New Source Sheet

(1) וישא יעקב רגליו, seeing that he had received assurances from G’d during his nocturnal dream, he now proceeded encouraged, joyfully, something that the Torah describes with the words “he lifted up his feet.”,בני קדם, inhabitants of Aram, as we know from Isaiah 9,11.

(2) רבצים עליה, waiting until all the shepherds would gather there with their flocks and they would roll the rock off the top of the well.,והאבן גדולה על פי הבאר, this was a precautionary measure to ensure people would not fall into the well and drown, or that they would not draw water from the well if not entitled to this.

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(10) ויגל את האבן, seeing he was a son of her father’s sister.

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(13) את הדברים האלה. that his father and mother had sent him to the members of his family.

(14) אך עצמי ובשרי, you have therefore done well in coming to me.

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(16) וללבן שתי בנות, the Torah interrupted Yaakov’s narrative by telling us that seeing that Lavan had only two daughters and the younger one appealed to Yaakov, he asked her father for her hand in marriage.

(17) רכות, beautiful; our sages in Taanit 24 say that when a prospective bride has beautiful eyes, the bridegroom need not have the rest of her body checked out for possible blemishes. Black eyes are not considered as beautiful as white ones. [I suppose the reference is to blue ones. Ed.],יפה תאר, as in Isaiah 44,13 במחוגה יתארהו, “he marks out a form with a stylus.” This is a reference to the shape of her nose, forehead, lips and cheeks.,יפה מראה, healthy looking skin.

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(21) כי מלאו ימי, “I have served you for seven years.”

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(25) והנה היא לאה, whenever something had not been known or recognised previously the word הנה alerts the reader to this fact. (compare Genesis 41,7 והנה חלום, “it was a dream.”) Until Pharaoh awoke he had taken what he saw in the dream as being real.

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(27) מלא שבוע זאת, a reference to the seven days of the wedding festivities for Leah.,ונתנה, she will be given to you;,,בעבודה אשר תעבוד עמדי , after having wed Rachel. We can confirm this seeing that when Joseph was born, at the end of these seven years, Yaakov wanted to take his leave and to return to his parents.(compare 30,25 “for I have served you for your two daughters”).

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(30) ויאהב גם את רחל, he not only slept also with her, but also loved her more than he loved Leah. On most occasions in Scripture when the word גם appears in an inverted fashion, such as here, the meaning is similar. In Exodus 12,32 when Pharaoh said to Moses וברכתם גם אותי, the meaning is: “also bless me.” In Numbers 22,33 when the angel said to Bileam: גם אותך הרגתי, he meant: “I would also have killed you, seeing that I first squeezed your foot and you are already lame. Now I would have killed you if not for your ass lying down.”

(31) ורחל עקרה, she was punished for having said to Yaakov: “get me children!” (30,1)

(32) יאהבני, the vowel patach under the letter ב is equivalent to the letter having been vocalised with a tzeyreh. We have a similar construction in Isaiah 56,3 where the word yavdilani means the same as if the prophet had written yavdileyni.

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(34) על כן קרא שמו לוי, one may assume that it was Yaakov who gave the boy this name. (compare Kimchi)