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Parshat Vayeytze
2000
Gen 28:10-32:3
When not considered in context, the opening sentence "Jacob went out from Be'er-Sheva, and went toward Haran," (Gen 28:10) seems quite innocuous. We see Jacob, born a follower and destined to remain on the heels of Esau, his older twin brother, leaving one city and going to another one. On the surface, this is not major news, especially when compared to the opening lines of the weekly Torah portion Lech-Lecha:
"The Lord said to Avram: Go-you-forth from your land, from your kindred, from your father's house, to the land that I will let you see. I will make a great nation of you and will give-you-blessing and will make your name great. Be a blessing!" (Gen 12:1)
Avram is given a commandment to leave his home for someplace completely new with the guarantee of receiving a blessing, whereas Jacob presumably is just moving from one place to another.
Context, however, does matter. Jacob is not just leaving Be'er-Sheva, he is running for his life. Fearful of Esau's anger over the birthright gained by Jacob in questionable ways, Jacob knows that he must go quickly. He is not just going to the next town, but leaves the Land of Israel and makes his way to Haran, the far away city in Mesopotamia, originally home to his grandparents, Avram and Sarai, and their family. No command is necessary, even though Rebecca tells Jacob "arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran." (Gen 27:43) Jacob leaves because he has to.
Taken in context, the start of this week's Torah portion has quite an unsettling tone (maybe only surpassed by the eighth verse of the opening chapter of the book of Exodus). Jacob's story, in essence, recounts the first instance of Jewish exile from the Land of Israel. Curiously, however, the Hebrew word expressing the concept of exile (galut - Hebrew root: gimel, lamed, hey) is not used in this passage. Jacob leaves, and the Hebrew word used to express this is va-yeitzei (Hebrew root: yud, tzadi, aleph).
Things to consider:
1. Jacob goes into exile - galut. The Hebrew root gimel, lamed, hey, has two separate meanings. One deals with being uprooted or separated from one's rightful place. The other deals with discovery, revealing and uncovering what is hidden. How does Jacob's journey away from his home signal a moment for his personal discovery? How does his story relate to our own personal stories as well as the overall story of the Jewish people?
2. There are actually two different Hebrew terms used to express the concept of living outside of Israel – galut (exile) and t'futzah (Diaspora, dispersion). Are there real differences in these two terms? If so, what are they? If you live outside of Israel, which of these terms would you choose to describe your situation and why? If you live in Israel, which of these terms would you choose to describe life outside of Israel and why?
3. We refer to the Exodus from Egypt using the same Hebrew root used at the start of this week's Torah portion (y'tziat mitzra-im - Hebrew root: yud, tzadi, hey). What do we learn from Jacob's exile beginning with the same word that marks the end of our enslavement in Egypt?
Prepared by Rabbi Andy Koren Campus Rabbi, Hillel Foundation at the University of Florida
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