Love: More supreme than the fight or flight instinct

 A colleague and friend, Rabbi Adiel Levi, pointed out a very nice insight into this past week's parsha.

The shepherds in Lavan's hometown, Haran, for lack of trust of one another, had placed a large stone on the mouth of the town well so that only were all the flocks there would the shepherds be able to remove the massive, cumbersome stone covering the well. 

When Yaakov asks why they are loitering about at the well, they answer that only when all the shepherds are there will we be able to "roll off" the stone: "Ve'galelu et ha'even me'al pi ha'be'er, ve'hishkinu hatzon."

When Yaakov, the perennial yeshiva student and tent dweller shortly thereafter sees Rachel, his soulmate and future beloved, the verse changes course, and uses a different root for the word, "roll." It doesn't says "galal" but rather, "va'yagel." 

Yaakov, not one know for his astounding strength, or prowess, through the power of joy is able to do the superhuman feat of singlehandedly removing the stone. The word, va'yagel thus means joy, coming from the root gila, the same word we use during sheva brachot, when we bless newlyweds with "gila, rina, ditza" all profound forms of joy. 

Thus, the impetus or catalyst for Yaakov's strength is not a fight of flight instinct, but rather joy, joy at having been at the well, the well from which, as the verse states, the shepherds would "water the flock" (Shemot 29:2), i.e. discover love, begin families and ensure the future of the Jewish people for posterity.  

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