Jacob & Laban Negotiate Peace

Torah study 9-15
Genesis. 31:36-54


Witness of an agreement between Jacob and Laban
Mound of stones...
Eat by the mountain...

Jacob's accumulated rage against Laban.

Book
Wrestling Jacob: Deception, Identity, and Freudian Slips in Genesis
by Shmuel Klitsner

V19...   Stylistic technique...repetition of a word ..."stolen"
Jacob has been a thief. Now everything is seen as stolen..he is being accused of being a thief again and again...

Jacob defends himself. Points out that he did steal...
Para praxis ... Mistake, Freudian slip... All goes back to how he stole his brother's birthright.

Book
Wrestling With Angels by  Naomi H. Rosenblatt.. Running away from conflict.  Must face out problems to go forward...

V43.. Laban responds... That everything is his...daughters...  What can I do for them? Plaut commentary- anthropological reading...politically that the daughters really do belong to the father...
Or.. It could be just the bluster of a defeated man who was exposed..
Robert Alter... Laban fears Jacob

Is it a legal attack or is it a statement of a defeated man.

Now Laban wants to make peace.  Now that Jacob has made a stand.

Ritual of a covenant.  Two distinct elements...the word two is repeated in this passage.
v45.  Make a monument .. A pillar of stone.
Stones ...first night away. Stone as pillow..makes monument...at well he moves a stone.  Here a stone is set as a symbol of the covenant with Laban... Later the sone he erects for Rachel.

Stones are used as a way to remember.  Stones are a witness...

Steele ...

Jacob tells them to gather stones..same word as gathering grapes ...erects a mound of stones..eat at this mound...part of a treaty making custom to share a meal marking the alliance.

Word v 47.. Name the place two terms. Aramaic from Laban . For mound of witness  then gal et from Jacob meaning the same thing... In Hebrew.   Only place in Torah that has aramaic ... But is in the prophets and writings.. Kaddish is in Aramaic...and the Haggadah...

Haggadah when invite guests to the table...in the local language.
V48. Place of Gilad got its name...mountain of witness...Arabic ...the type of rock probably the real reason...but this is another way the name happened.

V50.  Refers to mitzpah also. Custom of Mitzpah jewelry...like a watchtower..may God watch over us.. Two people wear it... Like a disk broken in half. May God watch over us when we are apart...

Terms of treaty
Personal ... About protection of rights of his daughters...mentions daughters twice ...all four including Zilpah and  Bilhah

The husbands obligation is to satisfies the wife sexually as well as other ways.

Only place in Torah where a father speaks out for the welfare of his daughters.

Relates to marriage contracts..

He mentions that God is the witness... Cannot have a relative be a witness...

V52. Second monument   Significance.  Mound and pillar.
This is the boundary between the two people.  And it becomes disputed territory.

God of their father... Who is the common father?  Terrah
So call on the gods of all people.

Second meal that everyone takes part in...

Naomi Rosenblat ...
Rewards of reconciliation .... Jacob and Laban must reconcile.
Make peace and release anger and resentment...