Parshat Vayeitzei 2020(year of covid)

 In this weeks parsha there are a couple of very interesting pasukim(one at the beginning and two at the end of our parsha), where Rashi quotes a midrash, whose author may have had in mind a reference to a crisis; that took place during the period of the shoftim, the Concubine of Gibeah. The pasukim are פרק כח יט וַיִּקְרָא אֶת-שֵׁם-הַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא, בֵּית-אֵל; וְאוּלָם לוּז שֵׁם-הָעִיר, לָרִאשֹׁנָה And he called the name of that place Beth-el, but the name of the city was Luz at the first פרק לא מז וַיִּקְרָא-לוֹ לָבָן, יְגַר שָׂהֲדוּתָא; וְיַעֲקֹב, קָרָא לוֹ גַּלְעֵד מח וַיֹּאמֶר לָבָן, הַגַּל הַזֶּה עֵד בֵּינִי וּבֵינְךָ הַיּוֹם; עַל-כֵּן קָרָא-שְׁמוֹ, גַּלְעֵד 47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha; but Jacob called it Galeed. 48 And Laban said: 'This heap is witness between me and thee this day.' Therefore was the name This is Rashi with the midrash(on the pasuk quoted above-chapter 28 pasuk 19) וישם מראשותיו. עֲשָׂאָן כְּמִין מַרְזֵב סָבִיב לְרֹאשׁוֹ, שֶׁיָּרֵא מִפְּנֵי חַיּוֹת רָעוֹת; הִתְחִילוּ מְרִיבוֹת זוֹ אֶת זוֹ, זֹאת אוֹמֶרֶת עָלַי יָנִיחַ צַדִּיק אֶת רֹאשׁוֹ וְזֹאת אוֹמֶרֶת עָלַי יָנִיחַ; מִיָּד עֲשָׂאָן הַקָּבָּ"ה אֶבֶן אַחַת, וְזֶהוּ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר וַיִּקַּח אֶת הָאֶבֶן אֲשֶׁר שָׂם מְרַאֲשֹׁתָיו: וישם מראשתיו AND PUT THEM FOR A RESTING PLACE FOR HIS HEAD — He arranged them in the form of a drain-pipe around his head for he was afraid of wild beasts (Genesis Rabbah 68:11). They (the stones) began quarrelling with one another. One said, “Upon me let this righteous man rest his head”, and another said “Upon me let him rest it”. Whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, straightway made them into one stone! This explains what is written (Genesis 28:18), “And he took the stone that he had put under his head” (Chullin 91b). Beth-el is also know for a famous event that took place during the time of the Shoftim. After the tragedy of פילגש בגבעה, the jewish people gathered together to go to war against the tribe of Benjamin. This tragedy was compounded, that because of the civil war, the tribe of Benjamin was almost completely wiped out. The interesting part of this story, is that the tribes gathered together multiple times to ask G-D whether they should go into battle, who should go into battle first and if in the end, that they would be victorious against the tribe of Benjamin. The name of the place where they asked G-D all these questions, was Beth-el; possibly the very same Beth-el that Jacob had named, when he awoke from his dream/vision. After the battle that almost wiped out the tribe of Benjamin(except for a few hundred survivors), the victorious tribes had a dilemma; they had sworn in their anger, that none of their daughters would be allowed to marry anyone from the tribe of Benjamin. The tribes of Israel, now realized that the extinction of one of their own, was a real possibility. It was only thanks to the daughters of Jabesh-Gilead(possibly the same Gilead named by Jacob and Laban), who in the end married the survivors of Benjamin, that this tragedywas averted. It was this very event, that marked the beginning of the end of the civil war and the acceptance of the tribe of Benjamin back into the ranks of the tribe of Israel. Perhaps this is the meaning of the Midrash, that the stones under Jacob's head became one; which represents the unification of the tribes against Benjamin, in the civil war that began in Beth-El. The peace treaty between Laban and Jacob together with the naming of the location of the treaty, Gilead; represents the future end of the civil war and the peace treaty between the tribes and the survivors of Benjamin, which began with the marriage of the daughters of Jabesh-Gilead. 

 Note: Benjamin was not born in the house of Laban(he was not yet included in the tribes of Israel at the time that Jacob ran away from Laban) and he was the very tribe that was almost wiped out at פלגש בגבעה