Parshah Vayeitzei - In ASL (American Sign Language)

Autoplay Next

Parshah Vayeitzei: In ASL (American Sign Language)

Jacob works tirelessly at his uncle Laban’s house, but his efforts consisted of much more than merely tending the sheep…

By Yehoshua Soudakoff

More in this section

Join the Discussion

Sort By:

NewestOldest

2 Comments

Joshua Soudakoff los angeles, ca February 25, 2011

To Anonymous Hi! I'm glad you enjoy our videos.

You ask a fascinating question. In short, the answer is as follows:

The Torah is G-d's wisdom. Before the Torah was given, it existed on a higher plane (higher than our material world). After it was given on Shavuos, it now became part of our physical world. So when we say the forefathers (and the people before them) learned Torah, it means that they learned the Torah as it existed on this higher plane. They would not have learned the details of things that would happen after them in this physical world; they only learned the Torah as it existed in its spiritual form.

There's an excellent article by Rabbi Freeman in the Chabad.org Question & Answer section that explains this concept clearer and with more detail. It's called "How Did the Torah Exist Before it Happened?". Reply

Anonymous DC, Washington February 24, 2011

jacob studying torah I really appreciate your videos! As Jew, I finally feel that I can better understand about it.

But here is once question... you said Jacob was studying torah all thetime. How is that possible if the Torah was given much later on Shavuot by Moshe? Please explain that.

Toda raba! Reply