Parsha discussion

1. Why do the brothers send the bloodied כתונת פסים ahead of them? Why not bring it home themselves? 2. What is the significance of the details of the births of פרץ and זרח? 3.  Why the repetition that פוטיפר appointed יוסף over “everything that was his”? 4. Why are the two prisoners’ titles changed between המשקה / האופה and שר המשקים / שר האופים?

1. How do we understand the fact that the “person” asks Yaakov his name before changing it? Surely he knew who he was ahead of the “fight”? 2. Despite the efforts of חמור and שכם, Yaakov plays no part in the negotiations surrounding the joining of the two families. Why not? 3. Why are we not told where יצחק is buried? (We learn of it in ויחי) 4. What is the relationship of the אלופי עשו at the very end of the פרשה with those mentioned earlier who are given the same title? We haven’t come across these names previously.

1. What is the meaning of the word ואולם in 28:19? 2. When Yaakov firsts wants to leave לבן, he doesn't demand or request payment. Why then does he insist on payment (which we later learn takes fully six years)? 3. Why so much detail about the sheep? Both in the description of the actual payment, and in the discussion of יעקב with his wives? 4. Why are there two meals at גלעד / יגר שהדותא?

1. What is the significance of being told of יצחק praying for a child? Especially when we notice that no such mention is made regarding אברהם and/or רחל 2. Why is יצחק told not to fear when he returns to באר שבע? What might he have been afraid of? 3. When יעקב responds to his mother’s suggestion about taking the blessing, he raises only technical objections. Was there no ethical issue at all? And why was no thought (seemingly) given to the reaction of עשו? 4. At the end of the Parasha, לבן is referred to a number of times with a lot more genealogical references than normal. Why?

1. Who owned the field in which מערת המכפלה is situated? On the one hand, it seems that עפרון sold the field, but in 23:20 the implied previous owners were בני חת as a whole 2. Why does עבד אברהם take 10 camels on his journey? Specifically compare to Avraham when journeying to the עקידה (an unknown destination) taking a single donkey only. 3. When the shidduch is agreed, לבן & בתואל ask for רבקה to stay for a period of time, but then agree to ask her opinion. Why then is the question if she will go, rather than when she would like to go? 4. 25:6 Appears to relate to the children of קטורה (and probably הגר). Since both are referred to previously as wives, why are they referred to as פילגשים?