Vayayshev: Jacob's Last Stand
Ramban the great interpreter of Torah and mystic of the thirteenth century noted, “What happens to the Fathers is a portent for the Offspring.” Expressing a deep thought Ramban means that sometimes there is a convergence that takes place between generations that may never actually meet. For example, a grandfather may pass on a story which becomes a key to unravel the mission of a granddaughter many years later. Perhaps some act has a great or gift only reveals its true worth many years afterward. There are times, Ramban implies, when one generation places a seed in the ground that lies dormant until germinated by a later generations. An example of this is intergenerational transfer that occurs in Genesis And Abram passed through the land, until the site of Shechem, until the plain of Moreh….1 Rashi comments: “ And Abram passed through the land,” means Abram entered it; “ until the site ...