Vayeitzei Shabbat, 9 Kislev, 5776, 21 November, 2015

Genesis Chapter 28
10And Jacob left Beer sheba, and he went to Haran.

Genesis Chapter 32
3And Jacob said when he saw them, "This is the camp of G-d," and he named the place Ma'chana'im.
What is the difference between Charan
and MaChanaim
? The latter is the Camp of
G-d! What does this come to teach? Of the one, he Ya'acov went out from it's well, Beer Sheba to
search for the daughters of Charan at a well; while the other place, Machanaim was seen full of angels
(messengers) of G-d. At both places Beer sheba and Charan there is a well. At the one, Beer Sheba an
oath was taken; and at the other, MaChana'im, angels were seen.
Why did he go from the one? Rashi: "And Jacob left": Because, it was due to the fact that the
daughters of Canaan were displeasing in the eyes of his father Isaac.
"And Jacob left" Rashi But this tells [us] that the departure of a righteous man from a place makes an impression, for
while the righteous man is in the city, he is its beauty, he is its splendor, he is its majesty. When he
departs from there, its beauty has departed, its splendor has departed, its majesty has departed.
http://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?tdate=11/21/2015&p=1&showrashi=true
Why did he return? Because he had made an oath. 28.20
What did he return with? Daughters that were pleasing in the eyes of his father. Isaac was of poor eye
sight but not spiritual acumen to see that from the advice of his wife, Rebecca, the daughters of Canaan
were odious in her eyes!
The gematria for Charan is 263 while for MaChana'im it is 608. What is the difference? 354 Shin Nun
Dalet Shnood a woman's head covering. The daughters of Laban wore head coverings Genesis 24.64
while the daughters of Canaan went about bear headed, lacking modesty! Another gematria reading
might mean gazelle Dishan or Dishon 36.21 sons of Seir; or Devarim (Deuteronomy) 14.5. The food
they ate at Mizpeh was kosher. While our reading it means Sidon (2 Sm 5:11 from the Sidonite
came the materials for the Temple and for robes and the tekelet the dye used for the thread of blue)
Genesis Chapter 30.3 "I, too, will be built up from her." Built up from whom?
Do not read Beer Sheba, Well of Oaths, but Bath-Sheba Daughter(s) of Oaths. It was only because of
the Daughter of Laban that "an Aramean sought to destroy Jacob" (Deuteronomy 26:5) because of his
idols. Gen. 31.19 It was only because of the daughters that they made a covenant and took oaths.
Gensis 31.53. And Rachel by Divine Inspiration spoke of being built up "from her" and the Temple
fortified "from her" (Bath-Sheba). Therefore our text could read, "And (the character or soul) of
Jacob('s daughters) left Bath-Sheba and went to Charan (a parched dry place). This speaks of the exile
and destruction of the Temple while the latter verse speaks of the angels as a camp or host that guarded
the daughter's of Laban.
Why did they need to be guarded? Because Laban sought to keep them for his own house. Genesis
31:43 http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/an-aramean-destroyed-my-father/#

Gleanings:
Deriving Intention
"An Aramean wanted to destroy my father." Since Laban did not actually succeed in doing evil to our
father Jacob, we must derive his intentions from his words. He himself admitted, "It is in my power to
do harm to you" (Genesis 31:29), and this shows his evil intention. Laban wanted to root out the whole,
to kill the mother and child when he says "The daughters are mine and their children are mine, and the
flocks are mine, and all that you see is mine" (Genesis 31:43), that is, they should be mine, if God had
not prevented me.
Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel (1437-1508), Portuguese philosopher and scholar, from his commentary
on the Haggadah, written in 1496

Destroying Jacobs Fatherhood

An Aramean wanted to destroy my fatherhood. When Laban said, "The daughters are mine and their
children are mine, and the flocks are mine," he wanted them to still be his and be called by his name. In
this, he wanted to destroy Jacobs fatherhood, that is, his title of "father." In truth [Rachel and Leah]
had said "Are we not as strangers to him (i.e., to our father, Laban)?" that is, Laban no longer had the
title of "father" over them.
Rav Tzadok haKohen of Lublin (1823-1900), Polish Hassidic Tzaddik, Sefer Dover Tzedek

The First Exile of Israel (i.e., Jacob)

The key to the Haggadahs midrash on arami oved avi is the covenant with Abraham cited earlier in the
Haggadah, "?your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them and they
shall afflict them? Afterward they shall come out with great wealth?and the fourth generation shall
come here again" (Genesis15:13-16). The language of the text"stranger (gerut)," "serve (avdut)," and
"afflict (inuy)"applies not only to Israel, but to Jacob who lived in a strange land, served Laban, and
was afflicted by him. Then Jacob left Labans service with great wealth (and with Laban chasing after
him), and his children (the fourth generation) returned to the land. Labans persecution of Jacob
confronts us with the image that this cycle of exile, persecution, and return predated our enslavement
and redemption from Egypt and reinforces the Haggadahs message that redemption can and does recur
in every generation.
Devora Steinmetz, "An Aramean in Every Generation" (unpublished paper), Assistant Professor of
Talmud, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
In sum, Our verse might be read, "And Jacob's daughters left Bath-Sheba and went to Charan." I see
(derives this writer Drash Zot Ketuv) They are guarded by a Camp or Host of Angels.
How so? As long as they sing Zot

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( Shir Moshe) Devarim 32.44.