“Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar, and almond, and plane; he peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white that was in the rods” (Genesis 30:37). “Jacob took for himself rods of fresh poplar [livne], and almond, and plane” – a white [lavan] rod of almond and plane. This is what our patriarch Jacob would do: He would place the rods in the water troughs and an animal would come to drink.
It would see the rods and recoil backward. The male would copulate with it and it would bear an offspring like that.18Like the rod. Rabbi Hoshaya said: The water was transformed into semen in their innards, and all that was lacking was only the form of the offspring. There was an incident involving an Ethiopian man who married an Ethiopian woman and fathered a white son from her.
The father seized the child and came to the rabbi, he said to him: ‘Is he, perhaps, not my child?’ He said to him: ‘Did you have any portraits in your house?’ He said to him: ‘Yes.’ He said to him: ‘Black or white?’
He said to him: ‘White.’ He said to him: ‘It is from there that you had a white son.’ Rabbi Huna of Beit Ḥoron said: The ministering angels were carrying from Laban’s flock and coming and placing in the midst of Jacob’s flock. That is what is written: “He said: Please lift your eyes, and see, all the males that mount [haolim] the flock” (Genesis 31:12) – “olim on the flock” is not written here, but rather, “haolim” – they mounted involuntarily.19The angel did not merely show him that males were mounting the flock, but rather he was shown that the angels were ensuring that it happened.
Rabbi Tanḥuma said: Torrential rain.20Torrential rain transported the males from Laban’s flock. The Rabbis say: Clouds of glory. “When the flocks were feeble, he would not place them; the feeble were for Laban and the strong for Jacob” (Genesis 30:42). “When the flocks were feeble, he would not place them [the rods]; the feeble were for Laban” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Those born earlier were Laban’s. Reish Lakish said: Those born later were Laban’s.