PUT AWAY THE STRANGE GODS. Heaven forbid that the prophet would live with women who served strange gods.¹.” This implies that his wives had strange gods. The explanation of this verse will be found in the Torah portion va-yelekh moshe (And Moses went).²

footnotes: ¹ Our verse reads: Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, “Put away the strange gods that are among you ² Cf. I.E.’s comments on Deut. 31:16.

AND PURIFY YOURSELVES. Wash your bodies.

AND CHANGE YOUR GARMENTS. From this verse we learn that an Israelite must have a clean body and spotless garments when he goes to pray in a place set aside for worship.

A TERROR OF. The tav of chittat (terror of) receives a dagesh to compensate for the missing root letter, the tav.³ is chet, tav, tav, but it is spelled with one tav. The dagesh compensates for the missing letter.

footnotes: ³ The root of chittat

[BECAUSE THERE GOD WAS REVEALED TO HIM.] Elohim (God) refers to angels.⁴) is in the plural. If elohim meant God then revealed would be in the singular (Cherez). Compare, And behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it (Gen. 28:12).⁵ in our verse refers to the same angels whom Jacob saw in Beth-el (Gen. 28:12).

footnotes: ⁴ Revealed (niglu ⁵ Elohim

THY NAME SHALL NOT BE CALLED ANYMORE JACOB. You shall no longer be called only Jacob but also Israel.

BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY. This is a blessing as in the account of the Creation.⁶

footnotes: ⁶ Cf. I.E.’s comments on Gen. 1:26.

[AND JACOB SET UP A PILLAR.] This may be a pluperfect meaning Jacob had already set up a pillar.⁷ On the other hand, Jacob may now have set up a pillar a second time. I prefer the first interpretation.⁸

footnotes: ⁷ Cf. Gen. 28:18, 22. ⁸ I.E. prefers to believe that Jacob used the pillar which he had set up previously in Beth-el.

AND HE POURED OUT A DRINK-OFFERING THEREON. He poured wine or water on the pillar. Jacob first washed the pillar with wine or water⁹. and then poured oil thereon. Here at Beth-el Jacob kept his vow¹⁰ and gave a tithe of his wealth in honor of God to a contemporary who was worthy to receive it.¹¹

footnotes: ⁹ I.E.’s interpretation of and poured out a drink-offering thereon ¹⁰ Cf. Gen. 28:20. This is not explicitly stated in Scripture. I.E. assumes that it must have been so. ¹¹ Cf. I.E.’s comments on Gen. 28:22.

SOME WAY. It is possible that the caf of kivrat (some way) is a preposition meaning similar to¹² (some way) is to be interpreted ki-verat, as a brat. and that brat is a distance measured by walking.¹³. 38. The printed editions read: a king’s measure. The word does not appear elsewhere in Scripture.¹⁴ does appear in II Kings 5:19. Krinsky suggests that I.E. means it doesn’t appear elsewhere in the Pentateuch. Cherez maintains that I.E. means that the word berat is not found in Scripture.

footnotes: ¹² In other words, kivrat ¹³ This is the reading in Vat. Ebr ¹⁴ The word kivrat

WHEN SHE WAS IN HARD LABOR. Be-hakshotah (when she was in hard) is a hifil. The meaning of be-hakshotah be-lidtah (when she was in hard labor) is: the delivery caused her pain.¹⁵ is a causative form. If this is the case then be-hakshotah must be transitive, hence I.E.’s comment that it means caused her hardship. Cf. Kimchi. Va-tekash (and she had hard labor, in v. 16) is similar. ¹⁶ However the latter is a pi’el. Va-tekash is similar to va-tekhal (and she was done) in And when she had done (va-tekhal) giving him drink (Gen. 24:19).¹⁷ is short for va-tekasheh as va-tekhal is short for va-tekhalleh.

footnotes: ¹⁵ Hifil ¹⁶ It, too, is an active form and is to be explained as in note 15. ¹⁷ Both words are shortened forms of the pi’el. Va-tekash

BEN-ONI. Ben-oni means the son of my mourning. Onim (mourners) in as the bread of mourners (onim) (Hos. 9:4) and be-oni (my mourning) in I have not eaten thereof in my mourning (be-oni) (Deut. 26:14) are similar.

HER GRAVE. Kevuratah (her grave) and kivrah (her grave) mean the same.¹⁸ means a grave, kevurah a burial, and kevuratah her burial. Thus our verse should have read kivrah (her grave) and not kevuratah (her burial) since Jacob erected a monument over Rachel’s grave. I.E. points out that kevuratah can also have the same meaning as kivrah (Krinsky).

footnotes: ¹⁸ Kever

THAT REUBEN WENT. Our sages explained this beautifully;¹⁹ 55b. for a prudent man concealeth shame (Prov. 12:16).

footnotes: ¹⁹ According to the rabbis Reuben did not actually lay with Billah but rather removed his father’s couch from her tent and placed it in the tent of his mother Leah. Scripture considers this act of audacity as if he had actually slept with her. Cf. Sabbath

THAT WERE BORN TO HIM IN PADDAN-ARAM. Actually only eleven sons were born to Jacob in Paddan-aram²⁰ for Benjamin was born in the land of Canaan. Scripture speaks of the majority of his sons.²¹ refers to the majority of his sons. I will in the future point out many similar cases.²²

footnotes: ²⁰ The problem is that our verse states that all of Jacob’s sons were born in Paddanaram, when in fact this was not so. ²¹ These are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Paddan-aram ²² Cf. I.E.’s comments on Gen. 47:27.

AND ISAAC EXPIRED. When Isaac died and was gathered to his people Easu and Jacob buried him.²³ should be rendered: And when Isaac expired and died, etc. (Krinsky). Scripture mentions Esau²⁴ before Jacob because the Pentateuch follows the order of their birth. However, in relating the burial of Abraham the Bible reads, And Isaac and Ishmael²⁵ his sons buried him (Gen. 25:9) because Ishmael was the son of a handmaid.

footnotes: ²³ Chronologically speaking Isaac did not die at this point for he lived until Joseph was 29 years of age (see I.E. on Gen. 37:35). Scripture notes the death of Isaac here because it will no longer deal with him (Filwarg). Thus And Isaac expired, and died ²⁴ Even though Esau sold his birthright to Jacob and was no longer technically the eldest. ²⁵ If the Torah follows the order of birth then Ishmael should be mentioned first.