“Laban called it Yegar Sahaduta and Jacob called it Galed” (Genesis 31:47). “Laban called it Yegar Sahaduta” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: Let this Persian language33This is a reference to Aramaic. not be insignificant in your eyes, as in the Torah, in the Prophets, and in the Writings, we find that the Holy One blessed be He pays tribute to it. In the Torah: “Laban called it Yegar Sahaduta”; in the Prophets: “So you shall say to them…” (Jeremiah 10:11);34The entire verse is written in Aramaic. in the Writings: “The Chaldeans spoke Aramaic to the king” (Daniel 2:4).
“And Laban said: This pile is a witness between me and you today, therefore he called it Galed” (Genesis 31:48). “And the Mitzpa, as he said: The Lord will observe between me and you, because we will be concealed one from the other” (Genesis 31:49). “And the Mitzpa, as he said: The Lord will observe [between me and you, because we will be concealed [ki nisater]]” – Rabbi Abbahu said: “Ki yisater” is not written here, but rather, “ki nisater.”35The singular – yisater – can mean that one hides from the other.
The plural – nisater – infers that both of them maintain their distance from each other. Until now we have been seeing one another, from now on we will not be seeing one another. “If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, though no one else be about; see, God is witness between me and you” (Genesis 31:50). “If you afflict my daughters” – Rabbi Reuven said: They were all his daughters – “the girls are my daughters” (Genesis 31:43).36See subsection 13.
“If you afflict my daughters” – you will not take [other] wives during their lifetime; “if you take wives in addition to my daughters” – after their deaths;37Even after their deaths you should not take another wife. “see, God is witness between me and you.”