Vayetzeh: Borders

Yaakov leaves Be'er Sheva and travels toward Haran. Gd and Abraham had forbidden his father, Isaac, to leave the Promised Land.  Yaakov had to leave to allow his brother, a contender for the land, to chill from his murderous rage over Isaac's blessing. Yaakov returned to Haran, where Abraham's ancestors had assimilated,  integrated into the local customs. These were the people and practices that Abraham had rejected and moved away from. Yaakov would confront this past and, by necessity, participate in it. 

Yaakov came to a place and he went to sleep. Actually, Yaakov and the place had a confrontation.  וַיִּפְגַּ֨ע בַּמָּק֜וֹם , This word PheGA, in modern Hebrew, is the verb used to denote a terrorist  attack. Pigua has acquired a violent connotation. The second word Makom, meaning place, later  became an appellation of Gd, presumably implying omnipresence.  Yaakov was confronted by the Omnipresent. 

Gd often appears in dreams. At the chiastic  end of the parsha, just before the conscious  Yaakov is greeted by angels as he re-enters the Promised Land, Gd appears to Lavan, Yaakov's father-in-law, in a dream, to warn the pursuing, would be creditor, not harm Yaakov. 

When Yaakov awakes, he declares that Gd is in this place, and he did not know it. Is this a violation of Omnipresence? Is Gd in one place and not another?  A simple understanding would posit that Yaakov did not realize that, having traveled so far,  he was still in the Promised Holy Land. Yaakov recognizes the place as a gateway to Heaven. The Midrash identifies the location as Jerusalem. Jerusalem becomes a location of significance to Christianity  and Islam. The Abrahamic religions recognize it as a gateway.  

Yaakov continues his journey. He comes upon a covered well. Shepherds are socializing, not tending the  sheep, waiting for a quorum to lift the stone.  This is a place of rules, the rules do not favor productivity. It is a place where  workers are alienated from their tasks. Perhaps these are hired workers (wage slaves), perhaps they have inherited their fortunes and do not know how to care for their charges. 

As the story unfolds we learn more about the place that Abraham abandoned and Isaac could not visit. Yaakov agrees to work 7 years for Rachel, but the local custom demands that the elder sister, Leah, be married first. Deception for the sake of the tradition is permitted.  Marrying sisters: no problem. 

The economic theory  is revealed in the last argument between Yaakov and Lavan.  Yaakov alludes to the numerous times he was cheated.  His wages were changed 10 times, he was financially responsible  for losses in the herd; and the profits were maximized for the capitalist, Lavan.  Yaakov's labor was dangerous and exhausting. Lavan counters: the daughters are my daughters and the sheep belong to me and my sons!  Value is capital. Labor is not a consideration in value. 

The Jews. in their travels and travails were not unaffected by Yaakov's sojourn into this land of economic experiments. 

Credit to my daughter Elisheva for directing me to the place.  She belongs to herself.