Parshat Vayetze

What might appear to be an easily understood verse is this week’s opportunity to examine the methods of Rashi, the premier Torah commentator, who aims to explain the straightforward meaning of the text.

Here are some queries that arise from this verse. The Torah already stated only 3 verses previously that Jacob listened to his parents and went to Padan Aram. In verse 9, Esau ‘went’ but the Torah does not say that he ‘left’. Why does the Torah need to tell us that that Jacob left and also arrived?

Perhaps to underscore the difficulty in understanding this verse, Rashi makes three comments. Firstly, he explains that reason that Jacob left - to find an appropriate wife. Secondly, he explains that the use of two similar verbs specifically alludes to the fact that the departure of a righteous person leaves a lacuna in that place since a place is enhanced by the greatness of its inhabitants. Thirdly, Rashi tells us that Jacob went out to go to Charan.

What does the third comment teach us? Siftei Chachamim, a commentary on Rashi, explains that this correlates with the coming verses, when Rashi explains that Jacob prays to G-d on what would become the Temple Mount, the same place where Abraham prayed, and where the binding of Isaac took place. This must have been on the way to Charan, as he would not have arrived and turned back…or would he? The answer to that question is found in Rashi’s comment on verse 11, cited from the Talmud, TB Chulin 91a. Check it out!