User:Elipongo

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Elipongo
Working, Editing, Bicycling

— Wikipedian ♂ —
In my "office" at work.
Name	Elias Friedman (Hebrew: אליהו מתתיהו בן צבי )
Born	(1969-09-05) September 5, 1969 (age 56) Hebrew: כב אלול תשכ"ט Mount Sinai Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut  United States
Current location	Upper West Side, Manhattan New York,  United States
Blood type	O+
Sexuality	Heterosexual
Family and friends
Marital status	Single & looking for my bashert.
Education and employment
Occupation	Critical care paramedic
Employer	SeniorCare EMS
Education	A.S. Mechanical Engineering
High school	Ellington High School
College	Manchester Community College
University	University of Connecticut
Hobbies, interests, and beliefs
Religion	Modern Orthodox Judaism
Politics	Libertarian, Republican
Aliases	Elipongo
Interests
Wikipedia Wikignoming Vandal Watch Reviewing pending changes Welcoming committee Emergency Medicine Judaism Bicycling Connecticut New York City
Contact info
Blog	Elipongo's Blog
Email	[e-mail]
Elipongo subpages
Subpages, Userboxes
Userboxes
This editor is a Veteran Editor IV and is entitled to display this Gold Editor Star. This user helps out newcomers. This user observes Shabbat. It is approximately 7:46 AM where this user lives. Language en This user is a native speaker of the English language. US This user uses American English. he-0 משתמש זה אינו מבין עברית (או מבין אותה בקשיים ניכרים).‏ Hebr-2 ש‎ This user has an intermediate understanding of the Hebrew alphabet. la-1 Hic usor simplici latinitate contribuere potest. Wikipedia AAW This user is a member of the Association of Apathetic Wikipedians. WPC This user will get around to being a member of the Wikipedian Procrastination Club This user is a member of WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities. This user participates in WikiProject Judaism. This user participates in WikiProject Connecticut. This user regularly reads and responds to Requests for feedback. This user was a member of WikiProject Orthodox Judaism. This user is a member of the user warnings wikiproject. This user is proud to be a member of the Harmonious Editing Club. This user participates in WikiProject Wikipedia Awards. This editor is a WikiGnome. This user reserves the right to completely screw up his own edits. This user tries to do the right thing. If they make a mistake, please let them know. Elipongo has been active on Wikipedia for 21 years and 2 months. This user scored 7755 on the Wikipediholic test (revision 181768688). DGAF This user does not give a fuck. This user is a donor to the Wikimedia Foundation. You can be one, too. This user has rollback rights on the English Wikipedia. (verify) AWW DMBJ AWGC AWAI FDSP BATD MTAD This user is a member of the Association of Wikipedians Who Dislike Making Broad Judgments About the Worthiness of a General Category of Article, and Who Are in Favor of the Deletion of Some Particularly Bad Articles, but That Doesn't Mean They Are Deletionists. This user believes free images should be moved to the Commons. This user fights vandalism with Huggle and Twinkle. Sometimes simultaneously... Thank the IP This user believes that vandal–reverting IP address editors should be rewarded or thanked for their efforts. This user enjoys cleaning up vandalism. User scripts I'm using these userscripts: Popups, Friendly, Twinkle, WikEd, FURME → In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. This user knows that replacing one bias with another is not cleanup. Wikipedia is not censored. This user respects copyright and other intellectual property rights. This user finds edit/revert wars disruptive. This user encourages the peaceful correction of vandals. UAR This editor believes that account creation should not be required on Wikipedia. This user welcomes new users with Twinkle! This user thinks that peacocks and weasels should be extinct in Wikipedia. This user thinks that Wikipedia is the best thing since sliced bread. ± strong support/ oppose This user thinks that when people support or oppose a proposal, they should dispense with the notion that by writing Strong Support or Strong Oppose, rather than simply Support or Oppose, their support or opposition counts more. WTF? This user ALWAYS leaves an edit summary. This editor uses AutoWikiBrowser to automate tedious repetitive tasks. <ref> This user would like to see everyone using inline citations. Please... This user doesn't own anything. This user is signed up for the Feedback Request Service. This user participates in WikiProject Freemasonry. This user is a member of WikiProject New York City assessments | recent changes | talk Location This user is a citizen of the United States of America. This user lives in, or hails from, New York City. This user lives in New England. This user lives in the U.S. State of Connecticut. This user grew up in a rural area. Indep home This user lives on his own. This user has left the planet Earth 0 times. This user has never left the Northern Hemisphere. 3 This user has set foot in 3 continents of the world. 6 This user has visited 6 of the 205 countries in the world. This user's time zone is EST. I am... This user is Jewish. This user is of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. This user is Modern Orthodox. This user is male. This user is single. 56Y This Wikipedian was born on 5 September 1969 and is 56 years, 2 months, and 18 days old. This user is a Freemason. This user is a Paramedic. This user is near sighted. This user has astigmatism. X This user is a member of Generation X. This user is heterosexual. This user is not a biological parent. This user is right-handed. 18+ This user is an adult. sane This user is relatively sane and will not stab you when you sleep FS&C This user is a brother in Triangle Fraternity. This user is a bicyclist. This user is car-free.^‡ This user does not smoke. This user is drug-free. This user observes Shabbat. This user observes the dietary laws of Kashrut. This user is NOT known for taking themself too seriously. This user has a blood type of O (Rh) Rhesus Positive. This user was born during the Nixon administration. Activities This user overuses userboxes. This user tracks his money on Where's George? This user releases books at Bookcrossing. Beliefs Non nobis solum This user is not afraid of being wrong. This user is skeptical of the Zodiac. This user is a committed advocate of democracy. This user believes it is every citizen's duty to vote. This user does NOT support abortion except when a woman's life is at serious risk. This user is a skeptic. GOP This user supports the United States Republican Party This user is against the war on drugs. I would say I'm a cynic but I bet you just wouldn't believe me. This user is interested in the belief that death is an acceptable part of life. This user believes that life is good. User:Lawyer2b/CCW This user is a masculist. This user is against DRM. Hanlon's Razor This user never attributes to malice that which is best explained by stupidity. ^† This user respects women and rejects any violence against women. This user supports the troops in Iraq. This user supports flat taxes. This user is opposed to communism in both theory and practice. This user is skeptical of anthropogenic global warming. This user supports public transit. This user supports the use of nuclear energy. > This user knows that genetically modified food has saved over a billion lives, and that all agriculture is "genetic modification", what we do today is just faster. This user opposes monarchism. In Memoriam: 9/11 Lest we forget… Eu This user does NOT support euthanasia and is strongly opposed to all forms of eugenics. This user knows that free trade protects more jobs than tariffs do. This user supports jury nullification.^‡ This user finds censorship offensive. This user was against the Disengagement Plan in Israel. This user supports President George W. Bush. LEGAL This user supports LEGAL Immigration. This user will never forget. This user supports Sarah Palin and John McCain !! Technology @ This user can be reached by email at [e-mail]. This user maintains a facebook profile as Elias Friedman. + This user posts on X as @elipongo. G talk This user's Google Talk screenname is elipongo. B This user keeps a weblog at Blogger as elipongo's blog. This user has a profile on MySpace as elipongo. This user is an editor on Wikivoyage. BASIC This user can program in BASIC. This user uses Google as a primary search engine. This user uses Wikipedia as a primary point of reference. This user uses Gmail as a primary email service. C++ This user can program in C++. BASIC This user can program in BASIC. for This user can program in Fortran. This user can fairly easily contribute using either Firefox or Google Chrome. This user contributes using Microsoft Windows Vista. This user contributes using Notepad. This user contributes using a laptop. This user contributes using a wireless connection. BB This user contributes using a broadband connection. This user uses Google Maps. This user has a LinkedIn profile as user elipongo. This user likes the Dogpile search engine. This user's Internet service provider is Verizon. intel Core This user contributes with a computer based on the Intel Core 2 Duo microprocessor. IP This user has a dynamic IP address. This user's mobile phone and data-services provider is Verizon. This user writes with the OpenOffice.org suite. This user loves using Google Earth. This user's Casio Waveceptor watch is set to 8:46am. Preferences This user is attracted to red hair. ALL This user is a fan of all kinds of comedy. This user eats bagels. This user eats chicken. This user prefers rare steak. This user enjoys their egg with the sunny side up. This user loves brownies. This user likes Chocolate Chip Cookies. This user's favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip. This user drinks chocolate milk. C2H5OH-1 This user drinks relatively infrequently. he is probably the better for it. This user enjoys klezmer. This user likes most types of music. This user enjoys reading science fiction. This user enjoys comics. This user prefers warm weather. This user is interested in politics. This user is an omnivore. BM This user is repulsed by most forms of body modification. This user dislikes mosquitos. met? This user prefers metric units, but, having grown up in the United States, cannot relate to them. they he or she This user considers the singular they to be substandard English usage. snuk This user says snuck. to¦go This user chooses to sometimes use split infinitives. by The passive voice may be used by this user. …in. Ending a sentence with a preposition is something that this user is okay with. man- kind Regarding gender, this user prefers the vernacular, not what is politically correct. to too two This user thinks that too many people have no idea how to use words that they should have learned in grade two. whom This user insists upon using whom wherever it is called for, and fixes the errors of whomever he sees. their there they're This user thinks that there are too many people who don’t know that they're worse than their own children at spelling! your you're This user thinks that if your grammar is incorrect, then you're in need of help. their, to, your, its, ... This users english is far from being perfect!. its it's It's really not that hard to use each word in its proper manner. ANAL 4 This user advocates good grammar usage. This user enjoys the big band sound This user enjoys classical music. This user enjoys jazz music. This user enjoys reading Fantasy. This user reads science fiction. This user loves sunny days This user loathes, but is forced to observe, daylight saving time. Interests This user is a history buff. ${\displaystyle \int e^{x}dx}$ | I | N | T | E | G | R | A | L | S | My antiderivative ${\displaystyle 0.{\bar {9}}}$=1 This user knows that 0.9...(repeating) is exactly 1 and can prove it, but wishes that other people could understand it the way he does. This user knows how to travel 1 mile due south, due east, then due north and end up where he started.^† ${\displaystyle \textstyle {\frac {\partial }{\partial x}}\,\;}$ This user only partially understands mathematics. Three, plus a hair This user likes trigonometry. This user is interested in space sciences. Favorites This user's homeworld is mostly harmless. Narnia This user loves The Chronicles of Narnia. This user enjoys the works of Sherlock Holmes. HP This user is a Harry Potter fan. This user is a hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is. This user enjoys the works of Robert A. Heinlein BB This user is on a mission from God. FC This user does not talk about Fight Club. This user is a fan of the Austin Powers film series. Yeah, baby, yeah! 007 This user likes martinis shaken, not stirred. ND This user voted for Pedro. This user's got a case of the Mondays. This user has a feeling that we're not in Kansas anymore. A person is smart; people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it! This user thinks 2001: A Space Odyssey is the best science fiction film ever made. STAR WARS This user is a Star Wars fan. PRODUCERS This user keeps it gay! This user rejects your reality and substitutes their own! d'oh! This user thinks The Simpsons is simply... excellent. This user enjoys Star Trek. MWC A fat woman came into this user's shoe store today. M*A*S*H This user understands: "the M stands for mobile". C&H This user reads Calvin and Hobbes. S This user fights for truth, justice and the American way! This user is a Monty Python fan. This user is a Marxist of the Groucho variety. This user knows Who's on First. This user likes George Washington. This user likes Alexander Hamilton. This user likes Thomas Paine. This user greatly admires Abraham Lincoln. This user thinks Ronald Reagan was an excellent president. This user knows the Ultimate Answer. This user enjoys music by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. This user enjoys music by Antonio Vivaldi. This user enjoys music by George Frideric Handel. This user enjoys music by Johann Sebastian Bach. This user enjoys music by Ludwig van Beethoven. This user enjoys music by Joseph Haydn. This user enjoys music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This user enjoys music by Antonín Dvořák. This user likes music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. This user visits Astronomy Picture of the Day every day. ^† This user is an Americophile. This user enjoys the works of David Brin. OSC This user enjoys the works of Orson Scott Card. This user believes there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. This user's looking at you, kid. This user wants to make you an offer you can't refuse. 🐦 This user is the stuff that dreams are made of. This user believes any answer I give will be wrong and the Senior Drill Instructor will only beat this user harder if I reverse myself. Frankly my dear, this user doesn't give a damn. "Surely this user can't be serious?" Clue This user killed Yvette. This user hated her... so... much... It- It... the f-- It... Flame... Flames. Flames... On the side of my face... Breathing... Breathle-- Heaving breaths... Heaving... This user is a man-eating talking plant. This user will be back. FG This user thinks Family Guy is freakin' sweet. LTI This user embiggens Wikipedia with their cromulent editing! Cheers Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. This user has just crossed into... The Twilight Zone. STAR TREK Elipongo is a fan of Star Trek: The Original Series. TOS xkcd Stand back! This user is going to try science with xkcd. Education This User attends or attended the University of Connecticut. AS This user has an Associate of Science degree. Miscellaneus This user remembers using a rotary dial telephone. Ceci n'est pas une boîte utilisateur. This user needs more userboxes. MORE, I tell you, more!!! Muhahaha! This user's dog(s) died. This user's parents are dead. Wheaties, Cheerios, and Rice Chex This user prefers the cereal comma. Iи Sоviэт Яцssiд, Цsэяьож дdd УОЦ!! All your base are belong to this user. Put the number 25 in a calculator. Multiply by 800. Multiply by 266. Subtract 1,992. Then look at the calculator upside-down... This user loves tricks like this. This user would have liked Green Eggs and Ham, but will not eat them due to religious dietary laws. This user passed GO! (…so where is my $200?) This user knows how to Find x. KAZOO This user plays the Kazoo. This user knows the dire side effects of dihydrogen monoxide. Do you? This user enjoys siesta.

Bio

My name is Elias Friedman (Hebrew: אליהו מתתיהו בן צבי). I'm a critical care paramedic living in the Upper West Side section of Manhattan in New York City. I moved here at the end of December 2008 from Connecticut.

I'm a 56 year old, single, Modern Orthodox Jewish male. I grew up in Ellington, Connecticut where I was the president of Congregation Knesseth Israel.

I got into EMS in 1997 when I started volunteering in Coventry. I got a job at a commercial ambulance service in 1999 when I was laid-off from my previous job as a Pellet mill operator in a feed mill. I got my Associate's degree from Manchester Community College in Mechanical Engineering in 2000 which was also the year I became an EMT-Intermediate. I was working on completing my B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut when September 11th made me re-think my priorities. I entered Hartford Hospital's Paramedic program and graduated in April 2004. My precepting was delayed to September due to my father's death that July, and I've had med-control since December 2004. In the first week of September 2008 I was laid off from my job at the Ambulance service of Manchester, but since I was already in the process of getting reciprocity of my paramedic license for New York, it didn't let it upset me too much. In December of 2008 I started to work for SeniorCare EMS which has bases in both the Bronx and in Brooklyn, I quite enjoy working there! In the Summer of 2012 I became a volunteer paramedic member of West Side Hatzolah so I can better help my local community as well.

Ready for a bicycle ride!

The second half of my username is derived from my Dalmatian, Pongo, who died in March 2006, just a week shy of his sixteenth birthday.

I really enjoy my working in EMS, my friends have remarked (positively!) that I love to talk about my work. Getting up out of bed to go to work isn't an effort of willpower like it had often been at my previous jobs. My health and stress level are better than they have ever been, of course that's partly attributable to my taking up year-round bicycle commuting the eleven miles to work. I really think that I've found my niche.

I am a member of the Connecticut Chapter of Triangle Fraternity, the Republican Jewish Coalition, the Republican National Committee, and the NAEMT. I am a master Freemason. I am a former member of the ASME

Wikipedia ads	file info – show another – #187

float

Wiki stats

N.B. These edit counts tend to move down over time as pages (and my edits) get deleted.

• My first (registered) edit diff. Awww, they're all so cute when they're young!
• My 500^th edit diff. Just wikignoming around.
• My 1,000^th edit diff. Wouldn't you just figure it would have to do with vandalism...
• My 5,000^th edit diff. Yeah, a pretty dumb one...
• My 10,000^th edit diff. Cleaning up incoming links to disambiguation pages.

Things I'm working on

Feel free to help out on any of these items!

Existing pages

float

• Bulkeley Bridge
• Captain John Bissell Memorial Bridge
• Congregation Knesseth Israel— I can't do too much more here because I have a conflict of interest, but I hope that others will help out.
• Connecticut
• Dexter Coffin Bridge
• Ellington Airport (Connecticut)
• Ellington, Connecticut
• Ellington High School
• Etiquette in Latin America, orphaned references etc from unfixed deletions of citations.
• Hartford, Connecticut
• History of Connecticut industry
• Icebiking
• List of beaches in New England
• List of Lieutenant Governors of Connecticut
• List of U.S. state songs
• Manchester, Connecticut
• Manchester Road Race
• Motorola#Trivia
• Neighborhoods of Hartford, Connecticut
• Nullification— Dab page that needs cleanup per MoS:DAB and has a whole article on its talk page that should go somewhere, if it hasn't already.
• Park River (Connecticut)
• Papoose
• Sean Sullivan
• The Shoppes at Buckland Hills
• Thomas Joseph Meskill
• WikiProject Connecticut— lots of work to do here!

Pages yet to be created

• History of racism in Connecticut
• List of U.S. state heroines— I think that only CT & MA have one.

To do

• Write up report on Lord & Taylor vandal for WP:LTA
• Create navigation template for Investment banks

Community

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Events and projects [add]

Yearly or infrequent events

Monthly or continuous events

• Monthly contest, WikiProject Military history. The contest department of the Military history WikiProject aims to motivate increased quality in military history articles by offering a form of friendly competition for project members making improvements to them. The primary contest available is a simple rolling competition that awards points for improving articles. The contest runs from the first to last day of each month.
• Guild of Copy Editors' editing drive. The November 2025 backlog drive is a one-month-long effort by the Guild of Copy Editors to reduce the backlog of articles that require copy editing: those carrying the {{copy edit}} tag (also {{awkward}}, {{copy edit section}}, {{inappropriate person}}, and {{copy edit inline}}, and their redirects) or are listed on the GOCE Requests page. It began on 1 November, 00:00 (UTC), and will end on 30 November, 23:59 (UTC).
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red 2025 Events:

Recently completed:	Alphabet run: S & T Women in STEM Halloween
New this month:	Alphabet run: U, V, W Asian women
Ongoing initiatives:	Music #1day1woman
Upcoming events:	Alphabet run: X, Y, Z Food and drink Women who died: 2025 Ideas

Meetups for November 2025 +/-

Seattle Wikidata  13th Birthday	November 1, 2025 (2025-11-01)
Cardiff 5	November 6, 2025 (2025-11-06)
Philadelphia WikiSalon	November 8, 2025 (2025-11-08)
San Diego 128	November 8, 2025 (2025-11-08)
London 222	November 9, 2025 (2025-11-09)
Minnesota	November 11, 2025 (2025-11-11)
US Mountain West online	November 11, 2025 (2025-11-11)
West Hollywood	November 15, 2025 (2025-11-15)
Seattle meetup	November 18, 2025 (2025-11-18)
Chicago Nov 2025	November 22, 2025 (2025-11-22)
Perth 90	November 23, 2025 (2025-11-23)
Oxford 117	November 23, 2025 (2025-11-23)
Aberdeen 7	November 24, 2025 (2025-11-24)
Brighton 7	November 29, 2025 (2025-11-29)

Meetups for December 2025 +/-

Philadelphia WikiSalon	December 13, 2025 (2025-12-13)
London 223	December 14, 2025 (2025-12-14)
Seattle meetup	December 16, 2025 (2025-12-16)

WikiProject notices [add]

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  • The following outline covers an ongoing situation, please help keep it updated:
    • Outline of the Russo-Ukrainian War
  • The Outline of the week is Outline of literature.
  • Please help improve them. —The Transhumanist 11:45, 21 October 2025 (UTC)
• WikiProject Magic: The Gathering has been cleaned up and is looking for interested participants. Also welcoming general suggestions and collabs. Snuggle 🖤 (talk) 20:43, 7 October 2025 (UTC)
• WP Unreferenced articles is trying to clear the decades-long backlog of unreferenced articles, please help to lower the number of unreferenced articles below 40,000. Come contribute! Catfurball (talk) 19:58, 10 September 2025 (UTC)
• WikiProject Haiti is newly renovated and looking for interested participants. Averageuntitleduser (talk) 15:38, 21 July 2025 (UTC)
• WikiProject Kabbalah is re-activating as there are a lot of maintenance templates on these articles and new references and inline citations are needed. See Kabbalah Books Online. New participants welcome!! Nnev66 (talk) 23:07, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

Technical news

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Updates for editors

• The Reader Experience team is experimenting with reading lists on mobile web, allowing logged-in readers with no edits to save private lists of articles for later. The experiment is running on Arabic, Chinese, French, Indonesian, and Vietnamese Wikipedias since the week of 10 November, and will begin on English Wikipedia the week of 17 November.
• Users who can’t receive their email verification code during login can now get help by submitting a form on a new special page. This update is part of the Account Security initiative. If your account has an email address, please make sure you still have access to it. When logging in from a new device or location without 2FA, you may be asked to enter a 6-digit code sent by email to finish logging in. Learn more.
• One new wiki has been created: a Wikisource in Minangkabau (s:min:) [1]
• View all 23 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week.

Updates for technical contributors

• As part of the Parser Unification project, the Content Transform Team rolled out Parsoid as the default parser to many low-traffic Wikipedias and is preparing the next step to high traffic ones. This message is an invitation for you to opt-in to Parsoid, as described in the Extension:ParserMigration documentation, and identify any issues you might encounter with your own workflow using bots, gadgets, or user scripts. Please, let us know through the "Report Visual Bug" link in the Tools sidebar or create a phab ticket and tag the Content Transform Team in Phabricator.
• Unsupported Tools: Several issues with Video2Commons have been fixed, including filename-related upload failures, black-video imports, and retry handling. AV1 support has also been added. Ongoing work focuses on backend stability, ffmpeg errors, subtitle imports, metadata handling, and playlist uploads. To track specific tasks, check the Phabricator board.
• Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki

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• Save the date for the next Wikimedia Hackathon happening in Milan, Italy from May 1–3, 2026. Registration will open in January 2026. Scholarship applications are currently open, and will close on November 28, 2025. If you have any questions, please email [e-mail].

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• Eligible users are invited to vote on candidates for the Arbitration Committee until 23:59 December 1, 2025 (UTC). You can view the candidates' statements.

• Blurbs for recent deaths In the News
• What should happen to speedy deletion criterion X3?
• New GA quick fail criterion for AI
• Amending process to retain adminship after recall
• Writing articles with large language models
• Admin recall check-in

Parsha

Weekly Torah Portion

Vayetze (וַיֵּצֵא)

Genesis 28:10–32:3

The Weekly Torah portion in synagogues on Shabbat, Saturday, 9 Kislev, 5786—November 29, 2025

“He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it.” (Genesis 28:12.)

Jacob's Dream (painting by Michael Willmann)

When Jacob left Beersheba for Haran, he stopped at a place for the night, using a stone for a pillow. He dreamed that he saw a ladder to heaven on which God’s angels ascended and descended. And God stood beside him and promised to give him and his numerous descendants the land on which he lay, said that through his descendants all the earth would be blessed, and promised to stay with him wherever he went and bring him back to the land. Jacob awoke afraid, remarked that surely the place was the house of God, the gate of heaven, and called the place Bethel (although the Canaanites had called the city Luz). Jacob took the stone from under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on it. And Jacob vowed that if God would stay with him, give him bread and clothing, and return him to his father's house in peace, then God would be his god, the stone pillar would be God's house, and he would give God a tenth of what he received.

Jacob and Rachel (painting by Palma il Vecchio)

Jacob came to an eastern land where he saw a well with a great stone rolled upon it and three flocks of sheep lying by it. Jacob asked the men where they were from, and they said Haran. Jacob asked them if they knew Laban, and they said that they did. Jacob asked if Laban was well, and they said that it was, and that his daughter Rachel was coming with his sheep. Jacob told the men to water and feed the sheep, but they replied that they could not do so until all the flocks had arrived. When Jacob saw Rachel arrive with her father's sheep, he rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered Laban’s sheep. Jacob kissed Rachel, wept, and told her that he was her kinsman, and she ran and told her father.

When Laban heard of Jacob’s arrival, he ran to meet him, embraced and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all that had happened, and Laban welcomed Jacob as family. After Jacob had lived with Laban for a month, Laban asked Jacob what wages he wanted for his work. Laban had two daughters: The elder, Leah, had weak eyes, while the younger, Rachel, was beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel, and offered to serve Laban seven years for Rachel’s hand, and Laban agreed. Jacob served the years, but his love for Rachel made them seem like just a few days. Jacob asked Laban for his wife, and Laban made a feast and invited all the men of the place. In the evening, Laban brought Leah to Jacob, and Jacob slept with her. Laban gave Leah Zilpah to be her handmaid. In the morning, Jacob discovered that it was Leah, and he complained to Laban that he had served for Rachel. Laban replied that in that place, they did not give the younger before the firstborn, but if Jacob fulfilled Leah’s week, he would give Jacob both daughters in exchange for another seven years of service. Jacob did so, and Laban gave him Rachel to wife, and gave Rachel Bilhah to be her handmaid.

Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, so God allowed Leah to conceive, but Rachel was barren. Leah bore a son, and called him Reuben, saying that God had looked upon her affliction. She bore a second son, and called him Simeon, saying that God had heard that she was hated. She bore a third son, and called him Levi, saying that this time her husband would be joined to her. She bore a fourth son, and called him Judah, saying that this time, she would praise God.

Rachel envied her sister, and demanded that Jacob give her children, but Jacob grew angry and asked her whether he was in God's stead, who had withheld children from her. Rachel told Jacob to sleep with her maid Bilhah, so that Bilhah might bear children upon Rachel’s knees who might be credited to Rachel, and he did. Bilhah bore Jacob a son, and Rachel called him Dan, saying that God had judged her and also heard her voice. And Bilhah bore Jacob a second son, and Rachel called him Naphtali, saying that she had wrestled with her sister and prevailed.

When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she gave Jacob her maid Zilpah to wife. Zilpah bore Jacob a son, and Leah called him Gad, saying that fortune had come. And Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, and Leah called him Asher, saying that she was happy, for the daughters would call her happy.

mandrake roots (illustration from a 7th century manuscript of Pedanius Dioscorides De Materia Medica)

Reuben found some mandrakes and brought them to Leah. Rachel asked Leah for the mandrakes, and when Leah resisted, Rachel agreed that Jacob would sleep with Leah that night in exchange for the mandrakes. When Jacob came home that evening, Leah told him that he had to sleep with her because she had hired him with the mandrakes, and he did. God heeded Leah and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son, and called him Issachar, saying that God had given her a reward. Leah bore Jacob a sixth son and called him Zebulun, saying that God had endowed her with a good dowry. And afterwards Leah bore a daughter, and called her nam Dinah.

God heeded Rachel and she conceived and bore a son and called him Joseph, invoking God to add another son.

Then Jacob asked Laban to allow him, his wives, and his children to return to his own country. Laban conceded that God had blessed him for Jacob’s sake, and asked Jacob to name how much he wanted to stay. Jacob recounted how he had served Laban and how Laban had benefited, and asked when he could provide for his own family. Laban pressed him again, so Jacob offered to keep Laban’s flock in exchange for the speckled, spotted, and dark sheep and goats, and thus Laban could clearly tell Jacob’s flock from his. Laban agreed, but that day he removed the speckled and spotted goats and dark sheep from his flock and gave them to his sons and put three day’s distance between Jacob and himself.

Jacob peeled white streaks in fresh rods of poplar, almond, and plane trees and set the rods where the flocks would see them when they mated, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted young. Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the stronger sheep, but not before the feeble, so the feebler sheep became Laban's and the stronger Jacob's. Jacob’s flocks and wealth thus increased.

Jacob heard that Laban's sons thought that he had become wealthy at Laban’s expense, and Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him as before. God told Jacob to return to the land of his fathers, and that God would be with him. Jacob called Rachel and Leah to the field and told them that Laban had changed his opinion of Jacob, but Jacob had served Laban wholeheartedly and God had remained with Jacob. Jacob noted that Laban had mocked him and changed his wages ten times, but God would not allow him to harm Jacob, but had rewarded Jacob, giving Laban’s animals to Jacob. Jacob said that in a dream God told him to return to the land of his birth. Rachel and Leah answered that they no longer had any portion in Laban’s house and all the riches that God had taken from Laban were theirs and their children's, so Jacob should do whatever God had told him to do.

So Jacob set his sons and his wives on camels and headed out toward Isaac and Canaan with all the animals and wealth that he had collected in Padan-aram. Jacob tricked Laban by fleeing secretly while Laban was out shearing his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s idols. On the third day, Laban heard that Jacob had fled and he and his kin pursued after Jacob seven days, overtaking him in the mountain of Gilead. God came to Laban in a dream and told him not to speak to Jacob either good or bad. But when Laban caught up with Jacob, he asked Jacob what he meant by carrying away his daughters secretly, like captives, without letting him kiss his daughters and grandchildren goodbye. Laban said that while he had the power to harm Jacob, God had told him the previous night not to speak to Jacob either good or bad, and now Laban wanted to know why Jacob had stolen his gods. Jacob answered that he fled secretly out of fear that Laban might take his daughters by force, and whoever had his gods would die. Laban searched Jacob's tent, Leah's tent, and the two maid-servants’ tent, finding nothing, and then he entered Rachel's tent. Rachel had hidden the idols in the camel’s saddle and sat upon them, apologizing to her father for not rising, as she was having her period. Laban searched and felt about the tent, but did not find the idols. Angered, Jacob questioned Laban what he had done to deserve this hot pursuit and this searching. Jacob protested that he had worked for Laban for 20 years, through drought and frost, bearing the loss of animals torn by predators, and not eating Laban’s rams, only to have his wages changed 10 times. Had not the God of Isaac been on Jacob’s side, surely Laban would have sent Jacob away empty, Jacob said, and God had seen his affliction and awarded him what he deserved. Laban answered Jacob that they were his daughters, his children, and his flocks, but asked what he could do about it now.

Instead, Laban proposed that they make a covenant, and Jacob set up a stone pillar and with his kin heaped stones, and they ate a meal by the heap. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. Laban called the heap as a witness between him and Jacob, and invoked God to watch, when they were apart, if Jacob would afflict Laban's daughters and take other wives. And Laban designated the heap and the pillar as a boundary between him and Jacob; Laban would not pass over it to Jacob, and Jacob would not pass over it to Laban, to do harm. Laban invoked the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of Terah, and Jacob swore by the Fear of Isaac and offered a sacrifice.

Early in the morning, Laban kissed his sons and his daughters, blessed them, and departed for his home. And when Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him, and Jacob told them that this was God's camp, and he called the place Mahanaim.

Hebrew and English Text
Hear the parshah chanted
Commentary from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Conservative)
Commentary by the Union for Reform Judaism (Reform)
Commentaries from Chabad.org (Orthodox)
Commentaries from Aish HaTorah (Orthodox)
Commentaries from the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (Reconstructionist)
Commentaries from My Jewish Learning (trans-denominational)

Commentaries from Aleph Beta Academy

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