וישא יעקב רגליו, seeing that G’d had given him promises and found him worthy of such a far-reaching prophetic insight, he rejoiced and continued on his way with ease. Up until that night Yaakov had proceeded hesitantly, beset by doubts and anxieties. Although fleeing from the wrath of his brother, seeing that his danger had not been imminent while his father was still alive, he had not been traveling with speed, something typical of people fleeing for their lives.

וילך ארצה בני קדם, that land lies to the east of the land of Israel, Charan being the first town after one crosses the border into that country. (compare what we have written on 25,6) The Torah does not mention the political name of the country but describes it as “the land of the people of Kedem,” in more general terms. Yaakov left the land of Canaan and crossed into this land, and while being close to Charan, he saw a well in the field.

וירא והנה באר.. רבצים עליה, the word עליה means “near it,” just as in Numbers 2,20 when the positions of the various army groups of the Israelites are described and the Torah writes ועליו מטה מנשה. The meaning clearly cannot be that the tribe of Menashe was positioned on top of the tribe of the tribe of Ephrayim, but that the tribe of Menashe was positioned close to the tribe of Ephrayim. The term על in the sense of “near, close by,” occurs numerous times in Scripture.

והאבן גדולה, seeing that there was no other source of water nearby to water the flocks of the people of Charan, the local people had placed an extremely large and heavy rock on top of it so that only in the presence of all the shepherds would the flocks be watered so as to ensure a fair distribution of the available water. This would also help to avoid wasting water remaining in the troughs when no other flock had already lined up at the troughs. Placing such a large stone on the well then was a device designed to help everyone entitled to this water to receive his fair share in the presence of all the shepherds.

ונאספו שמה...וגללו, the subject of the verse are the various shepherds who have as yet not been mentioned.

ויאמר להם, to the shepherds of the flocks which were laying around in the vicinity of the well.

אחי, an exclamation incorporating a kind of warning, such as אל נא אחי in Genesis 19,8 “please my brothers, do not, etc.!” It is not unusual for people to refer to people close to them or presumed to be close to them as “brothers,” although no biological family ties exist between them at all. Yaakov employed this preamble in order to at once establish a friendly bond between himself and the shepherds.

ויאמר להם...בן נחור. 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 expressionאלוקי אברהם ואלוקי נחור, seeing that Nachor had been well known.

באה, with the stress on the last syllable seeing the word is in the present tense.

ויאמר, ויאמרו, it is clear who the subjects are without their names or vocations having to be restated.

עטדנו...באה. the word באה this time is in the past tense so that this time its stress is on the first (last but one) syllable.

ויהי...ויגל את האבן, either together with the other three shepherds on hand, or all by himself. In the event that he did it all by himself, G’d blessed him with extraordinary physical strength at that time.

וישק, since she had realised that Yaakov had done all this on her account, she accepted his kiss. Furthermore, he had told them כי אחי אביה הוא, i.e. a son of her father’s sister, a son of Rivkah, who was known to all the people of Charan to have become married to Yitzchok.

ויבך, he wept for joy. When close relatives meet after not having seen each other for a while, their emotional cup runs over so that they find it hard to control their feelings and they give way to them by crying for joy.

כי אחי אביה הוא, i.e. a son of her father’s sister, a son of Rivkah, who was known to all the people of Charan to have become married to Yitzchok.

ויהי כשמוע...ויספר ללבן את כל הדברים האלה, he revealed the reason why he had left his father’s home and that he had done so at the command of both his father and his mother.

ויאמר...אך עצמי, the word אך in this instance means “truly!” It appears in this meaning in several other passages in the Scriptures, as for instance, Psalms 73,1 אך טוב לישראל”G’d is truly good to Israel.” Or, Isaiah 63,8 אך עמי המה, “truly, they are My people!” Essentially, what Lavan said to Yaakov was that he should not worry about having left home seeing that all he needed would be provided for him by Lavan.

ויאמר...הכי אחי אתה, the meaning is: “seeing that you are my brother it is not good that you should work for me as if for nothing, in exchange only for food clothing and lodging. I want you to feel comfortable with me and to have a chance to grow economically also.

וללבן שתי בנות, the fact that Lavan had two daughters, etc., is mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph in order for us to understand what is reported later about Yaakov having fallen in love with Rachel and offering to serve Lavan for 7 years for her hand in marriage. The Torah wants us to understand that Yaakov would never have agreed to work for Leah’s hand in marriage for even a fraction of such a long period.

The eyes of Leah were soft: She was beautiful, but her eyes were soft and teary,

But Rachel was of beautiful form and fair to look upon, without any blemish. And "form" refers to the shape of the face and the rest of the body, the posture, and skin color which was white and red (pink), and the hair was dark.

ויאהב...אעבדך, in response to the question: “what shall be your wages?,” he answered Lavan that his wages would be in addition to food lodging and clothes that Lavan would give him his daughter Rachel as a wife. Even though Yaakov had spelled out which daughter, namely Rachel, he added the word הקטנה, “the younger one,” so that Lavan could not deceive him by giving him a different girl called Rachel. Some people question that seeing that the righteous marry with a view to producing children, why would Rachel’s exterior appearance have been of interest to Yaakov at all? After all they did not want their wives to be women who would excite their libidos, and it is clear from the fact that Yaakov was willing to delay marriage by seven years was due to his choosing a beautiful bride. He appears to have been angry at Lavan for having given him Leah instead, seeing that Leah was not as attractive as her sister. We have to answer this by saying that in choosing a beautiful woman as their brides, the righteous people had good intentions. They wanted their libidos to be aroused by them in order to produce many children together. Furthermore, they also wanted their children to be handsome like their mothers. Looking at beautiful people helps a person to remain in a joyous frame of mind, something which is a requirement for man for we know that people who are not in a joyful frame of mind cannot serve G’d in the best possible fashion. Even prophets cannot function as such unless they are in a state of joy, and on occasion they require stimulants such as music in order to put them in a more joyful frame of mind (Kohelet 5,19,--compare also Kings II 3,14-15)

ויאמר...טוב תתי, Lavan admitted that marrying members of one’s family was a good thing.

שבה עמדי, on the basis of the conditions which you yourself have suggested. After you have fulfilled these conditions I will give her to you.

כימים אחדים "Like a few days" (Lit: like singular days) The wording of אחדים comes to represent a few, as the author explained above (see Genesis 27:44). Its saying that so great was his love for her (Rachel) that the passage of 7 years of work was as easy in his eyes as 7 days of work

ויאסוף To gather, This comes to show the custom that was in the world, and still is today, to do a feast and celebration for weddings. The groom does it, or the father of the bride or groom does it. And so the Sages instituted the Wedding Meal and 7 days of celebration after a wedding because it says "מלא שבוע זאת" "Fulfill this one's week" (See below Genesis 29:27)

ויהי בערב, the Torah uses this opportunity to teach us that sexual intercourse even with artificial light, i.e. during the night is not appropriate, how much more so is it inappropriate during daylight hours. If it were appropriate to indulge in intercourse using artificial light Lavan could not have passed off Leah as Rachel without Yaakov becoming aware of this. It is clear from the text that Yaakov did not realise Leah as having been his partner in bed until the following morning. [the word הנה in verse 25 which we explained as always adding a new, up until then unknown, element is proof for this. Ed.]

ויתן לבן לה את זלפה שפחתו, when she was led under the wedding canopy Lavan gave her this handmaid to be her personal maid.

ויהי בבוקר והנה היא לאה, for he had not recognised her until morning as we explained. The aggadic explanation mentioned by Rashi that Rachel had given her sister Leah the codeword which she and Yaakov had agreed should serve to preclude such a swap is well known.

ויאמר...לא יעשה כן במקומנו, even though you asked for the hand of my younger daughter in marriage, seeing that apparently where you come from it does not matter if the younger sister gets married before the older one, in our place that is not a permissible procedure. I will therefore give you both of them with the proviso that the nuptials of the older one must precede those of the younger one.

מלא שבוע זאת, conclude the days of the wedding celebration with this one as your exclusive wife,

ונתנה לך, it is possible to understand the word ונתנה as a passive construction in the feminine mode, or it could be understood as an active mode of the kal conjugation first person plural, meaning “we will give to you,” i.e. with the consent of the local inhabitants. Or, the letter נ represents what we know as the pluralis majestatis, the arrogant, pompous “we” employed by kings etc., people who consider their individual opinions as equivalent or superior to the collective wisdom of their subjects. In Scripture we find an example of this mode of speech in Song of Songs 1,4 משכני אחריך נרוצה, נגילה ונשמחה בך, “draw me after you! Let us run! Let us delight in your love.” There are a number of parallel examples in Scripture. After you will complete enjoying Leah for one week I will also give you Rachel and you may immediately celebrate another seven days of your nuptials with her. It is not proper to allow one celebration to interfere with another celebration at the same time.

ויעש...ויתן, Lavan, in accordance with what he had said.

ויתן...ויבא גם אל רחל, just as he had slept with Leah previously, he now slept with Rachel.

ויאהב גם את רחל, the Torah had to write this in order to inform us that Yaakov loved Leah also, even though originally he had not chosen her to become his wife. In the event, now that she had become his wife, he loved her just as most husbands love their wives. However, he loved Rachel better.

וירא ה' כי שנואה לאה, Yaakov did not hate her; in fact he loved her. However, seeing that he loved Rachel better it appeared as if he hated Leah. We find a similar situation in Deuteronomy 21,15 where the Torah speaks about a husband “hating” one of his two wives. The meaning there is also relative to the wife he prefers. G’d, Who knew the true state of affairs, i.e. what Leah’s perception of her husband’s feelings toward were,

ויפתח את רחמה, seeing that the Torah describes her womb as needing to be “opened,” it is clear that she had been barren before.

ורחל עקרה, but Rachel remained barren, as she had been. We already explained on 25,20 why the matriarchs were basically all barren until G’d intervened visibly.

ותהר..יאהבני, just as much as he loves my sister. The vowel patach under the letter ב substitutes for the vowel tzeyreh.

'ותהר עוד כי שמע ה, He heard my prayer and my plea.

ותהר...ילוה אישי אלי, he will be more inclined to respond to my love than to that of my sister. כי ילדתי שלשה בנים, seeing that what the righteous expect from their wives is that they bear sons for them.

על כן קרא שמו, Yaakov gave the boy this name because, as Leah had predicted, that he was so overjoyed at Levi’s birth. It is also possible that Yaakov had seen with a prophetic eye that the sons of Levi would be outstanding servants of the Lord and teachers of His Torah, and that they would constantly keep company with G’d, i.e. strive to fulfill His will. He therefore named this son both because of what his wife had proclaimed when he had been born, and because of the prophetic insight he had received regarding the descendants of this son. If we needed proof for this approach it is the fact that he was the only one of Yaakov’s sons who had been named by his father. The naming of Binyamin, respectively, renaming him, was due to a different consideration altogether. We will discuss this in due course.

'ותהר... אודה את ה, I can only continue to thank the Lord and to praise Him, Who has granted me more than I have requested from Him.

ותעמוד מלדת, at this time she stopped conceiving. This was also due to intervention by G’d, Who wanted the servant maids to also have children for Yaakov.