Pictorial Tour of Historical Sites in Parshas Vayeitzei

Anash.org Feature: Tour the ancient sites mentioned in Parshas Vayeitzei with “Picturing the Parsha” featuring unique and exclusive photos with detailed descriptions by Tanach explorer and photographer Sholom Raskin.

By Anash.org reporter

In each Parsha of Sefer Bereishis, we encounter new places where our Avos traveled and settled. Wouldn’t it be incredible to see what those sites look like today?

Tanach explorer and photographer Sholom Raskin has a curiosity and fascination with real-life locations of the stories from Tanach. During his time in Eretz Yisroel, he intensely explored hundreds of historical and archeological sites and documented it all.

In this weekly column on Anash.org throughout the weeks of Sefer Bereishis, Sholom presents photos of ancient sites mentioned in the parsha. Under each picture, there will be a caption with the Perek and Posuk that is being referenced and a short explanation of what the picture is about.

A printable PDF allows for easy printing of the photos and descriptions for reading on Shabbos and showing it at the Shabbos table. Click here to download the PDF.

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List of places in Parshas Vayeitzei:

28:11 – Some people believe that Yaakov Avinu had his dream right here. This site is located in Beit El (about 12 miles north of Yerushalayim). Often non-Jewish conquerors would build religious monuments over known Jewish sites – look at the Har Habayis. Perhaps a chapel was built here because it was a known Jewish site.

28:11 – View from the outside of the building that is possibly the location of where Yaakov Avinu had his dream (I only took a video; this is a screenshot).

28:11 – The inside of the building that some people say was built over the location of where Yaakov Avinu had his dream.

28:17 – Rashi talks about the Midrashim who say that the dream happened over Har Mariah. View of Har Mariah from Mount Scopus.

29:1 – View from Tel Saki (about 20 miles east of Tsfas) in the Golan Heights, overlooking the Syrian border, which is just 1 mile east of it (a crucial battle in the Yom Kipper War took place here). Yaakov Avinu likely walked past this area on his travel from Beit El to Aram Naharayim.

31:21 –(Picture 1).

31:21 – (Picture 2) I got a car ride from Tel Saki down to Tiveria. We drove by the south of the Golan Heights (about 9 miles southeast of Tiveria). The mountains in front of us (in the above pictures), which are located in Jordan, is the Gilead Area. Somewhere over there Yaakov Avinu and Lavan met and built the stone monument called Gal-Ed.   

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SholomTravels.com, an online travel guide by Sholom Raskin, contains a comprehensive list of places mentioned in Tanach and where they are mentioned; 115 locations based on tiers, location in Eretz Yisroel, archaeology, history, nature, and viewpoints; an interactive Google Maps page; as well as hundreds of pictures and videos.