There Are No Turkeys in Parshat Vayetzei, But There are Lots of Speckled Sheep!

Leann Shamash
1 day ago
4 min read

Updated: 10 hours ago

#vayetzei #vayeitzei #vayetzeh #breisheet #yaakov #leah #thanksgiving #parshatvayetzei #parshatvayeitzei #genesis #sheepandturkeys #family #familiesanddystfunction

In Parshat Vayetzei, after Yaakov has already fled his homeland to Haran, dreamt his dream of angels ascending and descending, fathered multiple children with two wives who happen to be sisters and their hand maidens, and worked for Lavan for many years, it feels like it is time to return home. Much time had passed since the incident of the birthright. Yaakov approaches Lavan and asks that he and his family leave to return to Canaan, but he is stalled by Lavan. It is after Gd tells Yaakov that he and his family must return to Canaan that Yaakov tells Lavan that they will take leave without worrying about salary, only that he take with him the speckled and dark sheep as his payment.

Yaakov approaches Lavan and makes an interesting offer,

He said, “What shall I pay you?” And Jacob said, “Pay me nothing! If you will do this thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flocks: let me pass through your whole flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted animal—every dark-colored sheep and every spotted and speckled goat. Such shall be my wages. In the future when you go over my wages, let my honesty toward you testify for me: if there are among my goats any that are not speckled or spotted or any sheep that are not dark-colored, they got there by theft.”

And Laban said, “Very well, let it be as you say.”

Breisheet 30:31-34

Lavan tries to fool Yaakov and moves away with the spotted and speckled and dark sheep, but through an ingenious genetic breeding technique, Yaakov breeds flocks and flocks of spotted, dark and speckled sheep.

And so Yaakov and his family are on their way. More occurs toward the end of the parsha, so be sure to read it.

Here is blended post (like speckled and spotted sheep) combining Thanksgiving and Parshat Vayetzei, which is the Parsha we read on the Shabbat of Thanksgiving.

There Are No Turkeys in Parshat Vayetzei, But There are Lots of Speckled Sheep!

There are no turkeys in Parshat Vayeitzei,

but there are lots of speckled sheep!

Spotted and speckled, they fill the surrounding landscape.

Both the upcoming national holiday and Parshat Vayetzei share the idea of journeys. Yaakov is fleeing Asav and heading toward his destiny to be the father of many. At about this time each year Yaakov flees Haran toward his homeland, Canaan, as do we, yet Jet Blue, Spirit and the Mass Pike are more of a nightmare than a dream connecting heaven and earth.

Vayetzei is a parsha detailing complex relationships. Once again we meet the questionable father-in-law, Lavan who sometimes makes us cringe. Similarly, on Thanksgiving we re-connect with colorful uncles, aunts and cousins so don't forget to smile and let your similarities overcome your differences.

Highlighted in Vayetzei are feuding siblings. Sister is pitted against sister. Groups of brothers compete for a father's love with other brothers. At the very heart of both Vayeitzei and Thanksgiving is the idea of family and all the delightful imperfections (some more delightful than others) that mark us as a tribe. Both in Sefer Breisheet and life in the 21st century, individual family members embark on quests which lead them down different paths, but ideally a few times a year they return home to home for a day of roasted Turkey, sweet potatoes and football which helps to renew and refresh family ties.

I don't mean to romanticize this post. Families, both at the time of Yaakov and to this very day, sometimes harbor deep and abiding problems, some of which are never overcome.

Some stem from the same issues that appear in Vayetzei, favoritism and the challenge of large blended families. These issues are real and for those families who do not or cannot reconnect, I hope that you have found family in the community around you and among beloved friends.

This brings me to the final message that both Parshat Vayetzei and Thanksgiving share and that is that both are centered on love and its many deep complexities. Complexities that at times drive people away, but also can reunite them after time.

From parsha to parsha, from Shabbat to Shabbat and from Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving, we learn that family ties are not always simple; at times they are painful and hurtful, but they are ours and they are what we make of them. Love is complicated, both between spouses, between siblings and extended families.

So what to do now? Try to make Thanksgiving simple. Don't worry about the line at the airport or the traffic on The Pike. You'll get there.

Sit down, relax if you can. No one really cares how your napkins are folded or that the turkey is a little dry or that the kids are misbehaving, so carve that turkey, dish out the cranberry sauce, eat the pumpkin pie. Listen and smile. You're together, After all, it is Thanksgiving...

and Parshat Vayetzei.

So,

with a gobble, gobble, gobble

or a bahhhh, bahhh speckled sheep.

Happy Thanksgiving and Shabbat Shalom