Study Desk

Yitz'chak answered ‘Esav, "Look, I have made him your lord, I have given him all his kinsmen as servants, and I have given him grain and wine to sustain him. What else is there that I can do for you, my son?"

‘Esav said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Father, bless me too!" ‘Esav wept aloud,

and Yitz'chak his father answered him: "Here! Your home will be of the richness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above.

You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you break loose, you will shake his yoke off your neck."

‘Esav hated his brother because of the blessing his father had given him. ‘Esav said to himself, "The time for mourning my father will soon come, and then I will kill my brother Ya‘akov."

(Maftir) and that Ya‘akov had listened to his father and mother and gone to Paddan-Aram.

‘Esav also saw that the Kena‘ani women did not please Yitz'chak his father.

So ‘Esav went to Yishma‘el and took, in addition to the wives he already had, Machalat the daughter of Yishma‘el Avraham's son, the sister of N'vayot, to be his wife. Haftarah Tol'dot: Mal'akhi (Malachi) 1:1–2:7 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Tol'dot: Romans 9:6–16; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 11:20; 12:14–17 Ya‘akov went out from Be'er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had set. He took a stone from the place, put it under his head and lay down there to sleep. He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of Adonai were going up and down on it. Then suddenly Adonai was standing there next to him; and he said, "I am Adonai , the God of Avraham your [grand]father and the God of Yitz'chak. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the grains of dust on the earth. You will expand to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. By you and your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed. Look, I am with you. I will guard you wherever you go, and I will bring you back into this land, because I won't leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Ya‘akov awoke from his sleep and said, "Truly, Adonai is in this place — and I didn't know it!" Then he became afraid and said, "This place is fearsome! This has to be the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!" Ya‘akov got up early in the morning, took the stone he had put under his head, set it up as a standing-stone, poured olive oil on its top and named the place Beit-El [house of God]; but the town had originally been called Luz. Ya‘akov took this vow: "If God will be with me and will guard me on this road that I am traveling, giving me bread to eat and clothes to wear, so that I return to my father's house in peace, then Adonai will be my God; and this stone, which I have set up as a standing-stone, will be God's house; and of everything you give me, I will faithfully return one-tenth to you."

So ‘Esav went to Yishma‘el and took, in addition to the wives he already had, Machalat the daughter of Yishma‘el Avraham's son, the sister of N'vayot, to be his wife. Haftarah Tol'dot: Mal'akhi (Malachi) 1:1–2:7 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Tol'dot: Romans 9:6–16; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 11:20; 12:14–17 Ya‘akov went out from Be'er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran.

He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had set. He took a stone from the place, put it under his head and lay down there to sleep.

Ya‘akov awoke from his sleep and said, "Truly, Adonai is in this place — and I didn't know it!"

Ya‘akov got up early in the morning, took the stone he had put under his head, set it up as a standing-stone, poured olive oil on its top

(ii) Continuing his journey, Ya‘akov came to the land of the people of the east.

He asked them, "Are things going well with him?" "Yes," they answered, "and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep."

When Ya‘akov saw Rachel the daughter of Lavan his mother's brother, and the sheep of Lavan his mother's brother, Ya‘akov went up and rolled the stone away from the opening of the well and watered the flock of Lavan his mother's brother.

When Lavan heard the news of Ya‘akov his sister's son, he ran to meet him, hugged him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Ya‘akov told Lavan all that had happened.

In the evening he took Le'ah his daughter and brought her to Ya‘akov, and he went in and slept with her.

Lavan also gave his slave-girl Zilpah to his daughter Le'ah as her slave-girl.

Ya‘akov agreed to this, so he finished her week, and Lavan gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

Lavan also gave to his daughter Rachel his slave-girl Bilhah as her slave-girl.