Parshas Vayetze – The Influence of Lavan

 Dedicated to a refuah shelaima for Binyamin ben Simcha and Chaya Sofya Sara bas Mera. To the hostages who have been returned, may they have healing, and to those who remain hostage may they come home soon.

 

In Judaism, it is customary to think of our periods of exile by different names. The four great exiles are known as the Babylonian exile, the Persian exile, the Greek exile, and the Roman exile – this last being the exile of Edom that has continued for 2,000 years. There was also the Egyptian exile before we were a nation, and there are references to an oppression enforced by Yishmael. Today, as is commonly discussed, we live in the galus of Edom and suffer the persecution of Yishmael, but one of our greatest threats comes from what might be called the Influence of Lavan.

 

It seems that in every generation there is a set of time when humanity declares that society has descended into its lowest state. And quite often they are right. And quite often we are shocked to find that we can go even lower. It also seems to be true that that time has come and that there has rarely been an era in which deception, and, more significantly, self deception, has been allowed to become a cultural norm – at least in the West. This is the Influence of Lavan.

 

Although Lavan is mentioned earlier in the Torah, it is in Parshas Vayetze that his character is truly presented. Lavan has a reason and an explanation for all of his actions, and they are explanations that sound legitimate and plausible. When he switches Leah for Rochel on Rochel’s wedding day, he presents it as a kindness to his daughter and the following of tradition. When he demands that Yaakov work another seven years to wed Rochel, he hints that this is only fair, after all, since he worked seven years and got Leah. And then there was the matter of Yaakov’s wages for having worked for him long past the 14 years of his marriage vow, which Lavan continually tried to curtail even as he claimed that Yaakov need only specify his wages.

 

This last example is fascinating. Lavan told Yaakov to state how much he was owed, and, shortly thereafter, Lavan’s sons start to complain that Yaakov is taking all of their father’s wealth. Their statements did not come from a vacuum. They had grown up being told that Yaakov was an interloper, even though he was married to their older sisters and quite obviously was a dedicated employee. This was Lavan’s influence. This was the result of the subtle, and not so subtle comments, that must have infiltrated Lavan’s house as he recognized and tried to deny Yaakov’s success. That is Lavan’s nature, as he does, indeed, paint himself as the successful employer even though his wealth came from Yaakov’s hard work.

 

This is all well and good and, in truth, fairly common knowledge about Lavan. What we need to look at here is the behaviour of our ancestors, of Yaakov, of Leah, and of Rochel.  They met deceit with kindness. They met selfishness with rigour and staying true to living an honest, Gd-fearing lifestyle. The only time they seemed to falter from this path was when Rochel, with good intentions, made the decision to take her father’s idols to prevent him from worshipping them. Because she tried to do something righteous through pure trickery, she ended up bearing the weight of Yaakov’s curse.

 

Right now, as Yishmael attacks and Edom looks eagerly to watching Yaakov fall, we must all be wary of Lavan. Every year at Pesach we read in the Haggadah: "Go and learn what Lavan the Aramean sought to do to Yaakov our father… Lavan sought to uproot everything...” The duality of Lavan, when one claims both rightness and victimhood even as one perpetrates great ill, is a dangerous and cunning foe, and it is the foe we face today.

 

Many of us are left bewildered, struggling to comprehend how anyone could equivocate the violent offenders being released at a 3 to 1 ratio for innocent men, women, and children who were taken at gun point from their homes or from a recreational concert. Across the many types of medias, Jews and non-Jewish Israelis have set out a barrage of fact-based declarations, of heartfelt pleas for recognition, and even humorous works of satire to show the world that this is insane. More significantly, even as the world’s “peace-keeping” organizations like the UN and the Red Cross betray their very mandates, Israel strives to present evidence of the excessive measures it takes to try to prevent civilian casualties.

 

But this is Am Yisrael. This is who we are. Pound us. Berate us. Hate us. We will stay strong to the path of real justice. We will reflect our heritage as the descendants of Yaakov, Leah, and Rochel.

 

Stay Strong. Am Yisrael Chai.

Have a beautiful and meaningful Shabbas.