“Why are you sitting here idle?” – The Power of Jacob’s Question to the Shepherds (Bereishit 29:7)

When Jacob arrives in Haran, the first thing he sees is a strange scene: a large stone covers the well and a group of shepherds are sitting around with their flocks, waiting for all the other shepherds to arrive so they can roll the stone away together. Jacob is astonished and asks: “Look, it is still broad daylight! It is not yet time for the cattle to be gathered. Water the sheep and go on grazing!” (Bereishit 29:7)

At first glance, Jacob seems to be giving practical advice: the day is long, why waste time sitting around? But the Midrash and the classic commentators see much deeper layers in this short exchange.

Rashi quotes the Midrash: the shepherds answered Jacob, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered together.” The Midrash adds that this was actually a local decree by Laban that no one should water alone, so that no shepherd would be able to sneak away early and perhaps steal time or animals: In other words, they had turned a physical stone into an excuse for collective laziness. One strong person (later Jacob himself) could roll the stone away alone, but they preferred the comfortable agreement: “Everyone waits for everyone else, so no one has to take responsibility.” Jacob’s reaction is revolutionary: Don’t accept artificial limitations that waste the precious daylight G-d has given you! In other words the stone is used here to indicate a missed opportunity.

Another commentator, the Baal HaTurim, points out that the phrase עוֹד הַיּוֹם גָּדוֹל appears only one other time in Tanach – when Joshua prays for the sun to stand still at Givon (Joshua 10:12). Joshua needed extra hours to finish the battle; Jacob reminds the shepherds (and us) that G-d has already given us extra hours today – why are we acting as if the day is already over? Every one of us has moments when we say, “I’ll start learning Torah seriously after I retire,” “I’ll work on my middot when the kids are older,” “I’ll give more tzedakah when I’m wealthy.” Jacob’s cry is: “הֵן עוֹד הַיּוֹם גָּדוֹל!” The day is still long! There is still time right now to do more, to grow more, to accomplish more.

The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh directs us to look at the concept of zeal versus complacency which leads us to focus on the difference between Jacob and the Shepherds explains that Jacob was shocked not just by their laziness, but by their total lack of ratzon - of desire. They had flocks, they had water in front of them, they had daylight – everything they needed – and yet they sat passively. Jacob, who had just fled from Esau, who had the dream of the ladder only that morning, was burning with energy to serve Hashem, to build, to create the future Jewish nation. When he sees people who have every resource and do nothing with it, he cannot contain himself.
This is the eternal contrast between the mentality of Jacob and the mentality of the shepherds (and sometimes, unfortunately, our own mentality). The shepherd mentality says: “We can’t do it alone, we have to wait for everyone else, that’s just the way things are.” However Jacob says: “If it’s the right thing to do, do it now – even if you’re alone.”

When we have the opportunity to start a new project for example for the community and hear “It’s never been done before,” or when we ourselves feel, “Who am I to make a difference?” – we take on the identity of those shepherds sitting by the well. At that moment Jacob comes along and shakes us:
The day is still long!
Don’t wait for perfect conditions.
Don’t wait for a critical mass.
Don’t wait for permission from the “other shepherds.”
If you can do a mitzvah now – do it.
If you can grow now – grow.
If you can bring light now – bring light.
The “stone on the well” is metaphorical for example for habit, fear, and the yetzer hara whispering, “Wait a little longer…”.
 
May we all merit to hear Jacob’s voice in our hearts this Shabbat: “הֵן עוֹד הַיּוֹם גָּדוֹל – there is still so much day left. Get up, water the sheep, and go pasture them!”

Shabbat Shalom!

Written by Liora, Grade 12