וַיִּֽקַּֽח־ל֣וֹ יַעֲקֹ֗ב מַקַּ֥ל לִבְנֶ֛ה לַ֖ח וְל֣וּז וְעֶרְמ֑וֹן וַיְפַצֵּ֤ל בָּהֵן֙ פְּצָל֣וֹת לְבָנ֔וֹת מַחְשֹׂף֙ הַלָּבָ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־הַמַּקְלֽוֹת׃
At kumuha si Jacob para sa kanyang sarili ng mga sariwang patpat ng alamo, at ng avellano, at ng kastanyas; at binalatan niya ang mga ito nang pagupit-gupit, na lumilikha ng mga puting guhit, sa paglalantad ng puti na nasa mga patpat.
Midrash Tanchuma Buber
What is written above about the matter (in Gen. 30:25)? NOW IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN RACHEL HAB BORNE JOSEPH, THAT JACOB SAID UNTO LABAN: SEND ME AWAY < THAT I MAY GO TO MY OWN HOME AND MY LAND >. But, if you do not want to send me away, I am going without your permission. Laban said to him: With none of the sons that you sired except Joseph, have you said to me: SEND ME AWAY! He told him that he would bring Esau the Wicked to account. Ergo (in Gen. 30:25): SEND ME AWAY THAT I MAY GO < TO MY OWN HOME AND MY LAND >. (Gen. 30:27:) BUT LABAN SAID UNTO HIM…. I HAVE LEARNED BY DIVINATION < THAT THE LORD HAS BLESSED ME FOR YOUR SAKE >. On that very day at Jacob's feet he had found a treasure80Codex Vaticanus Ebr. 34 adds: “i.e., a precious stone.” which would bring luck. He therefore says (in Gen. 30:27): I HAVE LEARNED BY DIVINATION. R. Berekhyah said: Laban had learned by divination, but Jacob did not know it. And what was he concerned about? (Gen. 30:27:) THAT THE LORD HAS BLESSED ME FOR YOUR SAKE. Laban said (in vs. 28): NAME YOUR WAGES. He said to him: You get the speckled < of the flock > and I get the mottled from whatever dams give birth. (Gen. 30:36:) AND JACOB WAS PASTURING THE FLOCK OF LABAN THAT REMAINED. What was it THAT REMAINED (HNWTRWT)? Resh Laqish said: The dams who were old, sterile, < and > sick.81This is the normal spelling of the Hebrew word, but the Masoretic Text spells it defectively as HNWTRT. Resh Laqish has deduced from the missing letter that the animals referred to were defective. See Gen. R. 73:9. By correcting the spelling, the Buber text has obscured the point. What is written (in vs. 37)? THEN JACOB TOOK A < FRESH > SHOOT OF WHITE POPLAR. R. Hosha'ya said: He fashioned an image; and, just as he fashioned, so they gave birth. He only failed to give them breath. They gave birth and multiplied before him. Laban went back on his < word >. Where is it shown? Where Jacob said so (in Gen. 31:7): AND HE CHANGED MY WAGES…. What did Jacob do when he delayed over him?82Codex Vaticanus Ebr. 34 reads, “when he was obstinate with him.” He sent after the children of his house, as stated (in Gen. 31:4): SO JACOB SENT AND CALLED RACHEL AND LEAH TO THE FIELD. Why not within his house? R. Simeon ben Gamaliel said: For three things I like the children of the East:83Gen. R. 74:2; PRK 4:3; Ber. 8b (bar.)
Bereshit Rabbah
“Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar, and almond, and plane; he peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white that was in the rods” (Genesis 30:37).
“Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar [livne], and almond, and plane” – a white [lavan] rod of almond and plane.
This is what our patriarch Jacob would do: He would place the rods in the water troughs and an animal would come to drink. It would see the rods and recoil backward. The male would copulate with it and it would bear an offspring like that.18Like the rod. Rabbi Hoshaya said: The water was transformed into semen in their innards, and all that was lacking was only the form of the offspring. There was an incident involving an Ethiopian man who married an Ethiopian woman and fathered a white son from her. The father seized the child and came to the rabbi, he said to him: ‘Is he, perhaps, not my child?’ He said to him: ‘Did you have any portraits in your house?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘Black or white?’ He said to him: ‘White.’ He said to him: ‘It is from there that you had a white son.’
Rabbi Huna of Beit Ḥoron said: The ministering angels were carrying from Laban’s flock and coming and placing in the midst of Jacob’s flock. That is what is written: “He said: Please lift your eyes, and see, all the males that mount [haolim] the flock” (Genesis 31:12) – “olim on the flock” is not written here, but rather, “haolim” – they mounted involuntarily.19The angel did not merely show him that males were mounting the flock, but rather he was shown that the angels were ensuring that it happened. Rabbi Tanḥuma said: Torrential rain.20Torrential rain transported the males from Laban’s flock. The Rabbis say: Clouds of glory.
“When the flocks were feeble, he would not place them; the feeble were for Laban and the strong for Jacob” (Genesis 30:42).
“When the flocks were feeble, he would not place them [the rods]; the feeble were for Laban” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Those born earlier were Laban’s. Reish Lakish said: Those born later were Laban’s.
“Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar [livne], and almond, and plane” – a white [lavan] rod of almond and plane.
This is what our patriarch Jacob would do: He would place the rods in the water troughs and an animal would come to drink. It would see the rods and recoil backward. The male would copulate with it and it would bear an offspring like that.18Like the rod. Rabbi Hoshaya said: The water was transformed into semen in their innards, and all that was lacking was only the form of the offspring. There was an incident involving an Ethiopian man who married an Ethiopian woman and fathered a white son from her. The father seized the child and came to the rabbi, he said to him: ‘Is he, perhaps, not my child?’ He said to him: ‘Did you have any portraits in your house?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘Black or white?’ He said to him: ‘White.’ He said to him: ‘It is from there that you had a white son.’
Rabbi Huna of Beit Ḥoron said: The ministering angels were carrying from Laban’s flock and coming and placing in the midst of Jacob’s flock. That is what is written: “He said: Please lift your eyes, and see, all the males that mount [haolim] the flock” (Genesis 31:12) – “olim on the flock” is not written here, but rather, “haolim” – they mounted involuntarily.19The angel did not merely show him that males were mounting the flock, but rather he was shown that the angels were ensuring that it happened. Rabbi Tanḥuma said: Torrential rain.20Torrential rain transported the males from Laban’s flock. The Rabbis say: Clouds of glory.
“When the flocks were feeble, he would not place them; the feeble were for Laban and the strong for Jacob” (Genesis 30:42).
“When the flocks were feeble, he would not place them [the rods]; the feeble were for Laban” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Those born earlier were Laban’s. Reish Lakish said: Those born later were Laban’s.