Vayetzeh: going out into the world

 Jacob goes to Haran, the land that Abraham left; his father Terach and brother Nachor remained there.  This is the  place where the belief system branched.  This is the place that Gd referred to as "your land" when Abraham was instructed to leave and go ... to the place that Gd would show him. It is the old neighborhood, and the family business is still there. 

Vayetzeh, and he left, always feels like leaving the yeshiva. Jacob meets the world of economic reality.  He must make a living.Jacob leaves the supportive home, where he does not need to worry about scrounging his next meal, and enters the world.  He has a dream of angels, but as soon as he wakes he prays for 

לֶ֛חֶם לֶאֱכֹ֖ל וּבֶ֥גֶד לִלְבֹּֽשׁ׃

 bread to eat and clothing to wear,

Somehow, he needs to acquire the necessities. He turns to The Source for help, but he knows he will be required to work for it. He anoints a stone that served as his pillow. 

Soon he meets the next stone; one that covers the well used to water the sheep.  After ascertaining that he is in Lavan's neighborhood, his destination, he expresses his opinion about sheepherding: 

וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הֵ֥ן עוֹד֙ הַיּ֣וֹם גָּד֔וֹל לֹא־עֵ֖ת הֵאָסֵ֣ף הַמִּקְנֶ֑ה הַשְׁק֥וּ הַצֹּ֖אן וּלְכ֥וּ רְעֽוּ׃

He said, “It is still broad daylight, too early to round up the animals; water the flock and take them to pasture.”

Is he calling the shepherds lazy? 

The reply

וַיֹּאמְרוּ֮ לֹ֣א נוּכַל֒ עַ֣ד אֲשֶׁ֤ר יֵאָֽסְפוּ֙ כׇּל־הָ֣עֲדָרִ֔ים וְגָֽלְלוּ֙ אֶת־הָאֶ֔בֶן מֵעַ֖ל פִּ֣י הַבְּאֵ֑ר וְהִשְׁקִ֖ינוּ הַצֹּֽאן׃

But they said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are rounded up; then the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well and we water the sheep.”

implies  that they have a different economic system.   A more collective system.  The whole community must assemble before the water is distributed according to the rules of the soviet.  You are not in the wild west of Canaan anymore. 

When Rachel comes with Lavan's sheep, Jacob ignores the local custom, removes the covering stone, and waters the sheep. Score one for the liberation of collective land.

It appears that Jacob had to work for his room and board as soon s he arrived. 

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לָבָן֙ לְיַעֲקֹ֔ב הֲכִי־אָחִ֣י אַ֔תָּה וַעֲבַדְתַּ֖נִי חִנָּ֑ם הַגִּ֥ידָה לִּ֖י מַה־מַּשְׂכֻּרְתֶּֽךָ׃ 

Laban said to Jacob, “Just because you are a kinsman, should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”

Jacob will work to earn  Rachel as his bride.  He paid for the younger, and was tricked into marrying the elder.  Ironic: To get the bracha, he had presented himself as the elder to his father when he was, in fact, the younger. 

Lavan offers to employ Jacob.  Jacob can name his own salary.  Jacob accepts the offer.  He will be paid in all the non-white ( Lavan means white) sheep and goats. Jacob now manipulates the mating behavior of the flocks by setting peeled branches in front of the drinking (and mating) animals. The  scientific details of this animal husbandry psychological intervention  are not clear, but some of the words are charged: 

וַיִּֽקַּֽח־ל֣וֹ יַעֲקֹ֗ב מַקַּ֥ל לִבְנֶ֛ה לַ֖ח וְל֣וּז וְעַרְמ֑וֹן וַיְפַצֵּ֤ל בָּהֵן֙ פְּצָל֣וֹת לְבָנ֔וֹת מַחְשֹׂף֙ הַלָּבָ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־הַמַּקְלֽוֹת׃ 

Jacob then got fresh shoots of poplar, and of almond and plane, and peeled white stripes in them, laying bare the white of the shoots.

Translation can not capture the impact of the words. Almond, וְל֣וּז, luz, came up at the beginning of the parsha as the name of the place where Jacob had his dream. The dream of Beith El, the house of Gd, was somehow invoked to maximize Jacob's income. 

The word that is translated as "lay bear", machshof, is a homonym of the word meaning magic.  The commentator ( Rashi, ibn Ezra) are careful to translate the word laid bare, lest one misinterpret the sound- alike. 

Was this cheating? Jacob was  manipulating the situation to his advantage.  Such behavior was not forbidden by the contract, but it was probably not anticipated by Lavan, whose cost would be affected by Jacob's cleverness. Once more, we have a story that could incite resentment to Jacob and his descendants. Although no one knows how well these stripped sticks in the watering trough worked, the resentment they sowed is certain. 

Jacob prospered under the agreement. Lavan's heirs were envious .  Their economic theory was:  all that spawned from capital belonged to the capitalist. 

וַיִּשְׁמַ֗ע אֶת־דִּבְרֵ֤י בְנֵֽי־לָבָן֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לָקַ֣ח יַעֲקֹ֔ב אֵ֖ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר לְאָבִ֑ינוּ וּמֵאֲשֶׁ֣ר לְאָבִ֔ינוּ עָשָׂ֕ה אֵ֥ת כׇּל־הַכָּבֹ֖ד הַזֶּֽה׃ 

Now he heard the things that Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from that which was our father’s he has built up all this wealth.”

Jacob's wealth belonged to Lavan.

Conveniently, Gd chooses this time to appear to Jacob and tell him to return to Canaan. Haran is getting dangerous.  Jacob and his family leave without saying goodbye. Incidentally, Rachel steals her father's terafim. household idols. 

Rachel took objects to which her father ascribed powers. These contrast with the sticks that helped Jacob acquire his wealth.  The sticks were science, the terafim idolatry. We do not know how either worked. 

Lavan searched for what was stolen from him.  Something was stolen, but he did not find it. Jacob, not knowing about the theft, berates Lavan for his abusive capitalist practices, the suffering he imposes onthe worker.  Lavan answers that 

וַיַּ֨עַן לָבָ֜ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֗ב הַבָּנ֨וֹת בְּנֹתַ֜י וְהַבָּנִ֤ים בָּנַי֙ וְהַצֹּ֣אן צֹאנִ֔י וְכֹ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה רֹאֶ֖ה לִי־ה֑וּא וְ 

Then Laban spoke up and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks; all that you see is mine.

It is all his. There is another theory of possession. The worker, who suffers to obtain the necessities confronts the capitalist who owns the means of production. Now, thousands of years later, we can see who is winning that battle. 

Jacob and Lavan seal their treaty with stones.