[Avodah] More on Yaakov, sheep and the rods

[Professor L. Levine]

The following is from RSRH's commentary on Bereishis  30:37


Ya'akov then took for himself rods of fresh aspen and hazelnut and chestnut trees, and peeled
white streaks in them by uncovering the white on the rods.


After all this, Ya'akov's initiative with the rods would have been fully
justified, even had it constituted a tried and tested expedient - a supposition
that surely will not be borne out by experiment.
>From the continuation of the story we know that Lavan altered the
terms of the agreement ten times (see below, 31:7), setting new conditions
regarding the form of the speckles and spots. It is difficult to
assume that, because of a general action such as setting up the rods in
the sight of the sheep, the sheep would bring forth young that were
this time speckled, the next time spotted, and the next time marked on
the feet. Ya'akov's success can be attributed only to a special intervention
of Divine providence - as attested to by Ya'akov himself. The expedient
of the rods was only an extremely weak substitute for the breeding
animals Lavan had wrongfully removed. Nevertheless, Ya'akov did not
refrain from seeking the aid of this expedient; since ain somchin al haness (see
Pesachim 64b), he was obligated to do his part.
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