Parshas Vayeitzei 5776

Where did Jacob Sleep? 

The Torah writes (Genesis 28:11):

And he lighted upon the place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.

Rashi (ibid) explains that was Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem [based on the Talmud Hulin 91b]:

The name of the place is not mentioned but it must refer to a location known elsewhere and this is Mt. Moriah as it is written earlier (Genesis 22:4): And he saw the place from far.

The Radak (ibid) learns this was a place near Beer Sheva:

יפגע במקום, while on his way Yaakov encountered one evening a site less than a day’s walk from Beer Sheva. Since it was already evening, the sun having set, he decided to spend the night there as he was too tired to walk any further. The reason why the letter ב in במקום is spelled with the vowel kametz, suggesting that the place was known, is that the location was known as a site where travelers from Beer Sheva would often spend the night.

As explained by the Ramban (Genesis 28:17), there is also a disagreement about this in Genesis Rabbah (69:7):

Rabbi Elazar in the name of Rabbi Yosi ben Zimra said: the ladder was standing in Beer Sheva and reached until the Temple. What was his reason? And Jacob left from Beer Sheva and dreamt and the ladder was there and he was afraid and said "how awesome is this place". Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: the ladder was standing in the Temple and reached until Beis El. What was his reason? He [Jacob] was afraid and said "how awesome is this place" and called the place Beis El.

Why is Laban called the "son of Nahor"?

The Torah writes (Genesis 29:5):

And he said unto them: ‘Know ye Laban the son of Nahor?’ And they said: ‘We know him.’

However, when Isaac sent Jacob away the Torah writes (Genesis 28:2):

Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.

The Radak (ibid) answers:

He mentioned Lavan’s grandfather rather than his father seeing Nachor had been a well known personality whereas Betuel had not. This is also why we find in Genesis 31,53 the expression אלוקי אברהם ואלוקי נחור, seeing that Nachor had been well known.

The Ramban (ibid) explains differently:

It is possible that this was also because of the greatness of Abraham and the entire family identified themselves as descendents of Nahor, the brother of Abraham

Midrash Rabbah (Genesis Rabbah 57:4) says he was an actual son of Nahor:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: He is Laban and he is also Kemuel. Why was he called Kemuel? For he stood against the nation of G-d.

(see our earlier post connecting Laban with Balaam)

Another possibility is that a grandson maybe called a son, as explained by Radak (Genesis 9:24):

the words בנו הקטן refer to Canaan, seeing that he was the youngest of Cham’s sons. There is nothing unusual in a grandson being referred to as a “son.”

Similar, the Ramban (Numbers 26:13) writes:

And it is the custom of the Torah to make grandsons like sons as it says "Laban son of Nahor"

The Kli Yakar (ibid) gives a different explanation:

It seems that he was not asking whether they knew him or not, for surely the people of his city knew him. Instead, he was asking about his deeds and his lineage. About his deeds, he asked if he takes after Nahor who was a good and straight man, or after his father Bethuel the swindler ... and about his lineage, he asked whether he was born from Nahor, the brother of Abraham or maybe his mother gave birth from a different man ...

[Published at parshapeople.blogspot.com / Comments welcome to parsha-people@publishyoursefer.com]