house.
29:11
וַיִּשַּׁק יַעֲקֹב לְרָחֵל
Vayishak Ya'akov le-Rachel
Ya'akov kissed Rachel...
The reason the Torah referred to Rachel as קטנה (ktanah), "small," is that she was still a minor and Ya'akov could not consummate marriage vows with her. This was the reason Lavan was not worried to hand his flocks to her instead of to his already adult daughter Le'ah who was liable to be molested by the male shepherds on account of her age. We should also note that Ya'akov did not kiss Rachel on the mouth but on the head or the shoulder, suggesting that there was no sexual element in that kiss (Ibn Ezra).
וַיִּשָּׂא אֶת-קֹלוֹ וַיֵּבְךְּ
vayisa et-kolo vayevk.
he raised his voice and cried.
This was customary when family memebers met. According to Bereishit Rabbah 70:12 quoted by Rashi, Ya'akov's weeping was prompted by his having a vision of Rachel not being buried with him in the cave of Machpelah. Another Midrash attributes this weeping to Ya'akov's reflecting on his arrival as a potential suitor empty-handed, whereas Eliezer, his father's servant at the time when he met Rivkah was loaded with precious gifts. According to that version, the reason taht Ya'akov was penniless was that Esav's son Elifaz whome his father had dispatched to kill him had settled for leaving him penniless, reasoning that a poor man is like a dead man. (Sefer HaYashar)
May HASHEM continue to enlighten us with the Light of His Torah.
- Chazal
Parashat VaYetze
