Vayetze

[10] In the second reading, in chapter 29, Jacob came to an eastern land where he saw a well with a great stone rolled upon it and three flocks of sheep lying by it.

[37] Bilhah bore Jacob a son, and Rachel called him Dan, saying that God had judged her and also heard her voice.

[67] In the sixth reading, Jacob set his sons and his wives on camels and headed out toward Isaac and Canaan with all the animals and wealth that he had collected in Padan-aram.

[86] In the maftir (מפטיר‎) reading of Genesis 32:1–3 that concludes the parashah, early in the morning, Laban kissed his sons and his daughters, blessed them, and departed for his home.

The parashah is discussed in these rabbinic sources from the era of the Mishnah and the Talmud:[95] Rabbi Judan taught in Rabbi Aibu's name that the words of Proverbs 12:13, "the righteous comes out of trouble," allude to Jacob, as Genesis 28:10 reports, "And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba" (and away from Esau, who sought to kill him).

[96] A midrash noted that Genesis 24:10 reports that Abraham sent Eliezer to woo Rebekah with ten camels and "having all goodly things of his master's in his hand," but Jacob traveled to Haran without a single ring or bracelet.

After he prayed, he sought to return to Haran, but God chose to give this righteous man a night's rest and immediately (as Genesis 28:11 reports) "the sun was set.

Rabbi Simeon ben Lakish said that were it not expressly stated in the Scripture, we would not dare to say it, but God is made to appear like a man who fans his son to protect him from the heat.

[105] Rabbi Joḥanan taught that the wicked stand over their gods, as Genesis 41:1 says, "And Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood over the river."

Rabbi Isaac deduced that God rolled up the whole Land of Israel and put it under Jacob, thus indicating that his descendants would easily conquer it.

Rabbi Joḥanan taught in the name of Rabbi Jose that God gives a boundless portion—a very large reward—to anyone who delights in the Sabbath, for Isaiah 58:13–14 promises: "If you keep your feet from violating the Sabbath, from pursuing your affairs on My holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, the Lord's holy day honored, and you honor it by not going your own way, or attending to your own matters or speaking idle words, then you shall delight in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the world, and to feast on the inheritance of Jacob your father, as the mouth of God has spoken."

She would ask about the younger son, and the passersby would answer in the words of Genesis 25:27 that he was "a quiet man, dwelling in tents."

When Rachel became aware of the plot, the matter was extremely difficult for her, and she told Jacob and gave him a signal to distinguish between the sisters so that Laban would not be able to exchange them.

A person affected by skin disease (מְּצֹרָע‎, metzora) is accounted as dead, for Numbers 12:10–12 says, "And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous (מְצֹרָעַת‎, metzora'at).

"[138] Rabbi Simeon taught that because Rachel treated the righteous Jacob so slightingly (as to trade away sleeping with him for some mandrakes, as reported in Genesis 30:14–15) she was not buried with him.

[143] A Baraita taught that on Rosh Hashanah, God remembered each of Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah and decreed that they would bear children.

Rabbi Samuel bar Naḥman concluded that a woman who solicits her husband to perform the marital obligation, as Leah did, will have children the like of whom did not exist even in the generation of Moses.

Rav Adda bar Ahabah said that Genesis 31:4, where Jacob called Rachel and Leah to the field, could be cited in support of the practice.

[155] The heart speaks,[156] sees,[156] hears,[157] walks,[158] falls,[159] stands,[160] rejoices,[161] cries,[162] is comforted,[163] is troubled,[164] becomes hardened,[165] grows faint,[166] grieves,[167] fears,[168] can be broken,[169] becomes proud,[170] rebels,[171] invents,[172] cavils,[173] overflows,[174] devises,[175] desires,[176] goes astray,[177] lusts,[178] is refreshed,[179] is humbled,[180] is enticed,[181] errs,[182] trembles,[183] is awakened,[184] loves,[185] hates,[186] envies,[187] is searched,[188] is rent,[189] meditates,[190] is like a fire,[191] is like a stone,[192] turns in repentance,[193] becomes hot,[194] dies,[195] melts,[196] takes in words,[197] is susceptible to fear,[198] gives thanks,[199] covets,[200] becomes hard,[201] makes merry,[202] acts deceitfully,[203] speaks from out of itself,[204] loves bribes,[205] writes words,[206] plans,[207] receives commandments,[208] acts with pride,[209] makes arrangements,[210] and aggrandizes itself.

[213] Similarly, a midrash cited Genesis 31:24 as an application of the principle that all miracles that God did for Israel, and the punishment of the wicked on their behalf, took place at night.

[217] A midrash taught that Rachel's death ensued because Jacob told Laban in Genesis 31:32, "With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live."

[225] Cynthia Chapman suggested that Judeans compiled and edited the ancestor narratives in Genesis after the Babylonian captivity to serve as stories of national origin.

Chapman noted that several recurring themes of the Patriarchal narratives spoke to the exilic reality of those who preserved the stories.

Speiser argued that taken as a unit, the fused version is repetitious, but separately, each strand represents an independent tradition.

[230] Sandra Gravett, Karla Bohmbach, Franz Greifenhagen, and Donald Polaski reported that some scholars suggested that a scribe copying an earlier text may have added Genesis 28:19, "And he called the name of that place Beth-el, but the name of the city was Luz at the first," seeking to explain the location and history of the site.

[231] Nahum Sarna reported that modern scholars deduce from the Genesis listings of Jacob's sons the evolution of the league of Israelite tribes.

[234] The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch told how some Jews emulate Jacob's action in Genesis 28:11 by sleeping with a stone under their head on Tisha B'Av, the annual fast day to commemorate the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch told that on that night, Jacob had a vision of the destruction of the Temple and said (in the words of Genesis 28:17), "How awesome is this place.

[237] The Passover Haggadah, in the concluding nirtzah section of the Seder, in a reference to Genesis 31:24, recounts how God frightened the Aramean Laban in the night.

[238] The doubling of the Hebrew word nikhsof to express intense longing in Genesis 31:30 also appears in the 16th-century Safed Rabbi Eliezer Azikri's kabbalistic poem "Yedid Nefesh" ("Soul's Beloved") which many congregations chant just before the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service.