Parshat Vayeitzei
November 16, 2002

Now that Rachel has borne him a child, Yaakov asks Lavan to allow him to return home to Canaan, since his many years of service were in order to marry and raise a family. What follows is an often puzzling incident (Bereishit 30:27-31:1), which we present here according to the reading of Malbim (R. Meir Leib ben Yechiel Michael, 1809-1877):  

And Lavan said to him, “If only I have found favor in your eyes! I have divined that Hashem has blessed me because of you. You did not purchase my daughters as slaves by your labor, so you have no right to take them out of the country.” So he said, “Name your wage for me and I will give.”

And he said to him, “You know how I have served you, and what your flock has become with me. For the little that you had before me has increased (VA’YIFROTZ) greatly and Hashem has blessed you because of me. For my exceptional work, and the blessings I brought, I deserve far more than the wages of a day-laborer. But now, when shall I work for my household also?”
And he said, “What shall I give you?”

And Yaakov said, “You shall not give me anything because, for my past labors, I acquired the right to take my wives with me; I will remain under new terms if you will do this thing for me: I will return and tend your flock, I will guard it. I will pass among all your flock today (HA’YOM), removing (HASEIR) from there every spotted and mottled lamb, and every dark lamb among the sheep, and every mottled and spotted among the goats, and it shall be my wage.

“Effective immediately, these three types of sheep and two types of goats, which you can always verify, will be mine. Hashem’s Providence  which even you recognize  will determine how large should be my wage, and my righteousness shall testify against me hereafter (B’YOM MACHAR), when you will go over my wage before you: any one that is not spotted or mottled among the goats or dark among the sheep, is stolen with me.”

And Lavan said, “Yes! May it be so, as you say.”

However, Lavan immediately schemes to reinterpret and distort the terms of the agreement First, Lavan himself removed (VA’YASAR) on that day (BA’YOM HAHU), the mottled and spotted goats, feigning to understand Yaakov’s word HASEIR as a command to Lavan to exclude from the deal those animals that currently have white in their fleece and to keep them for himself, so that only such animals that would be born thereafter would belong to Yaakov. Second, whereas Yaakov had specified spotted and mottled animals, Lavan takes out the ringed and mottled rams, and all the spotted and mottled goats every one that had white (LAVAN) in them and all the dark ones among the sheep.

By slipping this change past Yaakov, Lavan establishes a precedent that he can always claim occurred with Yaakov’s consent. Later, Yaakov would futilely complain that Lavan constantly changed his wages (see 31:7-8,41). Third, while Yaakov wanted these animals close-by, so their presence would influence the birth of more of their type, Lavan gave them into the hands of his sons. And he placed a distance of three days between himself and Yaakov, while Yaakov tended the rest of Lavan’s flock. Realizing he has been tricked but unable to prove it, Yaakov acts to recoup his losses without violating the agreement as he established it. He is confident that Hashem will come to his aid, but he must also make an effort:

And Yaakov took for himself rods of fresh aspen (LIVNEH), hazel and chestnut, and peeled white (LEVANOT) streaks in them, thereby exposing the white (HA’LAVAN) which can be found throughout the rods. But it is not the rods that would affect the coloring of the animals; it is the sight of other animals with white coloring that would do it:

And he set the rods which he had peeled in the gutters in the watering troughs where the sheep would come to drink facing the sheep, and they would look closely when they came to drink. And the sheep would go into heat before the rods, and the sheep would bear ringed, spotted and mottled young. And Yaakov separated the sheep, and he placed the sheep facing the ringed ones, and every dark one among Lavan’s sheep. And he formed separate flocks and did not put them with Lavan’s sheep. And it was that whenever the healthy sheep would go into heat, Yaakov would place the rods before the eyes of the sheep in the gutters, to stimulate them with the rods. But when the sheep were weak he would not place, so the weak ones became Lavan’s and the healthy ones became Yaakov’s. And the man increased (VA’YIFROTZ) very much, and he had many sheep and maid-servants and men-servants and camels and donkeys. But he heard the words of Lavan’s children saying, “Yaakov has taken all that was our father’s, and from that which is our father’s he made all this wealth.” (30:38 – 31:1)

Undoubtedly, Yaakov is in the right. However, this incident indicates to what extent living with Lavan has changed him:

• Lavan ("white") hides behind the veneer of propriety and legality, even while he is cheating Yaakov. Likewise, Yaakov’s countermeasure utilizes whiteness: LIVNEH . . . LEVANOT . . . HA’LAVAN.
• The same word (VA’YIFROTZ) is used to describe both men as their wealth increases.
• The three days’ distance Lavan placed between the flocks parallels the three times YOM appears in the negotiations. This may suggest that Yaakov is redirecting Lavan’s “weapon” (3 days) so that it boomerangs.
• While Yaakov is acting honestly, his methods give a bad impression.
• Lavan’s own sons see that Yaakov has adopted their father’s ways:
“Yaakov has taken all that was our father’s…”

All this may allude to Yaakov’s subconscious change in attitude as a result of Lavan’s insidious influence. This is certainly detrimental to Yaakov, and his second dream (31: 11-13), is a clear Divine directive as to what he should do.  Indeed, it is time for Yaakov to return home.

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