PALEO-JUDAISM 401 - MY TAKE, PART 2
 
TALES OF THE HEBREW SHEPHERDS
 
Now, these tales I heard when I and my wandering brethren reached an oasis in Midian, which is in Arabia, 40 days from the swamp of the reeds through the Sinai by way of the harsh southern route.
 
And in the night, the Hebaru and Shaisu sheiks gathered by the fire. Seven Sheiks and their sons and a hooded old man in a mantle I took for a Nazarite were seated round the fire, as was our host, a Midianite priest, as was I, a kinsman born in Egypt. The Sheik of Midian, Yetro, who was our host, suggested we make a contest of the tales of our tribes and peoples. Therefore, we all told tales of our lives and legends to each other,  that the night might pass amiably.  And the Midianite Sheik who hosted us by the good waters of the oasis fed us with lamb and dates and wines, so that we were merry.
 
 
THE TALE OF YITZCHAK, BY A HEBREW SHIEK OF KENA’AN
 
First the Hebaru Sheik of Yitzchak told us his tale of wandering and settling as it had been told to him, for his tribe had wandered far, from the great river of Egypt, even to the river Euphrates, to Kena’an and to Median.
 
“My people are called called ‘B’nai Yitzchak’,” he told the assembly, “and our first father was the young and favored son of the father of nations from Ur between the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris, even as our host, and all Midianites come from that same father by his elder son, the wild wanderer Yishmael. I will tell you the tale of why we of  the desert, the Hebaru and Midianites and even the Shaisu, do not sacrifice our children unto our God.  For those peoples around us pass their young through the fire, to their gods Moloch and Baal and Dagon.
 
“Adon, Our God visited Sarah, our mother, as he had said, and Adon, Our God did to Sarah,  our mother, as he had
spoken. Sarah,  our mother, conceived, and bore Abba, the father of our peoples, a son in his old age, at the set
time of which Our God had spoken to him. Abba, the father of our peoples, called his son who was born to
him, whom Sarah,  our mother, bore to him, Yitzchak, who was father to our tribe. Abba, the father of our peoples, circumcised his son,
Yitzchak, when he was eight days old, as Our God had commanded him. For we had been strangers in Egypt in the time of Abba and Sarah, strangers in that land, where men are circumcised. Abba, the father of our peoples, was
old when his son, Yitzchak, was born to him. Sarah,  our mother, said,
‘Our God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ For ‘Yitzchak’ means ‘laughter’ in our tongue.
 
“She said,
‘Who would has said to Abba, the father of our peoples, that Sarah,  our mother, would nurse children? For I have
borne him a son in his old age.’
 
 “The child grew, and was weaned. Abba, the father of our peoples, made a great feast on the day that
Yitzchak was weaned. Sarah, our mother, saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had
borne to Abba, the father of our peoples, mocking. Therefore she said to Abba, the father of our peoples, ‘Cast out this
handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son,
Yitzchak.’
The thing was very grievous in Abba’s sight on account of his son.
 
“Our God said to Abba, the father of our peoples, ‘Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of
the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah your wife, says to you, listen to
her voice. For from Yitzchak will your seed be called.
I will also make a
nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is your seed.’
 
“Abba, the father of our peoples, rose
up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to
Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away.
She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Be'er-Sheva. The water in
the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. She
went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she
said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and
lifted up her voice, and wept.
 
 
“Our God heard the voice of the boy.
The angel of Our God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, ‘What ails
you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For  God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a
great nation.’
 
“Our God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the
bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. Our God was with the boy, and he
grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. He
lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land
of Egypt.
 
“It happened at that time, that Abbaimelekh and Pikhol the captain of his
army spoke to Abba, the father of our peoples, saying, ‘Your God is with you in all that you do.  Now, therefore, swear to me here by your God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a
foreigner.’
 
“Abba, the father of our peoples, said, ‘I will swear.’
 
“ Abba, the father of our peoples, complained to Abbaimelekh
because of a water well, which Abbaimelekh's servants had violently taken away.
Abbaimelekh said,’" I don't know who has done this thing. Neither did you
tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today.’
Abba, the father of our peoples, took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abbaimelekh. Those two made a
covenant.
 
“Abba, the father of our peoples, set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. Abbaimelekh said to Abba, the father of our peoples, ‘What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by
themselves mean?’
 
“He said, ‘You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may
be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.’ Therefore he called that
place Be'er-Sheva, the Well of Seven, because they both swore there. So they made a covenant
at Be'er-Sheva. Abbaimelekh rose up with Pikhol, the captain of his army, and they
returned into the land of the Pelishtim.
 
“Abba, the father of our peoples, planted a tamarisk tree
in Be'er-Sheva, and called there on the name of Adon,  Our God, the Everlasting Our God.  Abba, the father of our peoples, lived as a foreigner in the land of the Pelishtim many days.
 
“It happened after these things, that Our God tested Abba, the father of our peoples,, and said to him, ‘Abba,! ’He said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Yitzchak,
and go into the land of Moriyah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of
the mountains which I will tell you of.’
 
“Abba, the father of our peoples, rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of
his young men with him, and Yitzchak his son. He split the wood for the burnt
offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which Our God had told him. On
the third day Abba, the father of our peoples, lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off.
Abba, the father of our peoples, said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go
yonder. We will worship, and come back to you.’
 
“Abba, the father of our peoples, took the wood of
the burnt offering and laid it on Yitzchak his son. He took in his hand the fire
and the knife. They both went together. Yitzchak spoke to Abba, the father of our peoples, his father, and said, ‘My father?’ He said, ‘Here I am, my son.’
He said, ‘Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering?’
“Abba, the father of our peoples, said, ‘Our God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my
son.’ So they both went together. They came to the place which Our God had told
him of. Abba, the father of our peoples, built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound
Yitzchak his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. Abba, the father of our peoples,
stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.
 
“The angel of Adon, Our God, called to him out of the sky, and said, ‘Abba, Abba!’
He said, ‘Here I am.’  He said, ‘Don't lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For
now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only
son, from me.’
 
“Abba, the father of our peoples, lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abba, the father of our peoples, went and took the ram, and offered
him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
 
“Abba, the father of our peoples, called the name of
that place Adon,  Our God Will Provide.”
 
“The angel of Adon,  Our God. called to Abba, the father of our peoples, a second time out of the sky, and said, ‘I have sworn by myself, says Adon,  Our God, because you have done
this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I will
bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the
heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the
gate of his enemies. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be
blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.’
 
“So Abba, the father of our peoples, returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together
to Be'er-Sheva. Abba, the father of our peoples, lived at Be'er-Sheva.”
 
THE TALE OF THE SHIEK OF YA’AKOV, A HEBREW FROM HEBRON
 
The Sheik of Ya’akov spoke after a time.
 
“I have no story so profound,” he demurred, “but I can tell you how it is said Ya’akov, our father, labored many years for the sake of winning to himself the woman he loved best.”
 
All were silent.  The romances of the desert people were famous even in Egypt for their eroticism.  The Sheik sang, “Ya`akov went out from Be'er-Sheva, and went toward Charan. He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that
place to sleep. He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and the
top of it reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending
on it. Behold, ADON, our God stood above it, and said, ‘I am ADON, the God
of Abba your father, and the God of Yitzchak. The land whereon you lie, to
you will I give it, and to your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the
earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the
north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the
earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you
go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not abandon you, until I
have done that which I have spoken of to you.’
 
“Ya`akov rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put
under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it.
He called the name of that place Light, the House of God.
 
“Ya`akov vowed a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me, and
will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing
to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and ADON will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar,
will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth
to you.’
 
“Then Ya`akov went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of
the East. He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three
flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks.
The stone on the well's mouth was large. There all the flocks were
gathered. They rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep,
and put the stone again on the well's mouth in its place.
 
“Ya`akov said to
them, ‘My kinsmen, where are you from?’
They said, ‘We are from Charan.’
He said to them, ‘Do you know Lavan, the son of Nachor?’
They said, ‘We know him.’
He said to them, ‘Is it well with him?’
They said, ‘It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.’
He said, ‘Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the
livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.’
They said, ‘We can't, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they
roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep.’
 
“While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep,
for she kept them. It happened, when Ya`akov saw Rachel the daughter of
Lavan, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Lavan, his mother's brother, that
Ya`akov went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the
flock of Lavan his mother's brother. Ya`akov kissed Rachel, and lifted up
his voice, and wept. Ya`akov told Rachel that he was her father's brother,
and that he was Rivka's son. She ran and told her father.
 
“It happened, when Lavan heard the news of Ya`akov, his sister's son, that
he ran to meet Ya`akov, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his
house. Ya`akov told Lavan all these things. Lavan said to him, ‘Surely you
are my bone and my flesh.’ He lived with him for a month. Lavan said to
Ya`akov, ‘Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing?
Tell me, what will your wages be?’
 
“Lavan had two daughters. The name of the elder was Le'ah, and the name of
the younger was Rachel. Le'ah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful
in form and attractive. Ya`akov loved Rachel. He said, ‘I will serve you
seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.’
 
“Lavan said, ‘It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give
her to another man. Stay with me.’ Ya`akov served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her. Ya`akov said to Lavan, ‘Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may have sex with her.’ Lavan gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
 
“It happened in the evening, that he took Le'ah his daughter, and brought her to
him. He had sexual relations with her. Lavan gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter
Le'ah for a handmaid. It happened in the morning that, behold, it was
Le'ah. He said to Lavan, ‘What is this you have done to me? Didn't I serve with
you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?’
 
“Lavan said, ‘It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before
the firstborn. Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the
other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years.’
Ya`akov did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as
wife. Lavan gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her
handmaid. He also slept with Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than
Le'ah, and served with him yet seven other years.
 
“ADON, our God saw that Le'ah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was
barren. Le'ah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Re'uven. For
she said, ‘Because ADON, our God has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me.’ She conceived again, and bare a son, and said, ‘Because ADON, our God
has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also.’ She named
him Shim`on. She conceived again, and bare a son. Said, ‘Now this time
will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ Therefore
was his name called Levi. She conceived again, and bore a son. She said,
‘This time will I praise ADON, our God.’ Therefore she named him Yehudah. Then she
stopped bearing.
 
“When Rachel saw that she bore Ya`akov no children, Rachel envied her
sister. She said to Ya`akov, ‘Give me children, or else I will die.’
Ya`akov's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, ‘Am I in God's
place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?’
She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear on my
knees, and I also may obtain children by her.’ She gave him Bilhah her
handmaid as wife, and Ya`akov had sex with her. Bilhah conceived, and bore
Ya`akov a son. Rachel said, ‘God has judged me, and has also heard my
voice, and has given me a son.’ Therefore called she his name Dan. Bilhah,
Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Ya`akov a second son. Rachel
said, ‘With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have
prevailed.’ She named him Naftali.
 
“When Le'ah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her
handmaid, and gave her to Ya`akov as a wife. Zilpah, Le'ah's handmaid,
bore Ya`akov a son. Le'ah said, ‘How fortunate!’ She named him Gad. Zilpah, Le'ah's handmaid, bore Ya`akov a second son. Le'ah said, ‘Happy am
I, for the daughters will call me happy.’ She named him Asher.
Re'uven went in the days of wheat harvest, and found an aphrodisiacal herb in the field,
and brought them to his mother, Le'ah. Then Rachel said to Le'ah, "Please give
me some of your son's herb of delight.’
 
“She said to her, ‘Is it a small matter that you have taken away my
husband? Would you take away my son's herb of delight, also?’
Rachel said, ‘Therefore he will sleep with you tonight for your son's aphrodisiacal herb.’
 
“Ya`akov came from the field in the evening, and Le'ah went out to meet
him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely paid you with my
son's aphrodisiac herb."
He had sex with her that night. God listened to Le'ah, and she conceived, and
bore Ya`akov a fifth son. Le'ah said, ‘God has given me my wages, because I
gave my handmaid to my husband.’ She named him Yissakhar. Le'ah conceived
again, and bore a sixth son to Ya`akov. Le'ah said, ‘God has endowed me
with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him
six sons.’ She named him Zevulun. Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and
named her Dinah.
 
“God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. She conceived, bore a son, and said, ‘God has taken away my reproach.’ She
named him Yosef, saying,’ "May ADON, our God add another son to me.’
 
“It happened, when Rachel had borne Yosef, that Ya`akov said to Lavan,
‘Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. Give me
my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know
my service with which I have served you.’
 
“Lavan said to him, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for
I have divined that ADON, our God has blessed me for your sake.’ He said,
‘Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.’ He said to him, ‘You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. ADON, our God has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?’
 
He said, ‘What shall I give you?’ Ya`akov said, ‘You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black
one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be
my hire. So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come
concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and
spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will
be counted stolen.’
 
“Lavan said, ‘Behold, I desire it to be according to your word.’ That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. He set three days' journey between himself and Ya`akov, and Ya`akov fed the rest of Lavan's flocks.
 
“Ya`akov took to himself wands of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled
white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the wands. He
set the wands which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the
watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came
to drink. The flocks conceived before the wands, and the flocks brought
forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. Ya`akov separated the lambs, and
set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock
of Lavan: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Lavan's
flock.
 
“It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that
Ya`akov laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they
might conceive among the rods; but when the flock were feeble, he didn't
put them in. So the feebler were Lavan's, and the stronger Ya`akov's. The
man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male
servants, and camels and donkeys.
 
“He heard the words of Lavan's sons, saying, ‘Ya`akov has taken away all
that was our father's. From that which was our father's, has he gotten all this
wealth.’ Ya`akov saw the expression on Lavan's face, and, behold, it was
not toward him as before. ADON, our God said to Ya`akov, ‘Return to the land of
your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.’
 
“Ya`akov sent and called Rachel and Le'ah to the field to his flock, and said to them, ‘I see the expression on your father's face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. You know
that I have served your father with all of my strength. Your father has
deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn't allow him to hurt
me. If he said this, ‘’the speckled will be your wages,’’ then all the flock
bore speckled. If he said this, ‘‘The streaked will be your wages,’’ then all the
flock bore streaked. Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and
given them to me. It happened during mating season that I lifted up my
eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock
were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. The angel of God said to me in the
dream, ‘’Ya`akov,’’ and I said, ‘’Here I am.’’ He said, ‘Now lift up your
eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked,
speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Lavan does to you. I am
the God of Light, the House of God, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me.
Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’’  ‘
 
“Rachel and Le'ah answered him, ‘Is there yet any portion or inheritance
for us in our father's house? Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners?
For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money. For all the
riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our
children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.’
 
“Then Ya`akov rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had
gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan-Aram , to go to
Yitzchak his father, to the land of Kena`an.  Now Lavan had gone to shear
his sheep: and Rachel stole the terafim that were her father's.
 
“Ya`akov deceived Lavan the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him that he was
running away. So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the
River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gil`ad. Lavan was told on the third day that Ya`akov had fled. He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gil`ad.
 
“God came to Lavan, the Syrian, in a dream of
the night, and said to him, ‘Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to
Ya`akov either good or bad.’ Lavan caught up with Ya`akov.
 
“ Now Ya`akov had pitched his tent in the
mountain, and Lavan with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gil`ad.
Lavan said to Ya`akov, ‘What have you done, that you have deceived me, and
carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee
secretly, and deceive me, and didn't tell me, that I might have sent you away
with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp; and didn't allow
me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.
 
“ ‘It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last
night, saying, ‘’Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Ya`akov either
good or bad.'’ Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for
your father's house, but why have you stolen my teraphim household gods?’
 
“Ya`akov answered Lavan, ‘Because I was afraid, for I said, '’Lest you
should take your daughters from me by force.'’ Anyone you find your gods
with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and
take it.’ For Ya`akov didn't know that Rachel had stolen them.
 
“Lavan went into Ya`akov's tent, into Le'ah's tent, and into the tent of
the two female servants; but he didn't find them. He went out of Le'ah's tent,
and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the terafim, put them
in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Lavan felt about all the tent, but
didn't find them. She said to her father, ‘Don't let my lord be angry that
I can't rise up before you; for I am having my menstrual period.’ He searched, but
didn't find the terafim.
 
“Ya`akov was angry, and argued with Lavan. Ya`akov answered Lavan, ‘What is
my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? Now
that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your
household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they
may judge between us two. These twenty years I have been with you. Your
ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the
rams of your flocks. That which was torn of animals, I didn't bring to
you. I bore the loss of it. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or
stolen by night. This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed
me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.
 
“These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two
daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten
times. Unless the God of my father, the God of Av the patriarch, and the fear of  the House of Yitzchak, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.’
 
“Lavan answered Ya`akov, ‘The daughters are my daughters, the children are
my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what
can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have
borne? Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a
witness between me and you.’
 
“Ya`akov took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. Ya`akov said to
his relatives, ‘Gather stones’" They took stones, and made a mestabah. They ate
there by the mestabah. Lavan called it Yegar-Sahaduta, but Ya`akov called it
Gal`ed. Lavan said, ‘This mestabah is witness between me and you this day.’
 
“Therefore it was named Gal`ed and Mitzpah, for he said, ‘ADON, our God watch
between me and you, when we are absent one from another. If you afflict my
daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold,
God is witness between me and you.’ Lavan said to Ya`akov, ‘See this mestabah,
and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. May this mestabah be
a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this mestabah to
you, and that you will not pass over this mestabah and this pillar to me, for harm.
 
“ ‘The God of  Father-Av, and the God of Nachor, the God of their father, judge
between us.’ Then Ya`akov swore by the fear of his father, Yitzchak.
Ya`akov offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat
bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain. Early in the
morning, Lavan rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them.
Lavan departed and returned to his place. Ya`akov went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
 
“When he saw them, Ya`akov said, ‘This is God's army.’ He called the name of that place
Machanayim. Ya`akov sent messengers in front of him to Esav, his brother, to the land
of Se`ir, the field of Edom. He commanded them, saying, "’this is what you
shall tell my lord, Esav: '’This is what your servant, Ya`akov, says. I have
lived as a foreigner with Lavan, and stayed until now. I have oxen,
donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my
lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’’
 
“The messengers returned to Ya`akov, saying, ‘We came to your brother Esav. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.’ Then Ya`akov was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; and he said, "’ Esav comes
to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.’

Ya`akov said, ‘God of my father Av, and God of my father Yitzchak, ADONI, who said to me, ‘'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will
do you good,'’ I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses,
and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my
wand I passed over this Yarden; and now I have become two companies.
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav: for I fear
him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. You
said, ‘'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea,
which can't be numbered because there are so many.’ ‘’
 
“He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a
present for Esav, his brother: two hundred female goats and twenty male
goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels and their
colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. He
delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to
his servants, ‘Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.’
 
“He commanded the foremost, saying, ‘When Esav, my brother, meets you, and
asks you, saying, ‘'Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before
you?'’ Then you shall say, ‘’They are your servant, Ya`akov's. It is a
present sent to my lord, Esav. Behold, he also is behind us.’’ He
commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds,
saying, ‘This is how you shall speak to Esav, when you find him. You shall
say, '’Not only that, but behold, your servant, Ya`akov, is behind us.’’ For, he
said, ‘’I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I
will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.’’
 
“So the present passed over before him, and he himself lodged that night in
the camp. He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and
his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Yabbok.”
 
The company was silent, for all knew that Esav had received Ya’akov, his half-brother, well indeed.
 
After this, one of our companions, who I had taken for a Sheik, spoke.  He was the King of Jerusalem, called “the good King” by his people, for he was known even in my native Egypt as a righteous man, and priest-king.
 
THE TALE OF THE GOOD KING, THE MALKI-TZEDEK, OF YERUSHALEM
 
After a time, the young King of Salem spoke.  “You have spoken much of your father, Av, who my father’s father well knew.  We of Salem are both priests of  God Elyon, who is the same as your lord ADON, and the same as that which the Egyptians once called  the Ahthen, and kings of our town which is in  the high hills  of Kena’an. Your father, Av saved my father’s father and our people, and this is how it was told to me, even by the good king to my father, and he to me.
 
“It happened in the days of Amrafel, king of Shin`ar, Aryokh, king of
Ellasar, Kedorla`omer, king of `Elam, and Tid`al, king of Goyim, that they
made war with Bera, king of Sedom, and with Birsha, king of `Amorah, Shin'av,
king of Admah, and Shem'ever, king of Tzevoyim, and the king of Bela (the same
is Tzo`ar). All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is
the Salt Sea). Twelve years they served Kedorla`omer, and in the thirteenth
year, they rebelled. In the fourteenth year Kedorla`omer came, and the
kings who were with him, and struck the Refa'im in `Ashterot-Karnayim, and the
Zuzim in Cham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiryatayim, and the Chori in their
Mount Se`ir, to El-Paran, which is by the wilderness. They returned, and
came to En Mishpat (the same is Kadesh where Egypt meets Hati), and struck all the country of the `Amaleki, and also the Amori, that lived in Chatzatzon-Tamar. The king of Sedom, and the king of `Amorah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Tzevoyim,
and the king of Bela (the same is Tzo`ar) went out; and they set the battle in
array against them in the valley of Siddim; against Kedorla`omer king of
`Elam, and Tid`al king of Goyim, and Amrafel king of Shin`ar, and Aryokh king of
Ellasar; four kings against the five. Now the valley of Siddim was full of
tar pits; and the kings of Sedom and `Amorah fled, and they fell there, and
those who remained fled to the hills. They took all the goods of Sedom and
`Amorah, and all their food, and went their way. They took Lot, your father Av's
brother's son, who lived in Sedom, and his goods, and departed.
 
“One who had escaped came and told Av, the Hebaru, your father. Now he lived by the
oaks of Mamre, the Amori, brother of Eshkol, and brother of `Aner; and these
were allies of  father Av. When Av heard that his relative was taken
captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and
eighteen, and pursued as far as the lands of the Danu. He divided himself against them by
night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Chovah, which
is on the left hand of Damascus. He brought back all the goods, and also
brought back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the
people.
 
“The king of Sedom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Kedorla`omer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). Malki-Tzedek, that is, the righteous king of Shalem, my father’s father, brought out bread and wine: and he was Kohen of El `Elyon, the same that is Adon. He blessed him, and said,
      ‘Blessed be Av of El `Elyon, possessor of heaven and earth: and
      blessed be El `Elyon, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’
 
“ Your father Av,” I was told, “ gave him a tenth of all. The king of Sedom said to Av, ‘Give me the people, and take the goods to yourself.’
 
“Your father Av said to the king of Sedom, ‘I have lifted up my hand to the ADON,  the same being El `Elyon, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread nor a
sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘’I have made Av
rich.’’ I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have
eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: `Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre.
Let them take their portion."
 
THE TALE OF YAHUDAH, A SHAISU WARLORD
 
When the King had finished, the young Sheik of the B’nai Yahuda Shaisu, said, “If El Elyon is your God, then our God is indeed as yours, and they are one.  If you are his Kohen  at Shalem, then bless you who’s father’s father blessed the people of our father Av, called Avram or Avraham.  Though we Shaisu have raided Shalem, none of the B’nai Yahuda shall do so again forever.
 
“But I, too, have a tale. We are rebel sons of the same father Av, of Yitzchak and of Ya`akov, and of the ADON of Av,  even our God as well.  We all know of Yusef, the son of Av who was sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelite slavers, who took him bound into Egypt, and how he became second to the king of Egypt.  My father’s father’s father, Yehudah, even he was among those who betrayed his brother Yusef. But how my tribe came to be is in the story of how he also betrayed his daughter-in-law, Tamar. For from Yehudah we descend, but also we come from Tamar, and here is how this came to be, as I have been told.”
 
The sheiks listened intently, for the tales of the wild Shaisu were exotic indeed.
 
“It happened at that time, that Yehudah went down from his brothers, and
visited a certain `Adullami, whose name was Chirah. Yehudah saw there a
daughter of a certain Kena`ani whose name was Shu`a. He took her, and had sex with
her. She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him `Er.  She
conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan. She yet again bore
a son, and named him Shelach: and he was at Keziv, when she bore him.
 
“Yehudah took a wife for `Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. `Er,
Yehudah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the ADON. The ADON killed him.
 
“Yehudah said to Onan, ‘Have sexual relations with your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother.’ Onan
knew that the seed wouldn't be his; and it happened, when he went in to his
brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to
his brother. The thing which he did was evil in the sight of the ADON, and
he killed him also.
 
“Then Yehudah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, ‘Remain a widow in your father's house, until Shelach, my son, is grown up;’ for he said, ‘Lest he also die, like his brothers.’ Tamar went and lived in her father's house.
 
“After many days, Shu`a's daughter, the wife of Yehudah, died. Yehudah was
comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers to Timnah, he and his friend Chirah,
the `Adullami. It was told Tamar, saying, ‘Behold, your father-in-law is
going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.’ She took off of her the garments
of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and
sat in the gate of `Enayim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that
Shelach was grown up, and she wasn't given to him as a wife. When Yehudah
saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
 
“He turned to her by the way, and said, ‘Please come, let me have sex with
you,’ for he didn't know that she was his daughter-in-law.
She said, ‘What will you give me, that you may have my body?’
 
“He said, ‘I will send you a kid of the goats from the flock.’
She said, ‘Will you give me a token, until you send it?’
He said, ‘What token will I give you?’
She said, ‘Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.’
He gave them to her, and had sex with her, and she conceived by him.
 
“She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of
her widowhood. Yehudah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his
friend, the `Adullami, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, but he
didn't find her. Then he asked the men of her place, saying, ‘Where is the
prostitute, that was at `Enayim by the road?’
They said, ‘There has been no prostitute here.’
 
“He returned to Yehudah, and said, ‘I haven't found her; and also the men
of the place said, ‘'There has been no prostitute here.'’  Yehudah said,
‘Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this kid, and you haven't
found her.’
 
“ It happened about three months later, that it was told Yehudah, saying,
‘Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute; and moreover, behold,
she is with child by prostitution.’ Yehudah said, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.’ When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, ‘By the man, whose these are, I am with child.’ She also said, ‘Please discern whose are these--the
signet, and the cords, and the staff.’
 
“Yehudah acknowledged them, and said, ‘She is more righteous than I,
because I didn't give her to Shelach, my son.’ He knew her again no more. It happened in the time of her travail, that behold, twins were in her womb. When she travailed, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, ‘This came
out first.’ It happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his
brother came out, and she said, ‘Why have you made a breach for yourself?’
Therefore his name was called Peretz. Afterward his brother came out, that
had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerach.”
 
The Sheik finished simply, “These were the ancestors of my tribe.”
 
It was a Shaisu story of justice and injustice, lust and fairness.  The Sheiks seemed satisfied, and I felt it was time that I tell my story to the assembly.
 
 
THE TALE OF ATENMOSE, AN EX-EGYPTIAN PROVINCIAL OFFICIAL IN CANAAN
 
I stood, and they all turned to myself, and the Sheik of the Shaisu from Dan demanded to know what an Egyptian such as I had to say.  I told them my name and rank, that I was Ramose, called Atenmoshe, the youngest son of the youngest son  of  AperEl, the last Hyksos, that is, hega-khase grand vizier, after being driven from Abbaaris back unto Kena’an whence we came, but some of us remained as Abbaaris and some as courtiers,  who served both Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV, later called Akhnaten.
 
“Whereas,” I said, “ my once-great family continued under the shadow of suspicion, as were all the remaining hega-khase in the land of the Egyptians, many in bitter bondage, I myself suffered also the suspicion of being the son of the son of the servants of the king whose name was forbidden, as he had denied the old our Gods of the Egyptians and devoted himself to the Aten, the life of the Sun, which was  his father Amenhotep’s secret belief as well, as was it his father’s, back unto the time of King Amose. So, though I honored their our Gods and called myself merely Moshe, the son without a father, and only Ramose, called Ramose, called Atenmoshe, the son of the power of heaven, The Aten. But when Akhnaten’s son Tutaknaten was murdered by the usurper Horemhed his general, my minor post as a scribe in the king’s house was lost, and I was sent to be second scribe to the governor of Goshen, where lived my few blood kinsmen remaining in Egypt, who were mere artisans and even slaves.  Thus, I set out, a now, for Midian, where the Aten, call there Adon, was still the only our God to many, and where my distant free kinsman the Midianites and the Hebaru and the wild Shaisu still wandered to and fro, taking with me those, both slave and free, who would go. I sought Yitro the Midianite priest of El-Adon, the our God of the Aten, and sang to him the song of the Aten that my father’s father passed to him, and he to me.
 
“When you set in western lightland,
Earth is in darkness as if in death;
One sleeps in chambers, heads covered,
One eye does not see another,
Were they robbed of their goods,
That are under their heads,
People would not remark it,
Every lion comes from its den,
All the serpents bite;
Darkness hovers, earth is silent,
As their maker rests in lightland.
Earth brightens when you dawn in lightland,
When you shine as Aten of daytime;
As you cast your rays,
The Two Lands are in festivity.
Awake they stand on their feet,
You have roused them;
Bodies cleansed, clothed,
Their arms adore your appearance.
The entire land sets out to work,
All beasts browse on their herbs;
Trees, herbs are sprouting,
Birds fly from their nests,
Their wings greeting your ka,
All flocks frisk on their feet,
All that fly up and alight,
They live when you dawn for them.
Ships fare north, fare south as well,
Roads lie open when you rise;
The fish in the river dart before you,
Your rays are in the midst of the sea.
Who makes seed grow in women,
Who creates people from sperm;
Who feeds the son in his mother's womb,
Who soothes him to still his tears.
Nurse in the womb,
Giver of breath,
To nourish all that he made,
When he comes from the womb to breathe,
On the day of his birth,
You open wide his mouth,
You supply his needs.
When the chick in the egg speaks in the shell,
You give him breath within to sustain him;
When you have made him complete,
To break out from the egg,
He comes out from the egg,
To announce his completion,
Walking on his legs he comes from it.”
 
And my friend  the Sheik of the B’nai Ya’akov the Shaisu tribe, exclaimed.  “But we, too, sing this song.”  And he sang it as he had heard it among his tribe, from the Levites amongst them:
 
Bless the Adon, O my soul.
  O Adon my God, you are very great;
You are clothed with honor and majesty.
 Who covert yourself with light as with a garment:
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain:
 Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters:
who makes the clouds his chariot:
 who walks upon the wings of the wind:
 Who makes his angels spirits;
His ministers a flaming fire:
 Who laid the foundation of the earth,
 that it should not be removed for ever.
 You covered it with the deep as with a garment:
  the waters stood above the mountains.
 At your rebuke they fled;
 at the voice of your thunder they hasted away.
 They go up by the mountains;
 they go down by the valleys unto the place
which you have founded for them.
 You have set a bound that they may not pass over;
that they turn not again to cover the earth.
 He sends the springs into the valleys,
which run among the hills.
 They give drink to every beast of the field:
the wild asses quench their thirst.
 By them shall the fowls of the heaven
have their habitation,
 which sing among the branches.
 He waters the hills from his chambers:
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
and herb for the service of man:
 that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
and oil to make his face to shine,
and bread which strengths man's heart.
 The trees of the Adon are full of sap;
 the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
 Where the birds make their nests:
 as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats;
and the rocks for the conies.
 He appointed the moon for seasons:
 the sun knows his going down.
 You make darkness, and it is night:
wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.
 The young lions roar after their prey,
 and seek their meat from God.
 The sun arises, they gather themselves together,
and lay them down in their dens.
 Man goes forth unto his work
and to his labor until the evening.
 O ADON, how manifold are your works!

in wisdom have you made them all:
the earth is full of your riches.
 So is this great and wide sea,
wherein are things creeping innumerable,
 both small and great beasts.
 There go the ships:
 there is that leviathan,
whom you hast made to play therein.
 These wait all upon thee;
 that you may give them their meat in due season.
 That you give them they gather:
 that open your hand,
they are filled with good.
 You hide thy face, they are troubled:
 you take away their breath, they die,
 and return to their dust.
 You send forth your spirit, they are created:
and you renew the face of the earth.
 The glory of the Adon shall endure for ever:
 the Adon shall rejoice in his works.
 He looks on the earth, and it trembles:
he touches  the hills, and they smoke.
 I will sing unto the Adon as long as I live:
 I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
 My meditation of him shall be sweet:
 I will be glad in the Adon.
   
 
And I thought the Aten lives here, among these traders and sheep herders and wanderers and warriors, even yet, when even the word was forbidden in the House of Egypt.  Thus emboldened, I resolved to tell the assembly of shepherds of my first trip to Median, to the tents of Sheik Yitro, who gave me of his daughters in marriage, and whose sheep I tended, beneath the thundering mountain on which the Midianites believed their nameless our God lived.
“Now I was keeping the flock of Yitro,” I told the assembly,” my father-in-law, the Kohen of Midyan, and I led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the our God's mountain, to Chorev. The angel of the Adon appeared to me in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. I looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. I said, ‘I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.’
”When the Adon saw that I turned aside to see, The Our God called to me out of the midst of the bush, and said, ‘Moshe! Ramose, called Ramose, called Atenmoshe,,!’
“I said, ‘Here I am.’
”He said, ‘Don't come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.’  Moreover he said, ‘I am the Our God of your father, the Our God of your people’s father, the Our God of Yitzchak, and the Our God of Ya`akov.’
“I hid my face; for I was afraid to look at Our God.
The Adon said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Kena`ani, the Chittite, the Amori, the Perizzi, the Chivvi, and the Yevusi.  Now, behold, the cry of the children of Yisra'el has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.  Come now therefore, and I will send you to Par`oh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Yisra'el, out of Egypt.’
”I said to Our God, ‘Who am I, that I should go to Par`oh, and that I should bring forth the children of Yisra'el out of Egypt?’
”He said, ‘Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve Our God on this mountain.’
”I said to Our God, ‘Behold, when I come to the children of Yisra'el, and tell them, ‘'The Our God of your fathers has sent me to you;'’ and they ask me, ‘'What is his name?'’ What should I tell them?’
“Our God said tome, ‘I AM WHAT IS,’ and he said, ‘You shall tell the children of Yisra'el this: ‘'I AM has sent me to you.'’ ’ Our God said moreover to me, ‘You shall tell the children of Yisra'el this, 'WHAT IS, the Our God of your fathers, the Our God of the father of your people, the Our God of Yitzchak, and the Our God of Ya`akov, has sent me to you.’’  ‘This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Yisra'el together, and tell them, 'Adon, Our God, the Our God of your fathers, the Our God of the father of your people, of Yitzchak, and of Ya`akov, has appeared to me, saying, ‘I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt; and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Kena`ani, the Chittite, the Amori, the Perizzi, the Chivvi, and the Yevusi, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’’ ‘ They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Yisra'el, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, WHAT IS, the Our God of the Ivrim, has met with us. Now please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to WHAT IS , Our God.’’ ‘ I know that the king of Egypt won't give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand. I will put forth my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst of it, and after that he will let you go. I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall despoil the Egyptians.’
”I answered, ‘But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'WHAT IS has not appeared to you.'"
“WHAT IS said to me, ‘What is that in your hand?’
“I said, ‘A wand.’
“He said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’
“I threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and I ran away from it.
“I AM WHAT IS said to Me, ‘Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail.’
“I put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a wand in my hand.
" This is so they may believe that I AM WHAT IS, the Our God of their fathers, the Our God of the father of their people, the Our God of Yitzchak, and the Our God of Ya`akov, has appeared to you.’ I AM WHAT IS said furthermore to me, ‘Now put your hand inside your cloak.’
“I  put his hand inside my cloak, and when he took it out, behold, my hand was leprous, as white as snow.
”He said, ‘Put your hand inside your cloak again.’
“I put his hand inside my cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again to normal  healthy flesh.
” ‘It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.  It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.’
” I said to WHAT IS, ‘Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.’
” I AM WHAT IS said to him, "Who made man's mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn't it I, who IS? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.’
”I said, ‘Oh, Lord, please send someone else.’
”The frustration of  WHAT IS was kindled against me, and he said, ‘What about Aharon, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he comes forth to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He will be your spokesman to the people; and it will happen, that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as Our God.  You shall take this wand in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.’
“So, I returned to Egypt and I AM WHAT IS performed great signs and wonders, until I, and my family, and those who are encamped here with me came out of Egypt unto Midian, and presently we shall return to Kena’an, whence came the hega-khase unto  Egypt long ago.”
 
 
THE TALE OF THE SHIEK OF YA’AKOV, A HEBREW FROM HEBRON
 
The Sheik of Ya’akov spoke after a time.
 
“I have no story so profound,” he demurred, “but I can tell you how it is said Ya’akov, our father, labored many years for the sake of winning to himself the woman he loved best.”
 
All were silent.  The romances of the desert people were famous even in Egypt for their eroticism.  The Sheik sang, “Ya`akov went out from Be'er-Sheva, and went toward Charan. He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that
place to sleep. He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and the
top of it reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending
on it. Behold, ADON, our God stood above it, and said, ‘I am ADON, the God
of Abba your father, and the God of Yitzchak. The land whereon you lie, to
you will I give it, and to your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the
earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the
north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the
earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you
go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not abandon you, until I
have done that which I have spoken of to you.’
 
“Ya`akov rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put
under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it.
He called the name of that place Light, the House of God.
 
“Ya`akov vowed a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me, and
will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing
to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and ADON will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar,
will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth
to you.’
 
“Then Ya`akov went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of
the East. He looked, and behold, a well in the field, and, behold, three
flocks of sheep lying there by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks.
The stone on the well's mouth was large. There all the flocks were
gathered. They rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep,
and put the stone again on the well's mouth in its place.
 
“Ya`akov said to
them, ‘My kinsmen, where are you from?’
They said, ‘We are from Charan.’
He said to them, ‘Do you know Lavan, the son of Nachor?’
They said, ‘We know him.’
He said to them, ‘Is it well with him?’
They said, ‘It is well. See, Rachel, his daughter, is coming with the sheep.’
He said, ‘Behold, it is still the middle of the day, not time to gather the
livestock together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.’
They said, ‘We can't, until all the flocks are gathered together, and they
roll the stone from the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep.’
 
“While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep,
for she kept them. It happened, when Ya`akov saw Rachel the daughter of
Lavan, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Lavan, his mother's brother, that
Ya`akov went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the
flock of Lavan his mother's brother. Ya`akov kissed Rachel, and lifted up
his voice, and wept. Ya`akov told Rachel that he was her father's brother,
and that he was Rivka's son. She ran and told her father.
 
“It happened, when Lavan heard the news of Ya`akov, his sister's son, that
he ran to meet Ya`akov, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his
house. Ya`akov told Lavan all these things. Lavan said to him, ‘Surely you
are my bone and my flesh.’ He lived with him for a month. Lavan said to
Ya`akov, ‘Because you are my brother, should you therefore serve me for nothing?
Tell me, what will your wages be?’
 
“Lavan had two daughters. The name of the elder was Le'ah, and the name of
the younger was Rachel. Le'ah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful
in form and attractive. Ya`akov loved Rachel. He said, ‘I will serve you
seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.’
 
“Lavan said, ‘It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give
her to another man. Stay with me.’ Ya`akov served seven years for Rachel. They seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her. Ya`akov said to Lavan, ‘Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may have sex with her.’ Lavan gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
 
“It happened in the evening, that he took Le'ah his daughter, and brought her to
him. He had sexual relations with her. Lavan gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter
Le'ah for a handmaid. It happened in the morning that, behold, it was
Le'ah. He said to Lavan, ‘What is this you have done to me? Didn't I serve with
you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?’
 
“Lavan said, ‘It is not done so in our place, to give the younger before
the firstborn. Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give you the
other also for the service which you will serve with me yet seven other years.’
Ya`akov did so, and fulfilled her week. He gave him Rachel his daughter as
wife. Lavan gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah, his handmaid, to be her
handmaid. He also slept with Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than
Le'ah, and served with him yet seven other years.
 
“ADON, our God saw that Le'ah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was
barren. Le'ah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Re'uven. For
she said, ‘Because ADON, our God has looked at my affliction. For now my husband will love me.’ She conceived again, and bare a son, and said, ‘Because ADON, our God
has heard that I am hated, he has therefore given me this son also.’ She named
him Shim`on. She conceived again, and bare a son. Said, ‘Now this time
will my husband be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ Therefore
was his name called Levi. She conceived again, and bore a son. She said,
‘This time will I praise ADON, our God.’ Therefore she named him Yehudah. Then she
stopped bearing.
 
“When Rachel saw that she bore Ya`akov no children, Rachel envied her
sister. She said to Ya`akov, ‘Give me children, or else I will die.’
Ya`akov's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, ‘Am I in God's
place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?’
She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear on my
knees, and I also may obtain children by her.’ She gave him Bilhah her
handmaid as wife, and Ya`akov had sex with her. Bilhah conceived, and bore
Ya`akov a son. Rachel said, ‘God has judged me, and has also heard my
voice, and has given me a son.’ Therefore called she his name Dan. Bilhah,
Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Ya`akov a second son. Rachel
said, ‘With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have
prevailed.’ She named him Naftali.
 
“When Le'ah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her
handmaid, and gave her to Ya`akov as a wife. Zilpah, Le'ah's handmaid,
bore Ya`akov a son. Le'ah said, ‘How fortunate!’ She named him Gad. Zilpah, Le'ah's handmaid, bore Ya`akov a second son. Le'ah said, ‘Happy am
I, for the daughters will call me happy.’ She named him Asher.
Re'uven went in the days of wheat harvest, and found an aphrodisiacal herb in the field,
and brought them to his mother, Le'ah. Then Rachel said to Le'ah, "Please give
me some of your son's herb of delight.’
 
“She said to her, ‘Is it a small matter that you have taken away my
husband? Would you take away my son's herb of delight, also?’
Rachel said, ‘Therefore he will sleep with you tonight for your son's aphrodisiacal herb.’
 
“Ya`akov came from the field in the evening, and Le'ah went out to meet
him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely paid you with my
son's aphrodisiac herb."
He had sex with her that night. God listened to Le'ah, and she conceived, and
bore Ya`akov a fifth son. Le'ah said, ‘God has given me my wages, because I
gave my handmaid to my husband.’ She named him Yissakhar. Le'ah conceived
again, and bore a sixth son to Ya`akov. Le'ah said, ‘God has endowed me
with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him
six sons.’ She named him Zevulun. Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and
named her Dinah.
 
“God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb. She conceived, bore a son, and said, ‘God has taken away my reproach.’ She
named him Yosef, saying,’ "May ADON, our God add another son to me.’
 
“It happened, when Rachel had borne Yosef, that Ya`akov said to Lavan,
‘Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. Give me
my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know
my service with which I have served you.’
 
“Lavan said to him, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for
I have divined that ADON, our God has blessed me for your sake.’ He said,
‘Appoint me your wages, and I will give it.’ He said to him, ‘You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me. For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. ADON, our God has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?’
 
He said, ‘What shall I give you?’ Ya`akov said, ‘You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it. I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black
one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be
my hire. So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come
concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and
spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will
be counted stolen.’
 
“Lavan said, ‘Behold, I desire it to be according to your word.’ That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. He set three days' journey between himself and Ya`akov, and Ya`akov fed the rest of Lavan's flocks.
 
“Ya`akov took to himself wands of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled
white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the wands. He
set the wands which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the
watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came
to drink. The flocks conceived before the wands, and the flocks brought
forth streaked, speckled, and spotted. Ya`akov separated the lambs, and
set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock
of Lavan: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Lavan's
flock.
 
“It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that
Ya`akov laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they
might conceive among the rods; but when the flock were feeble, he didn't
put them in. So the feebler were Lavan's, and the stronger Ya`akov's. The
man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male
servants, and camels and donkeys.
 
“He heard the words of Lavan's sons, saying, ‘Ya`akov has taken away all
that was our father's. From that which was our father's, has he gotten all this
wealth.’ Ya`akov saw the expression on Lavan's face, and, behold, it was
not toward him as before. ADON, our God said to Ya`akov, ‘Return to the land of
your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.’
 
“Ya`akov sent and called Rachel and Le'ah to the field to his flock, and said to them, ‘I see the expression on your father's face, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. You know
that I have served your father with all of my strength. Your father has
deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God didn't allow him to hurt
me. If he said this, ‘’the speckled will be your wages,’’ then all the flock
bore speckled. If he said this, ‘‘The streaked will be your wages,’’ then all the
flock bore streaked. Thus God has taken away your father's livestock, and
given them to me. It happened during mating season that I lifted up my
eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock
were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. The angel of God said to me in the
dream, ‘’Ya`akov,’’ and I said, ‘’Here I am.’’ He said, ‘Now lift up your
eyes, and behold, all the male goats which leap on the flock are streaked,
speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Lavan does to you. I am
the God of Light, the House of God, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me.
Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’’  ‘
 
“Rachel and Le'ah answered him, ‘Is there yet any portion or inheritance
for us in our father's house? Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners?
For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money. For all the
riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our
children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do.’
 
“Then Ya`akov rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had
gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan-Aram , to go to
Yitzchak his father, to the land of Kena`an.  Now Lavan had gone to shear
his sheep: and Rachel stole the terafim that were her father's.
 
“Ya`akov deceived Lavan the Syrian, in that he didn't tell him that he was
running away. So he fled with all that he had. He rose up, passed over the
River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gil`ad. Lavan was told on the third day that Ya`akov had fled. He took his relatives with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey. He overtook him in the mountain of Gil`ad.
 
“God came to Lavan, the Syrian, in a dream of
the night, and said to him, ‘Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to
Ya`akov either good or bad.’ Lavan caught up with Ya`akov.
 
“ Now Ya`akov had pitched his tent in the
mountain, and Lavan with his relatives encamped in the mountain of Gil`ad.
Lavan said to Ya`akov, ‘What have you done, that you have deceived me, and
carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you flee
secretly, and deceive me, and didn't tell me, that I might have sent you away
with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp; and didn't allow
me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.
 
“ ‘It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last
night, saying, ‘’Take heed to yourself that you don't speak to Ya`akov either
good or bad.'’ Now, you want to be gone, because you greatly longed for
your father's house, but why have you stolen my teraphim household gods?’
 
“Ya`akov answered Lavan, ‘Because I was afraid, for I said, '’Lest you
should take your daughters from me by force.'’ Anyone you find your gods
with shall not live. Before our relatives, discern what is yours with me, and
take it.’ For Ya`akov didn't know that Rachel had stolen them.
 
“Lavan went into Ya`akov's tent, into Le'ah's tent, and into the tent of
the two female servants; but he didn't find them. He went out of Le'ah's tent,
and entered into Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the terafim, put them
in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Lavan felt about all the tent, but
didn't find them. She said to her father, ‘Don't let my lord be angry that
I can't rise up before you; for I am having my menstrual period.’ He searched, but
didn't find the terafim.
 
“Ya`akov was angry, and argued with Lavan. Ya`akov answered Lavan, ‘What is
my trespass? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? Now
that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your
household stuff? Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they
may judge between us two. These twenty years I have been with you. Your
ewes and your female goats have not cast their young, and I haven't eaten the
rams of your flocks. That which was torn of animals, I didn't bring to
you. I bore the loss of it. Of my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or
stolen by night. This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed
me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.
 
“These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two
daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten
times. Unless the God of my father, the God of Av the patriarch, and the fear of  the House of Yitzchak, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.’
 
“Lavan answered Ya`akov, ‘The daughters are my daughters, the children are
my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what
can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have
borne? Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I; and let it be for a
witness between me and you.’
 
“Ya`akov took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. Ya`akov said to
his relatives, ‘Gather stones’" They took stones, and made a mestabah. They ate
there by the mestabah. Lavan called it Yegar-Sahaduta, but Ya`akov called it
Gal`ed. Lavan said, ‘This mestabah is witness between me and you this day.’
 
“Therefore it was named Gal`ed and Mitzpah, for he said, ‘ADON, our God watch
between me and you, when we are absent one from another. If you afflict my
daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; behold,
God is witness between me and you.’ Lavan said to Ya`akov, ‘See this mestabah,
and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. May this mestabah be
a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this mestabah to
you, and that you will not pass over this mestabah and this pillar to me, for harm.
 
“ ‘The God of  Father-Av, and the God of Nachor, the God of their father, judge
between us.’ Then Ya`akov swore by the fear of his father, Yitzchak.
Ya`akov offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his relatives to eat
bread. They ate bread, and stayed all night in the mountain. Early in the
morning, Lavan rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them.
Lavan departed and returned to his place. Ya`akov went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
 
“When he saw them, Ya`akov said, ‘This is God's army.’ He called the name of that place
Machanayim. Ya`akov sent messengers in front of him to Esav, his brother, to the land
of Se`ir, the field of Edom. He commanded them, saying, "’this is what you
shall tell my lord, Esav: '’This is what your servant, Ya`akov, says. I have
lived as a foreigner with Lavan, and stayed until now. I have oxen,
donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my
lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’’
 
“The messengers returned to Ya`akov, saying, ‘We came to your brother Esav. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.’ Then Ya`akov was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; and he said, "’ Esav comes
to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.’

Ya`akov said, ‘God of my father Av, and God of my father Yitzchak, ADONI, who said to me, ‘'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will
do you good,'’ I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses,
and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my
wand I passed over this Yarden; and now I have become two companies.
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav: for I fear
him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. You
said, ‘'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea,
which can't be numbered because there are so many.’ ‘’
 
“He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a
present for Esav, his brother: two hundred female goats and twenty male
goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels and their
colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. He
delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to
his servants, ‘Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.’
 
“He commanded the foremost, saying, ‘When Esav, my brother, meets you, and
asks you, saying, ‘'Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before
you?'’ Then you shall say, ‘’They are your servant, Ya`akov's. It is a
present sent to my lord, Esav. Behold, he also is behind us.’’ He
commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds,
saying, ‘This is how you shall speak to Esav, when you find him. You shall
say, '’Not only that, but behold, your servant, Ya`akov, is behind us.’’ For, he
said, ‘’I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I
will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.’’
 
“So the present passed over before him, and he himself lodged that night in
the camp. He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and
his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Yabbok.”
 
The company was silent, for all knew that Esav had received Ya’akov, his half-brother, well indeed.
 
After this, one of our companions, who I had taken for a Sheik, spoke.  He was the King of Jerusalem, called “the good King” by his people, for he was known even in my native Egypt as a righteous man, and priest-king.
 
 EPILOGUE - A JOURNEY TO BRATASLA

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."   Malachi 4:5
 
Rabbi Nachman absolutely detested  cracking the whip, but the team of horses he so valued as both horse and as living beings capable of suffering and thus worthy of kindness were simply not making the time necessary.  The woman, he thought, my sister, my eldest, and who but I has a prayer - he could not help a half smile at the word - of saving her. Bratislava was more than a day's ride due West, and the message that had reached him only hours earlier had been grim indeed; return immediately to Bratislava if you would see your dear sister again in this life.
He snapped the long whip again, expertly, in the air, avoiding the horses but cracking loudly in their ears.  The carriage jolted, and the Rebbe's forlorn bodyguard and driver shifted uncomfortably in the seat beside him, adjusting the long Cossack blade beneath his long caftan.  Today Reb Mendele must feel utterly useless, the Rebbe thought, sadly, slowing not at all.  He cannot protect this mad wunderrebbe from his own maniacal impulses, to venture into the pogrom-wracked Ukraine on a doomed mission of peace, and today  he could not even prevail upon his master to allow him to drive the carriage.  For a moment the Rebbe glanced behind him at the equally forlorn messenger who had brought the bad news.  If we roll over, the Rebbe thought, his last thoughts will be that I have shot the messenger.  He shrugged, involuntarily.  My sister, my eldest sister.
The ragtag man in the middle of the high road caught him by surprise.  Had there been a turn or bend of any sort he would surely have run the shabbily-clad Chassid down, but the straightaway was long enough, that the Rebbe not only saw the figure, but quickly enough to see what this motley figure was.  He reigned in, everyone being tossed about, the horses snorting and nearly bolting.
Reb Mendele thought he saw his opportunity to make himself useful.  He yelled at the figure, gazing impassively at the carriage, " Out of the way, schnurer, rag picker; this is the carriage of the Brataslaver Rebbe!  Out of the way, dolt!  We are on a mission from God!"
At that the figure smiled slightly,  but moved not an inch.  "Get in the back with our friend, the messenger of doom, " Rabbi Nachman said.  It was irony, but he could feel the figure behind him stiffen at the perceived slight.  He reached back, patted the man, but never took his eyes from the ragamuffin figure before him.  Reb Mendele eyed both the Rebbe and the figure, but had been with Rabbi Nachman far too long to question anything the Rebbe  did.  He got into the back of the coach.
Rabbi Nachman of Bratislava beckoned and the figure walked slowly up to the coach, stepped up with a hand extended by the Rebbe, and sat down next to him.  Immediately the Rebbe adjusted the reins, snapped the whip and lurched again towards Bratislava at maximum speed.  For awhile, there was silence between them, punctuated by the rattle of the wheels and the mutterings of the two riders behind them.
"So," the Rebbe said finally, " I was wrong.  It appears that all does not depend upon me and my poor wagon.  Yet you would ride with me rather than on wings of eagles or in the Chariot of the Lord."
"You will not arrive in time to save your beloved sister my friend."  The figure spoke evenly, but the Brataslaver Rebbe felt a chill run up his spine.  "She will die?" he asked, his voice breaking, despite himself.  The figure inclined his head.  "He who sent me promised to keep faith with those who sleep in the dust."
"You look like a Chassid and talk like a goy," the Rebbe said, but immediately regretted the comment.  The figure raised an eyebrow.  "Their Prophet raised the dead.  They say."
"You raised the dead."   The Rebbe said.
Elijah the Tishbite, shrugged.  "The dead?  Yes, once or twice.  The dead are easy.  The Baal Shem, your grandfather, raised the dead. 
 
"Perhaps so O Prophet," Rabbi Nachman said, snapping the whip, this time needlessly, " but you, you *didn't die at all*.  Now, not for me to question, you understand, but, forgive me if I suggest THAT is really something."
Another shrug.  "Living is easy, Rebbe." The Prophet Elijah rejoined.  "Dying?  Another matter altogether.  Not easy, as I understand.  Ask your sister, when I raise her from the dead."
Rabbi Nachman didn't know what to say.  His eyes were set on the darkening high road ahead.