Vayetze: The Outsider

Vayetze deals with economics.  It starts with Yaakov's deal with Gd. Yaakov offers to pay Gd for services that include protection and sustenance, based upon a vision of angels ascending and descending ; from heaven to earth and back to heaven.  The vision means that there is a connection between heaven and earth; the earth is not left to its own devices, the intervention of heaven is possible.  That possibility becomes a certainty in the mind of the believer.  That certainty of Divine intervention  is the basis for Thanksgiving and its national holiday. It unifies Thanksgiving and Chanukah.

 

An aside: Thanksgiving provides insight into the origin of the animal sacrificial rite. There are traditions surrounding the proper food and how it is served  and who comes to the meal.  This is how it starts. 

 

Vayetzeh should be subtitled, "Lets make a deal." There is even a beautiful model ( Rachel) behind door number 2.  A deal is an interaction between a the insider ( the owner, the landlord, the native) and the outsider (often a Jew), the one who has gone out to make his fortune,,, or so it seems.  But the parsha suggests that this interaction is merely a dance, orchestrated by the Divine, to redistribute wealth.  Lavan sees that it is  Gd has made Yaakov  a successful rancher (30:27).

Even the 11 sons born to Yaakov are often named for their (exchange) values ( e.g.Issachar, Dan).  The naming of the sons suggests some ambiguity about the belief system. Gad, ...what is that about? What  role does good fortune ( Gad) play in a world of visible angels? My Gad!