Parshat Vayeitzei
Let’s take a look at sedra names – 54 sedras, 54 names. Of those, 48 sedra names are single words, while 6 have two-word names: Lech Lecha, Chayei Sara, Ki Tisa, Ki Teitzei, Ki Tavo, Vezot HaBeracha. (Note that I’m calling the Acharei Mot “Acharei” – its more recent name.)
Five sedra names lost the letter Hei at the beginning of the word from the opening of the sedra that gives it its name: HaMishpatim, HaShemini, HaMetzora, HaMatot, HaDevarim.
Only 16 sedra names are the first (or first two) word(s) of the sedra. Another 17 are the second (or combined second and third) word(s) of the sedra. Two sedras are named by their third words; none by their fourth word; but seven sedras are named for their fifth (or combined fifth and sixth) words, and five by their sixth (or sixth and seventh) words.
Three sedras are named by their ninth words, and one each by their 11th (Behaalot’cha), 12th (Teruma), 13th (Tazri’a), or 14th (Kedoshim) words. Twelve sedra names are found in the second pasuk of the sedra.
What’s the most popular first letter of a sedra name? If you guessed Vav, you’d be correct. Twelve sedra names begin with a Vav. Then eight with a Bet; five with a Mem; four with a Shin; and four with a Tav. Moving down the line, there are three that begin with a Kaf and three with a Nun; two each with an Alef, Chet, Pei, and Kuf; and once each with a Dalet, Hei, Yud, Lamed, Ayin, Tzadi, and Reish.
There are four letters of the Alef–Bet which don’t start any sedra name, but they all appear at least once in a sedra name: Gimel (Vayigash), Zayin (Tazri’a, Haazinu), Tet (Mishpatim, Matot, Shoftim), and Samach (Pinchas, Mas’ei).
I hope you are enjoying this sedra name trivia. Suggestion: Shape some of these into riddles for your children, grandchildren, or Shabbat guests (those who did not read this column).
How about this one: What letters are the least represented in sedra names? Answer: Gimel and Dalet – they appear only once each.
And here’s another riddle you can ask: There are three two-letter sedra names – can you name them? Answer: Noach, Bo, and Tzav.
Ten sedra names have three letters. Sixteen have four letters. Seventeen have five letters. Seven have six letters. And Vezot HaBeracha has nine.
That will do for now on sedra names.
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Let’s look at the numbers for this week’s four-letter, first-word sedra name: Vayeitzei.
Vayeitzei is one single, very long (closed) parsha. It’s being a Setuma fits with the fact that it is a continuation of the Toldot story. It is the Torah’s longest Parsha Setuma, and second only to the Parsha Petucha that is all of Mikeitz (254.6 lines)
Vayeitzei is written on 235.3 lines, ranking 12th.
FYI: The Torah has 54 sedras and contains a total of 674 parshiyot – that’s an average of 12.48 parshiyot per sedra. Vayeitzei and Mikeitz, however, are each one parsha only. Balak is made up of two parshiyot. At the other end of the range is Ki Teitzei, with 44 parshiyot. But Vayeitzei’s single parsha is almost 12 times the average number of pesukim per parsha.
Vayeitzei has 148 pesukim – ranking 6th in the Torah. It has 2,021 words, putting it in 4th place, and 7,512 letters, which lands it in 5th place. The slight rise in rank word- and letter-wise indicates longer than average pesukim.
All told, Vayeitzei is the third largest sedra (of 12) in Bereishit. Yet it has none of the 613 mitzvot. It is one of 17 mitzvah-less sedras. Nonetheless, there are messages, mussar, and lessons to be learned even from the sedras without mitzvot.
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“Vayeitzei Yaakov…” – And Yaakov left Be’er Sheva (thus satisfying his mother’s will). “Vayeilech Charana…” – And he went to Charan (thus satisfying his father’s will). This is one of the explanations for the details of this first pasuk of the sedra.
With Parshat Vayeitzei, we complete a trifecta of observations about the Avot and the Imahot (our Patriarchs and Matriarchs).
When Sara Imeinu told Avraham to expel Yishmael and his mother from their home, because (according to many commentaries) she saw that Yishmael would be a bad influence on Yitzchak and/or harm him, Avraham did not want to do it. G-d had to tell him to listen to Sara. Avraham was blinded by his love for Yishmael, his son; Sara saw things clearly and correctly.
When Yitzchak, blinded by his love for Eisav, planned on giving the main blessing to him, Rivka Imeinu saw things clearly and engineered the situation so that Yaakov would receive the beracha.
When, in Vayeitzei, Yaakov was blinded by his love for Rachel, it was Rachel and Leah who saw things clearly and correctly, and they were complicit with Lavan in deceiving Yaakov so that both Leah and Rachel would become his wives and the foremothers of the Jewish People.
And it didn’t stop with them. When the right sedra rolls around, we’ll discuss Asnat, Yocheved, Miriam, Esther… and other women in the Torah who seem to have taken the initiative in matters which the men on the scene seem to have been… let’s call it less proactive.
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Chanukah is coming!
As detailed in a previous column, the dates of 1-29 Kislev differ from the rest of the calendar in that they each can fall on any of six days of the week and have only one day of the week on which they cannot fall.
That, of course applies equally to the 25th of Kislev, the first day of Chanukah.
This year, Chanukah runs from Monday to Monday (candle-lighting from Sunday night to Sunday night). This is the most common situation for Chanukah, occurring in 28% of years.
This is so because four of the 14 year-types have Chanukah beginning on a Monday.
Whether a year is Peshuta (12 months) or Meuberet (13 months) is not relevant for determining when Chanukah is, because Chanukah is before Adar. (For days from Adar and on – Purim, Pesach, and Shavuot are affected, day-of-the-week-wise, by whether there are one or two Adars.)
This year, for example, is a Peshuta that began on Tuesday, and is Keseider (29 days in Marcheshvan). That puts Chanukah Monday-Monday, and that would be the same in a two-Adar year that also begins on Tuesday and is Keseider.
Therefore, the 14 year-types pair up and become 7 pairs of year-types (one Peshuta and one Meuberet) to determine the spread of Chanukah. For Monday to Monday, two of the pairs of year-types create a Monday-Monday Chanukah, hence the high frequency.
Just to show you the numbers, the first candle is on Motza’ei Shabbat in 11.51% of years; Sunday night – 28.03% of the time (like this year); Monday night – never; Tuesday night – 21.92%; Wednesday night – 9.97%; Thursday night – 10.13%; and Friday late afternoon – 18.44%.
Note that the variable that affects when Chanukah begins is the length of Marcheshvan – 29 or 30 days. Kislev’s being alternatively 29 or 30 days doesn’t affect the starting day of Chanukah, but does determine whether there are one or two days of Rosh Chodesh Tevet during Chanukah, and whether Zot Chanukah will be the 2nd or the 3rd of Tevet.
Note well: All of the above applies to our fixed calendar – the calendar that is used when we don’t have a sitting Sanhedrin. When we will, iy”H – may it be so, speedily in our time – have a real Sanhedrin once again, then the number of days per month will vary for any month – 29 days or 30 days. Then, Monday night will get a chance at being the night we light the first Chanukah light.
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Back to Vayeitzei – actually, to its haftara.
One of the pesukim in the haftara that jumps out as being very familiar (because it is also the opening pasuk of the haftara of Shabbat Shuva) is Hoshei’a 14:2: “Shuva Yisrael…” – Return, O Israel, to Hashem your G-d, for you have stumbled in your iniquity.
This pasuk not only fits well for the Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, it also gives that Shabbat its name. But what’s it doing as part of the haftara for Vayeitzei? Some suggest that it has a double meaning of returning to G-d (doing teshuvah) and also returning to the Land of Israel, the Land that G-d wants His people to live in. And the point for Vayeitzei is that Yaakov is leaving that Land and is being told, “Return, O Israel [Yaakov’s other name] to Hashem” by not only being committed to follow Him but also to return to the Land of your father.
Let’s end with some gematria.
The numeric value of Hoshei’a 14:2 – the pasuk referred to above – is 1948, a number that represents a major step in Israel’s return to Eretz Yisrael, and hopefully, to Hashem. We’re not there yet, but we are – Baruch Hashem – headed in the right direction.
Now look at which other pasuk in Tanach has the same gematria: Mishlei 3:17 – a very familiar pasuk.
“Deracheha darchei no’am…” – Its [the Torah’s] ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace. This is a key component in the struggle for teshuvah – individual and communal. It is the pleasantness of Torah and a Torah way of life that we must help our fellow Jews to see, experience, and accept – with love.
Shabbat Shalom.
P.S. If you are looking for a past column of Torah by the Numbers, you can find them on my website philotorah.co by clicking on the appropriate link.