page_title: Vayetze
section_title: In the liturgy
hierarchical_section_title: Vayetze / In the liturgy
context_page_description: Vayetze, Vayeitzei, or Vayetzei is the seventh weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 28:10–32:3. The parashah tells of Jacob's travels to, life in, and return from Haran. The parashah recounts Jacob's dream of a ladder to heaven, Jacob's meeting of Rachel at the well, Jacob's time working for Laban and living with Rachel and Leah, the birth of Jacob's children, and the departure of Jacob's family from Laban.
  The parashah is made up of 7,512 Hebrew letters, 2,021 Hebrew words, 148 verses, and 235 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews read it the seventh Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in November or December.
context_section_description: The Passover Haggadah, in the concluding nirtzah section of the Seder, in a reference to Genesis 31:24, recounts how God frightened the Aramean Laban in the night.
  The doubling of the Hebrew word nikhsof to express intense longing in Genesis 31:30 also appears in the 16th Century Safed Rabbi Eliezer Azikri's kabbalistic poem Yedid Nefesh ("Soul's Beloved") which many congregations chant just before the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service.
  Many Jews recite Genesis 32:2–3 three times as part of the Tefilat HaDerech (Wayfarer's Prayer) before setting out on a journey.
caption: Hosea (painting circa 1308–1311 from Siena's Duomo)
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