Torah Classes

Chp. 32 verses 4 - 8: Introduction, Yaakov sends messengers to Esau. He is told that he is coming to meet him with four hundred men. He is afraid and distressed by the news and he divides all that he has into two camps.

Chp. 32 verses 14 - 25: Yaakov separates the animals that he will send to Esau, and tells his servants exactly what to say to his brother. He moves his family and possessions across the stream of Jabbok. He returns for some small jars that he had forgotten and there he encounters a man that he wrestles with.

Chp. 35 verses 14 - 31 chp. 36 verse 1 - 43: Rachel gives birth to Binyamin. She dies in childbirth and is buried outside of Bethlehem. Yaakov places a headstone on her grave. Ruevain moves the bed of his father. Torah lists the twelve sons of Yaakov. Yitzhok dies at the age of 180 and is buried by Esau and Yaakov. Chp. 36 lists the genealogy of the descendants of Esau.

Chp. 34 verses 1 - 24: Dinah the daughter of Yaakov is raped by Shechem the prince of the city. He falls in love with her and wants to marry her. He and his father approach Yaakov and his sons asking for their permission. They say that they will only agree on the condition that they and all the male inhabitants of the city circumcise themselves. They agree, and do so immediately. They then convince all the men in the city to do the same.

Chp. 34 verse 24 - 31 Chp. 35 verses 1 - 13: All the men of the city of Shechem allow themselves to be circumcised. On the third day after their circumcision Shimon and Levi kill out Shem, Chamor, and all the men. They take Dinah and all the brothers loot the city. Yaakov criticizes them for their act. Chp. 35, Hashem tells Yaakov to build Him an alter. He tells his household to purify themselves. He goes to Bais El and he builds an alter there and names it for the place. Devorah dies there an he buries her under the oak. Hashem gives him a new name, Yisrael, and once again promises him the land.

Chp. 32 verses 25 - 33: Yaakov wrestles with Esau's angel and is victorious. However, the angel is able to injure him in his thigh. He will not allow the angel to leave until his receives a blessing. G-d makes the sun rise early so that Yaakov can be healed from his injury. To commemorate this event Hashem commands us not to eat the "gid ha nashaw" the sciatic nerve.

Chp. 28 verse 10 & 11: Introduction, Yaakov leaves Beer Sheva and goes to Charan. He reaches the place of the Temple and sleeps there because the sun sets early. He takes 12 stones from the area to protect his head.

Chp. 30 verses 1 - 21: Rachel sees that she is not bearing any children so she gives Yaakov her handmaiden Bilhah as a wife. She bears him two sons. Leah who has also stopped having children gives Yaakov her handmaiden Zilpah for a wife and she bears two more sons for him. Then Leah gives the "mandrakes" that her son had given her to Rachel in exchange for a marital night with Yaakov and she gives birth to Issacher. She then bears the tenth son to Yaakov, Zebulun. After that she gives birth to a daughter, Dinah.

Chp. 28 verses 16 -22: Yaakov wakes up from his dream and realizes that the place he slept was the house of G-d, and that he had just received a prophecy. He anoints the stone and calls the place Luz. He then asks Hashem to give him "food to eat and clothes to wear" and to return him back to his father's house in peace. In return he promises to give one fifth of all that he has to G-d.

Chp. 29 verses 26 - 35: Lavan explains to Yaakov why he gave him Leah instead of Rachel. He agrees to work another seven years for Rachel. He marries her seven days later. Hashem sees that Leah is not loved and gives her four sons, while Rachel remains barren.