The Crier and the Shepherd: A Midrash for Children
Gellman, Marc
THE CRIER AND THE SHEPHERD A midrash for children MARC HUMAN Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the Easterners. There before his eyes was a well in the open. Three flocks of sheep...
...Rebekah loved Jacob specially because he was so gentle and so near to her in the camp...
...They left him, muttering to each other, "strong men just don't cry...
...When his father Isaac and his brother Esau took him hunting and he saw an animal about to be shot, he would start to cry and ZIP...
...When the other shepherds saw Jacob crying their respect for his great strength disappeared...
...He approached Rachel and said, "lam Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebekah...
...then the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well and we water the sheep...
...The two of them sat together quietly on the rock...
...I am your cousin and I have been on a long journey...
...Suddenly this little man went over to the huge rock and moved it all by himself...
...She doesn't want to chase smelly sheep and goats around the desert...
...and there is his daughter Rachel, coming with theflock...
...And they said, "We are from Ha-ran...
...Meanwhile the young Rachel who was Jacob's cousin in the nearby land of Haran was also having trouble growing up...
...Isaac would yell at Jacob, "Boys become men and men do not cry...
...They sat together for a while on the rock, smiling and talking, until the time came for Rachel, Jacob and the flocks to go home together...
...Then Jacob kissed Rachel, andbroke into tears...
...He said, "It is still broad daylight, too early to round up the animals...
...the animal would run away...
...But they said, "We cannot, until all the flocks are rounded up...
...then the stone would be put back in its place on the mouth of the well...
...He watered all the flocks all by himself...
...So Isaac left Jacob in camp with Rebekah because he didn't want anyone scaring away his game, and because he was ashamed that his son was a crier...
...Then Jacob kissed Rachel—and cried...
...His midrashim for children appear frequently in these pages...
...He was small and fair skinned with warm brown eyes, and he was talking with the other shepherds when she arrived at the well...
...Actually there was one part of shepherding Rachel did not like...
...water the flock and take them to pasture...
...The stone on the mouth of the well was very large...
...When Jacob heard this he began to cry...
...Seeing you in this far away place has filled me with strength and happiness...
...Marc Gellman, a moment contributing editor, is rabbi of Temple Beth Torah in Dix Hills, New York...
...Jacob cried a lot...
...While he was still speaking to them, Rachel came with her father's flock...
...for she was a shepherd...
...The well for watering the flocks had to be corked up each day with a huge rock so that all the water would not gush out and dry up...
...She understands that girls become women and women do not become shepherds...
...And when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother...
...You see, Rachel wanted to be a shepherd and this just drove her father Laban crazy...
...Rachel did not leave...
...Laban would stomp off into the distance, kick the sand, and mutter strange words...
...When all the flocks were gathered there, the stone would be rolled from the mouth of the well and the sheep watered...
...This one was written for Betty...
...Rachel would answer her father, "Daddy, you don't have any sons to tend your flocks, and besides I really want to be a shepherd...
...He said to them, "Do you know Laban the son ofNahor...
...They answered, "He is...
...Then Rachel said, "I never saw a man cry...
...Day and night he would yell at Rachel, "Why can't you be more like your sister Leah...
...Esau never cried...
...Then Jacob said, "I never saw a woman shepherd...
...Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for the flocks were wateredfrom that well...
...She will make some man a terrific wife...
...Jacob said to them, "Myfriends, where are you from...
...Don't you know...
...And they said, "Yes, we do...
...The rock was so big that every morning all the shepherds in the area had to push together to move it off the well, and they had to gather together later in the day to push it back on...
...Isaac loved Esau, Jacob's brother, specially because he was so strong and such a good hunter in the fields...
...Sometimes most of the morning and afternoon was taken up with rock pushing and flock watering...
...He continued, "is he well...
...One day, on the way to morning rock pushing, Rachel saw a new person at the well...
...Genesis 29:1-11 "Are boys supposed to act differently from girls...
Vol. 7 • May 1982 • No. 5
