The Torah relates that after the dramatic meeting of Yaacov with his hateful brother Aisav, they parted ways. Yaacov set up his encampment before heading to the land of Israel.
As Yaacov was entering Israel, his wife Rachel went into labor with her second son Binyamin. Sadly, she passed away during childbirth and was buried on the side of the road leading to the city of Bethlehem.
Rachel’s tomb still exists today and many people visit and pray at her tomb.
Rachel, Leah, and their maidservants, Bilah and Zilpah all bore children to Yaacov. Towards the end of the Parsha, the Torah lists the names of the twelve tribes, Yaacov’s twelve sons, telling us the mothers of each son.
The Torah concludes, “These are the children of Yaacov who were born to him in Padan Aram.” Padan Aram was the country outside of the land of Israel where Yaacov met his wives and raised his family and dealt with his deceitful father in law Lavan.
An apparent question is, didn’t we just learn that Binyamin was born in Israel? Yet, Binyamin is listed among Yaacov’s children born to him in Padan Aram.
One could possibly answer this by saying that Rachel conceived Binyamin in Padan Aram, and therefore it is considered as if she had her son in Padan Aram.
However, this cannot be feasible, for our great commentator Rashi, tells us that after Yaacov left Padan Aram, he spent eighteen months in a place called Succos before he entered the Land of Israel. This means Rachel conceived in Succos and not in Padan Aram.
The Medrash and commentators point out that the Torah’s statement, ‘All of Yaacov’s children were born to him in Padan Aram’ tells us that the Torah goes after the majority. Since the majority of Yaacov’s children were born in Padan Aram, Binyamin is added to the mix.
We see this idea when the Torah states, “With seventy souls our forefathers went down from Israel into Egypt.” This verse is familiar to us as we recite it within the Haggadah at our Passover Seders.
When calculating the seventy souls of Yaacov’s family that joined Yosef in Egypt, Yosef’s children, Efraim and Menashe are included in the count, even though they were born in Egypt and did not enter Egypt from Israel at that point. Again, the Torah encapsulated the entire number based on the majority.
I came across a most beautiful answer why Binyamin was included in those born in Padan Aram even though it did not actually occur there.
Our Sages teach us that our matriarchs were prophetesses. They knew that Yaacov would have 12 sons who would be the heads of the tribes of Israel. Each matriarch wished and prayed to contribute towards the family of Israel. Leah had six boys, Bilah and Zilpah each had 2 boys. When Rachel, after years of being barren, finally had a son Yosef in Padan Aram, the Torah relates that Rachel prayed to G-d in hope for an additional son, so she too, could contribute at least two sons to the family.
Explain the commentaries, although Rachel gave birth to her son Binyamin in the Land of Israel, since G-d accepted her prayer to have an additional son in Padan Aram, the Torah considered it as if he was born there and thus, all Yaacov’s children were ‘born’ in Padan Aram.
This is the magical, mystifying and enlightening nature of Tefila – prayer. Every prayer that we recite has tremendous value, charge and benefit and is held precious by G-d. All prayer is answered and effective, and we trust Him as to when, where and to whom it will be fulfilled!
Prayer helps alleviate one’s fears. In the beginning of the Parsha, Yaacov prepared to meet Aisav. Fearing that Aisav would attack, he sent gifts to appease him, and he prayed.
The Torah tells us that in the beginning Yaacov was very fearful. However, the Torah tells us that Yaacov went alone at night to retrieve some small jugs that were left behind. What happened to Yaacov’s fear of being killed? An answer offered, is that once Yaacov sincerely prayed it allayed his fears, and he now felt protected, guarded and fortified by G-d!
