Bereishis/Vayetzei - Labor of Love

In Parsha Vayetzei we read that Yaakov worked for Rochel 7 years, but it seemed to him like a few short days because he loved her.

וַיַּעֲבֹ֧ד יַעֲקֹ֛ב בְּרָחֵ֖ל שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֑ים וַיִּהְי֤וּ בְעֵינָיו֙ כְּיָמִ֣ים אֲחָדִ֔ים בְּאַהֲבָת֖וֹ אֹתָֽהּ׃

So Yaakov worked seven years for Rochel, but in his eyes they seemed like few days because of his love for her. (Genesis 29:20)

 

We see from this, that because Yaakov's labor of 7 years was a labor of love, they seemed to him as only a few days. It is interesting to note that the translation "a few days" is not quite precise, because the translated expression "like a few days", in the original Hebrew, literally means "like single days" because k'yamim echadim כְּיָמִ֣ים אֲחָדִ֔ים literally means like single days. 

 

What could that mean?

 

Interestingly, we find this term in the very beginning of Torah, in parsha Bereishis, where it says:

וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד׃

God called the light Day and called the darkness Night. And there was evening, and there was morning, day one. (Genesis 1:5)

 

where "day one" is literally yam echad, a single day. Therefore, when it says that Yaakov's 7 years seemed to him like single days, we may ask: like which single days? Answer: like the single day of Creation, i.e., the first day of Creation, because here we have yamim echadim, and in Bereishis, we have yam echad, same expression

 

From this we learn that in Torah there are (at least) 2 types of time: the subjective experiential time and the objective clock time. Just like Yaakov objectively clocked 7 hours of labor for Laban, but because of his great love for Rochel, his experiential subjective time experience was only a few days. His labor of love made his subjective experiential time appear much shorter than "real" time, only a few days instead of 7 long years.

 

This insight sheds light on the 7 Days of Creation. These 7 Days were God's labor of love, because at the end of each day he sad: it is good, while at the end of the 7 days, he said: 

 

וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד

And God saw all that was made, and behold, it is very good.

 

That phrase very good is an expression of God's love indeed! So, what we see is that the 7 Days of Creation were God's labor of love, and therefore in his subjective experience they seemed like only 7 short 24-hour days. However, the objective clock time lasted much longer, perhaps billions of years, as measured by astronomical observations.