ויהי כאשר ראה יעקב את רחל בת לבן אחי אמו ואת צאן לבן אחי אמו ויגש יעקב ויגל את האבן מעל פי הבאר... I. Why was the Bible, usually so economical with even words and letters, so elaborate in its description of detailed and Jacob's rolling away a stone which took these husky shepherds? II. Rabbis had Jewish Holiday (i.e. Jews equivalents of Roman culture) with these verses. Gave several interpretations. III. Primarily, case is: באר represents deep, clean, sparkling, living waters of one's own personality, striving to overflow and give

Midrash on סולם measuring גבהו ורחבו. If dream, why measurements? A: In length, 3 types: 1: step-ladder – used to get something, tied it up and foyst it. 2: ladder – lean it against wall, i.e. something great supports it. But limited height. 3: extension-ladder: can constantly grow higher. B: In width, 1: Just enough place for you alone. 2: Enough place for those with you – מלאכים עולים ויורדים (For מדרש על המלאכים היורדים).

­In reading today’s Sidra we are puzzled by some extraordinary incidents therein recorded. Jacob, we read, had chanced upon a group of shepherds waiting to water their sheep from a nearby well. And on it, there rested a stone, a stone big enough to cover the mouth of the opening of the well: “ve’ha’even ha’gedolah al pi ha’be’er.” When Jacob notices the shepherds lingering, he tells them, “hashku ha’tsoan u’lechu re’u” – why don’t you go ahead, remove the stone from the mouth of the well and water your sheep? It all seemed so terribly simple to the naive Jacob. But they answered: “va’yomru lo nuchal ad asher ye’asfu ha’adrim” – they said: we cannot, it is impossible, until all the herds gather and the other shepherds help us. Jacob was puzzled by their attitude, and he thought he might be able to do it – and, in the Bible’s eloquent simplicity: “vayigash yaakov va’yegal ess ha’even me’al pi ha’be’er” – He went over and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well! Just like that! We can well imagine the attitude of the shepherds when Jacob walked over to the well. “Look,” they probably sneered, “look who’s going to play big hero – Jacob, the Batlan, the Luftmensch!” And we can also imagine their amazement – and their embarrassment – when this same Jacob walks up to the stone and effortlessly rolls it off. The stone appeared to Jacob, say the Rabbis, “ki’mlo pi kvara ktanah,” as big as a hole of a strainer. What to these mighty muscle men appeared to be a boulder, appeared to Jacob to be a mere pebble!This narrative certainly is remarkable. The feat of strength of Jacob and the apparent weakness of the shepherds require some explanation. Why could Jacob do it? – and even more important – why couldn’t the shepherds? What does all this mean, and what is it that the Bible is trying to teach us?The “be’er,” the well, was interpreted in many different ways by our Rabbis. Some said that it refers to Zion – the love for the Jewish home. Others would have it mean the feeling…

Let me begin by saying that I am very favorably impressed by your fair community. Indeed, I find myself in the same predicament in which Jacob found himself at the beginning of this week’s portion. Vayetzei Yaakov mi’Beer Sheva, Jacob left his home for a new and strange place; so have I left New York for Chicago, which I have never visited before. Like Jacob of old, I too did not expect to see any great and beholden sights. We of the East know that there is an active Jewish community in Chicago, but that is about all. After even this brief visit with you, I am glad to repeat the very phrases Jacob uttered when he discovered the nature of the place he visited: Achein yesh Hashem ba’makom hazeh ve’anochi lo yadati, there is G-dliness, greatness, in this place, and I did not even know about it. Your synagogue is a beautiful one; your community an intelligent and responsible one; and your ambitions, as I have come to know them, noble and far-sighted. I am glad to be with you and learn about you. I sincerely thank you for your hospitality.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with a colleague of mine, not an Orthodox man, who expressed his dismay and consternation at the lack of religious progress of us Jews. He felt extremely disturbed and even somewhat ashamed of himself as a Jewish religious official. The source of his dissatisfaction was the lead article in the recent issue of Look magazine, undoubtedly a journal of deep religious scholarship, which pointed out that religion was becoming “big business” and was taking on the techniques of “show business,” stressing the contributions of the Protestant and Catholic clergy in this sacred field. Now, while these other religions have availed themselves of all these new “gimmicks” and reveled in new-found popularity, we Jews have remained religiously backwards. No, my colleague sadly commented, we have not learned our lesson, we are again behind the times. But perhaps, he came back hopefully, perhaps some day we too will deserve a high Hooper rating.I may ask you, my friends, to excuse me for using as my text – or pretext – his sincere feelings on these matters. But I think that it is an attitude, a state of mind, which bears further study. For your edification – and perhaps amusement – let me read you some choice selections from this learned article:“The preachers are using TV, radio and movies to bring religion back into the home.”“The Protestants are going into show-business in a big way”“He (a famous Protestant minister) tells his businessmen they’ll live longer and be more successful human beings (and salesmen) if they’ll only learn to relax and remember that nobody is ever alone so long as G-d’s in His heaven.”“There’s a guy,’ said a man in the audience in Chicago recently… ‘There’s a guy who really reaches out.’”“His director (of a prominent Catholic bishop who has become a TV star) says it’s an easy job: ‘It’s so simple. He doesn’t care if we move the cameras in or out while he’s making a point. He’s an ideal performer’. A simpler description …

A) A news report – Jerusalem, N.Y.T. Pramlar B-G (to Knesset) – Sinai Peninsula (מדבר סיני) belongs to Israel under ancient historical mandate... "I hope that in the future we will not be forced by the Egyptian dictator to violate the commandment given to us 3300 years ago not to return to Egypt." B) Background – Forbidden to return to Egypt. Question whether conquest of Egypt by Israel permitted.

A thousand years ago, the great Rabbi Saadia Gaon taught that our Torah is reasonable and that the human intellect, by itself, can discover the great truths taught in Scripture. Given enough time and brilliance, the human mind can, unaided, arrive at the precepts and concepts revealed by G-d at Sinai. As an example of how reason can provide us with these principles, he gives: gratitude. The very first thing our reason tells us is that one ought to be grateful. Hence, from the principle of gratitude, we learn that a man ought to pray. It is reasonable that we pray to G-d out of gratitude to Him.Certainly, therefore, intelligent people should not be ingrates. That is why Jews recite the Modeh Ani immediately upon arising, why they say the Modim as part of their prayer, why they recite the Birkat ha-Mazon after eating. That is why, too, Americans celebrate every year, as we shall this week, Thanksgiving Day. It is the first dictate of human reason.It is all the more amazing, therefore, to learn of the remarkable statement of our Rabbis in their comment on this week’s Sidra. We read today of how Leah gave birth to her fourth son, and called him Yehudah (Judah) because ha-paam odeh et ha-Shem – “this time I shall thank the Lord.” Our Sages say, “From the day G-d created the world, no one had thanked G-d until Leah came and thanked Him upon giving birth to Judah, as it is said, ‘this time I shall thank the Lord’” (Berakhot 7). Noah, Shem, Eber – all these were prophets who discoursed with the Lord. Did they never thank Him? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob – the founders of the true religion – were they so callous and indifferent that they never acknowledged G-d’s gifts to them? Were they, then, unfeeling, ungrateful brutes?The answer, I believe, lies in a deeper understanding of gratitude or thanksgiving itself. For there are two kinds or levels of gratitude. Thanksgiving can be understood as courtesy – or as conscience; as a social gesture – or as a sacred grace; as a way of talk…

A thousand years ago, the great Rabbi Saadia Gaon thought that our Torah is reasonable and that the human intellect, by itself, can ultimately discover the great truths taught in Scripture. As an example of how reason can provide us with these principles, he offers: gratitude. The very first thing our reason tells us is that one ought to be grateful. Hence, from this principle of gratitude, we learn that a man ought to pray. It is reasonable that we pray to G-d out of gratitude to Him.Intelligent people should not be ingrates. That is why Jews recite the Modeh Ani immedi-ately upon arising, why they say the Modim as part of their prayer, why they recite the Birkhat ha-Mazon after eating. It is the first dictate of human reason.It is all the more amazing, therefore, to learn of a remarkable comment of our Rabbis on the Bible’s narrative concerning the birth of Leah’s fourth son. She called him Yehudah (Judah) because “this time I shall thank the Lord” (Gen. 29:35). Our Sages say, “from the day G-d created the world no one had thanked Him until Leah came and thanked Him upon giving birth to Judah, as it is said, ‘this time I shall thank the Lord’” (Berakhot 7). Noah, Shem, Eber, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—the founders of the true religion—were they so callous and indifferent that they never acknowledged G-d’s gifts to them ? Were they, then, unfeeling, unthinking ingrates ?Indeed not. For a deeper understanding of gratitude reveals that there are two levels of gratitude. Gratefulness can be understood as courtesy—or as conscience; as a social gesture —or as sacred grace; as a way of talking—or as a state of the soul; as an aspect of personality —or as a part of character.

The most illustrious example of this nobler kind of gratitude, “thankfulness", is our Mother Leah. Her life’s greatest ambition was to marry Jacob and to be sincerely loved by him. When our Torah tells us that “the eyes of Leah were rakkot," dull or weak (Gen. 29:17), the Rabbis ask: what does rakkot mean? Rav says, literally dull; and this is not meant to discredit Leah but is said in praise of her. For she had heard people saying that Rebecca has two sons and Laban has two daughters, the older will marry the older (that is, Esau will marry Leah) and the younger will marry the younger (Jacob will marry Rachel). She went about inquiring: what are the characters of these men ? She was told that Esau is a wild and evil man. Jacob is a decent, respectable, scholarly young man. And she, therefore, was slated to marry the despicable but successful thief! As a result, she wept so much and so bitterly and so loudly that her eyes dulled, until her eyelashes fell off because of her many tears ! Her red, dull, uncomely eyes were beautiful indeed, for they had become so out of protest against being mated to Esau IHow pathetic is Leah’s story! Her love of Jacob is so great that she even submits to her father’s nefarious plan to substitute her for her sister Rachel, whom Jacob dearly loves, deceiving Jacob thereby. She is even willing to go to the huppah, and throughout life, playing second fiddle to a more vivacious, dazzling, beautiful sister, married to the same husband. And when she finally is married to him—how tragic her frustration, the blow to her selfesteem !Pathetic indeed—yet Leah does not give up hope. Her desire for Jacob’s love and respect is too precious to yield so quickly. She has a son and feels that now he will love her, so she calls the child Reuven, adding: “now my husband will surely love me." But he does not. A second child comes, and she calls him Simeon, “for G-d has seen how despised I am" and will make Jacob love me. And then a third child, Levi—“Now …

It is here that the greatness of Leah shines forth in all its glory: her fourth child is born – and she calls him Yehudah. Why? – “For this time I shall thank the Lord.” This time, when I realize and accept the fact that the greatest, most overwhelming desire of my life will not be granted to me by God – this time I will thank Him! Despite all my failures and disappointments – I thank God! Ha-paam – “this time” – for the first time in history, a great soul reached into the heights of the spirit and recognized that thankfulness is more than thanksgiving, that it is a way of reacting to God’s very Presence and not merely paying a debt for His favors. Ha-paam – “this time,” though my hopes are doomed, my love unrequited, my ambitions dashed – I am yet grateful. I do have a great husband nonetheless. I do have wonderful children. I do have the Lord’s promise to be the matriarch of a great people.Let me know if you’d like a more formal version or if this is meant for publication. This was not the thanksgiving of Compensation but the thankfulness of Consecration. This was not Leah’s social gesture, but her spiritual ascent. Would that all of us in our affuent society learn that even if we do not get all we want—and who does ?—yet there is so very much to be thankful for. We ought to be grateful al nishmotenu ha-pekudot lakh, for the religious freedom we Jews enjoy in our beloved America. Compare our situation with those of our brothers in Russia, where the Jewish neshamah is stifled cruelly. We ought be grateful al nisekha she’be’khol yom imanu, for life, health, family, friends. In our Nishmat prayer we speak of thanks al ahat me’elef alfei ribei revavot pe’amim—thousands and millions of thanks. For in this prayer, mentioned in the Talmud, wethank G-d for rain—indeed for every single raindrop! And it is not only things that we thank G d for. Gratitude is a state of mind, a psychological attunement to G-d, a climate of conscience, a cast of character, a matter not so muc…