Ya'akov's Strength and Outstanding Middot By Dani Needle (‘25)

Parashat Toledot ends with Ya'akov being told to go to Lavan since Eisav wants to kill him for “stealing” the Bechor Berachah. Yitzchak tells Ya'akov to marry one of his daughters. Parashat Vayeitzei starts by saying ”ויצא יעקב מבאר שׁבע וילך חרנה,” Ya’akov left from Be’er Sheva and went to Charan.” He takes stones, puts them around his head, and sleeps. Ya'akov has a dream where a ladder is resting on the ground, and the top of it goes all the way up to heaven, angels are going up and down, and Hashem is at the top. Rashi says that Ya'akov then realizes that he slept in a very holy place; if he had known, he would never have slept there. Ya’akov was such a Tzaddik that even though he had this incredible interaction, if he had known that this place was holy, he would never have slept there. This shows how highly Ya’akov valued having proper Middot. Also, from the dream, Ya'akov learned that all of one’s challenges are like a ladder in which one can go up or down, but, ultimately, one must always strive to ascend. And when Ya'akov woke up, he said that Hashem was in this place and was with him. There, Ya’akov recognized that these challenges were for good. What we can take from this is that when we face difficulties in life and we can either go up the ladder or down, we always remember that Hashem is always with us even when we are down. Later in the Parashah, when Ya'akov finally gets to Lavan, Ya'akov makes a deal with Lavan to work for seven years to marry Rachel, but Lavan, the tricky man he is, gives Leah, saying that he would never marry off his younger daughter before the older. Ya'akov and Lavan then make another deal that Ya'akov has to work another seven years for him to marry Rachel. Here we see Ya'akov's incredible resilience and Middot that instead of trying to argue with Lavan, Ya’akov accepts the new deal and works for another seven years for Rachel.

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