Yaakov:  The Patriarch for the Exile
Yaakov:  The Patriarch for the Exile

Yaakov (Jacob) was commanded by his father Isaac and implored by his mother Rifka (Rebecca) to leave his home and travel to his mother’s family in the land of Aram. His father did not want him to marry a Canaanite woman and his mother wanted to save his life from the vengeance of his brother Esau.

As he was about to leave the land of Israel, he experienced a wondrous dream . He witnessed a ladder bridging the gulf between heaven and earth.  Angels were ascending from the earth going towards heaven, while others were descending from heaven and going downwards towards the earth. Rashi explained that the angels who accompanied Yaakov while he was in the land of Israel were not permitted to leave the holy land.  Others had to come down to accompany him  as he exited the land of Israel.  (Rashi, Genesis 28:12)

In addition, God appeared to Yaakov to assure him that the land upon which he lay i.e. the Land of Israel will be given to him and his descendants. God also promised to be with Yaakov and to protect him wherever he went until he returned home. 

When Yaakov awoke, he realized it was God who revealed himself and the ground upon which he stood was holy and, indeed, was the gate to heaven. 

Yaakov proceeded to make the following vow, “If God will be with me and protect me on the path that I am about to travel and provide me with bread to eat and clothing to wear and if I will return in peace to my father’s house and God will be my God. . . then from all that you give me, I will give you a tithe.”  (Genesis 28: 20-22) 

The Rabbis recognized the difficult nature of this vow.  The plain reading of the text clearly implied that Yaakov was making a conditional oath . If God will do “A” then I will do “B.”    Why should Yaakov make a conditional vow after God gives him an unconditional promise.

Rashi thus reverses the entire nature of Yaakov’s vow.  He explained that Yaakov was in reality making a reflexive statement, the condition is not placed upon God, but rather on Yaakov and his descendants. This is not a statement about whether God will remain his God, but rather a hope that he expresses that his descendants will not be found unworthy of having God as their God.  (Rashi 28:21)  It is nevertheless difficult to avoid the plain meaning of the text.

There is also another issue that should be understood.  In the concluding verse of Parashat Toldot, the text states that Esau married Machlat the daughter of Ishmael who is also the sister of Nevayot. Why do we need to know who her brother was once we are told that she is the daughter of Ishmael?  Rashi  explains that the Torah teaches us that although Ishmael was present when his daughter Machlat was betrothed to Esau, he had died prior to the actual wedding and that her brother Nevayot assumed the role of giving her hand in marriage to Esau. 

Rashi also informs us that Yaakov was 63 years old at the time of this incident.  Rashi then proceeds to give us a lengthy analysis of Yaakov’s chronology.  This was stated to inform us that Yaakov was secluded in the school of Ever for fourteen years before he went to the home of Lavan in Charan. (Rashi 28:9) 

Why did Yaakov postpone his father’s command for fourteen years?  In addition, what did he learn in the school of Ever that was so vital for his life to come? These questions are better understood through the following comprehensive structure: 

The seminal events which occurred in the lives of the first two patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac, occurred in the land of Israel.  Abraham became the great patriarch of Israel at the moment that God commanded him to leave his father’s house and to travel to the special land which was to become the Land of Israel.  Isaac was commanded never to leave that land, and it was the setting for the Akeda.

With Yaakov, the opposite occurred.  He was to establish his patriarchy outside of the land of Israel.  The significant aspects of his patriarchy occurred first in the territory of Haran during his middle age and would conclude in the land of Egypt during his old age. It was because he crossed back out of Israel that he had the great struggle with the power of Esau.  There he received the name Israel.   Ironically, it was the intervening years in the land of Israel, that would be marred by the tragedies of Dina and what occurred to Joseph.

Yaakov’s experiences in exile would become absolutely necessary for his descendants who would spend millennia in exile, Their experiences would mirror his and their survival would be threatened in their exile.    Ultimately, they would not only survive, but would return and thrive in their sacred land.

Within this context, Yaakov’s response to his vision of God as he was about to leave the land of Israel now becomes fully comprehensible. As did his ancestors Abraham and Isaac, Yaakov believed and realized that there was only one God who created and directed the universe. He also understood however, that this one God chose the land of Israel to be under His special Providence.  That land was more sacred than any other on earth. 

Yaakov was thus desperate to know whether that special Providence would accompany him when he exited the land of Israel. Would God still regard him and protect with that special love reserved for those who inhabit the sacred space of the land of Israel.  Would that Providence ensue in exile until ultimately he and his descendants returned on a permanent basis to the land of Israel.  If Yaakov’s descendant’s could not sustain that belief, their survival would truly be in question. 

In light of the significance of these questions, it would be reasonable to speculate that Yaakov would spend fourteen years in the school of Ever before he would undertake the journey to Laban in Haran. At that time, only in the school of Ever could he learn in detail the nature and demands of the Almighty God who could ensure the survival of his descendants until their ultimate return to the land of Israel.