| Rabbi Ricky Cohen 11/27/2022

And Isaac loved Esau, for [Esau "placed"] venison in his mouth, and Rivkah loved Jacob. And Jacob cooked a pottage, and Esau came from the field and he was faint [with murder.] And Esau said to Jacob: "Pour down (my throat) some of this red (adom) red stuff, for I am faint" — wherefore his name was called Edom. And Jacob said: Sell [as "clearly"] as the day [is clear] your birthright to me. [An evildoer such as you is not worthy of the sacrificial service (which is the prerogative of the first-born.)] And Esau said: Behold, I am going to die. What need have I, then, of this birthright? And Jacob said: Swear to me as the day [is clear]. And he swore to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave to Esau bread and a pottage of lentils. And he ate, and he drank, and he arose, and he went, and [(Scripture testifying to this effect)] Esau shamed the birthright.

And Jacob went out of Beersheva and he went [to go] to Charan. And he came to the place [Mount Moriah] and he spent the night there, for the sun had set [of a sudden, G d causing it to set so that he should sleep there]. And he took of the stones of the place and set them around his head [to guard against animals], and he slept in that place. And he dreamed, and, behold, a ladder set in the earth, and its top reaching the heavens, and, behold, angels of G d ascending [to heaven] and [others] descending [from heaven to earth] upon it. And, behold, the L rd was standing over him [to guard him]. And He said: I am the L rd, the G d of Abraham your father, and the G d of Isaac. The land on which you lie, to you shall I give it, and to your seed. And your seed will be as dust of the earth, and you will be strong, west and east and north and south. And all the families of the earth will bless themselves in you and in your seed. And, behold, I am with you, [and you need not fear Esau and Lavan], and I shall keep you, wherever you go, and I shall return you to this land; for I shall not forsake you until I have done what I have spoken [to Abraham] concerning you. And Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said: In truth, the L rd is in this place, and I did not know it. [Had I known it, I would not have slept here.] And he feared and he said: How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of G d, and this is the gate of heaven [a place of prayer, whence prayers ascend to heaven]. And Jacob arose early in the morning and he took the stone that he had placed at his head and he set it up as a monument and he poured oil on its top. And he called the name of that place Beth-El ("the house of G d"), whereas Luz had been the name of the city in the beginning. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying: If G d will be with me, [as He promised (28:15)], and He will keep me on this way on which I go, [as He said (Ibid.)], and He will give me bread to eat and a garment to wear, [as He said (Ibid.): "For I shall not forsake you"], and I return in peace [free of sin] to my father's house, [as He said (Ibid.)], and the L rd will be a G d for me, [conferring His name upon me, there being no blemish in my seed, as He said (Ibid.): "what I have spoken concerning you," viz. (17:17): "to be a G d to you and to your seed after you"], then this stone which I have set up as a pillar will be the house of G d [i.e., I shall worship the L rd upon it (as he did, viz. 35:1 and 14)], and all that You give me will I tenth to You.

Five signs were wrought for our father Jakob at the time he went forth from Beersheba to go unto Haran. The first sign: the hours of the day were shortened for him, and the sun was hidden from him before its time, because His Word had desired to speak with him. The second sign: after our father Jakob had lifted up his feet from Beersheba, the country was shortened before him, and be found himself sitting in Haran. The third sign: the stones which Jakob our father had taken in the evening, and set as the resting-place of his head, when he had risen in the morning be found had all become one stone; and that is the stone which he set up in the first covenant, pouring oil upon the top of it. The fourth sign : when all the shepherds had gathered together at the stone to roll it from the mouth of the well, and could not, then came our father Jakob and lifted it with one hand, and watered the flock, of Laban his mother's brother. The fifth sign: after our father Jakob had lifted the stone from the mouth of the well, the well overflowed, and was overflowing twenty years; all the days that our father Jakob dwelt in Haran. These five signs were wrought for our father Jakob in the time when he departed from Beersheba to go to Charan.