Yaakov's Deceitful Run from Deceit
INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT
HASHAVUA
PARASHAT
VAYETZE
YAAKOV’S
DECEITFUL RUN FROM DECEIT
By Rabbi Yaakov
Beasley
Once his beloved Rachel bore him a
son, Yaakov decided that the time had come to leave Lavan’s service and return
home. He finds himself not only
pleading for his freedom, however, but for Lavan to allow his wife and children
to accompany him back:
25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had
borne Yosef, that Yaakov said unto Lavan, “Send me away, that I may go unto my
own place and to my country.
26 Give me my wives and my children for
whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service wherewith I have
served you.”
The rationale for his pleading, as
pointed out by Nachum Sarna in his commentary, is that Yaakov was working
against the laws and traditions of the Ancient Near East. If a master gives a wife to an ordinary
slave, she and her offspring belong to the master and remain in the household
even upon the manumission of the slave.
In fact, the decision to remain with one’s family can cause the slave to
lose any remaining chance at freedom, as the Torah itself outlines in
Parashat Mishpatim:
2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, six
years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. 3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he
is married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his
master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her
children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant shall plainly say, “I love my master, my
wife, and my children; I will not go out free,” 6 Then his
master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door or unto the
door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall
serve him for ever.
In last year’s shiur,[1]
we described how the two names given by the protagonists, Yaakov and Lavan, to
the mound where they enacted a covenant reflected their two differing
understandings of the extended contract that they had agreed to. To Yaakov, the last six years of his
servitude reflected an entirely different sort of employment than the first
fourteen years. He entered into the
agreement upon Lavan’s urgings; he sets the terms of the contract, explicitly
noting that he was doing this to provide for his own family. Yaakov did this as a free agent, and
Lavan can make no claims on his earnings from this point in time. Lavan, however, clearly understood that
the last six years were an extension of the first fourteen. This comes across most clearly in his
plaintive complaint when the two finally meet for the last
time:
43 And Lavan answered and said unto
Yaakov, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and
the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine; and what can I do this
day for these my daughters, or for their children whom they have
borne?”
In this week’s shiur, we will
look at several issues arising from Yaakov’s flight from Lavan.
The first hint that Yaakov perceives
that all is not well comes not from Lavan, but from his sons. Envious of Yaakov’s prosperity, they are
overheard accusing Yaakov of taking away their father’s wealth. That Lavan had sons was not known to us
beforehand. Rabbinic tradition
suggests that they were born after Yaakov’s arrival in
Upon receiving the Divine
communication that the promise made at Beit-El was still in force, Yaakov chose
to act. He rallied his wives to his
side, and both sensed that the change in their material fortunes would not last
as long as they remained under their father’s care; they agreed to flee. In addition, they viewed the turnaround
in fortunes between Yaakov and their father as reflective of the Divine
will. However, one other issue
motivates them:
14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said
unto him, “Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?
15 Are we not accounted by him strangers? For he has sold
us, and has also quite devoured our price. 16 For all the
riches which God has taken away from our father, which is ours and our
children's. Now, then, whatever God has said unto you,
do.”
For the first time, we hear of Lavan’s
deceit towards his own daughters.
Until now, Lavan and Yaakov had engaged in a duel of wits, each one
attempting to outsmart the other in their dealings. This was noted on several occasions by
Rashi during Yaakov’s first conversation with Rachel:
12 And Yaakov told Rachel that he was
her father's brother and that he was Rivka's son; and she ran and told her
father.
Her father's brother -
[Meaning:] a relative
of her father, as in, "For we are kinsmen." Its Midrashic
interpretation is: [Yaakov meant:] "If he [Lavan] intends to be
deceitful, then I, too, am his brother in deception; but, if he
is an honest person then, I, too, am the son of the righteous Rivka."
18 And Yaakov loved Rachel; and he said,
“I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.”
Rachel your younger daughter -
Why all these
detailed characteristics? [This was] because he knew that he [Lavan] was a
deceitful person. He said to him, "I will work for you for Rachel, and lest you
claim [that I mean] a different Rachel, [one] from the street, therefore, I say,
'Your daughter.' And lest you say, 'I will change Leah's name and call her by
the name Rachel,' therefore, I say 'the younger one.' Despite all this, it did
him no good, for [in the end] he tricked him.
In the use of guile, despite Yaakov’s
boasting, Lavan demonstrated himself Yaakov’s equal. He switched the daughters on Yaakov’s
wedding night, leaving Yaakov with empty protests. Yaakov bore the consequences of his loss
for fourteen years. Upon the second
agreement, however, Yaakov finally began to gain the upper hand over Lavan. Despite Lavan’s confidence that the deal
for spotted and speckled goats and sheep would be profitable for him, Yaakov was
not without resources. Despite
Lavan’s efforts to constantly change the terms of the contract, Yaakov was able
to induce the flocks to bear more herds for him. Over six years, his enterprise
transformed him into a wealthy man, and for the first time, we sense that Yaakov
was finally gaining the upper hand over his father-in-law.
Unwittingly and unknowingly, however,
both Yaakov and Lavan faced someone even craftier and sneakier then themselves –
Rachel. While Yaakov figuratively
stole Lavan’s heart, she engaged in literal theft. She removed his idols from his
house:
19 Now Lavan had gone to shear his
sheep, and Rachel stole the terafim that were her father's. 20 And Yaakov outwitted Lavan the Aramean, in that he told
him not that he fled.
The
commentators attempt to justify Rachel’s behavior. Rashi piously suggests that her behavior
was the ultimate act of filial loyalty – ridding her father’s house of
idols. The Rashbam appears to
suggest that, mindful of the use of the terafim for divination purposes, Rachel sought
to deprive Lavan of the means by which he could detect Yaakov’s whereabouts; he
would hence be unable to give chase.
The Abrabanel even alludes to the possibility (which he rejects out of
hand) that Rachel still clung to her father’s beliefs. If so, however, it is difficult to
explain her later behavior, placing them underneath her thighs during her time
of impurity. Clearly, if she was
telling the truth, her actions represented the ultimate rejection and contempt
of these objects.
What is clear, however, is that the
two acts of theft, Rachel’s and Yaakov’s, are placed next to each other in order
to create the impression of dishonesty that has permeated Yaakov’s entire
sojourn in Aram. Although they
represent two different purposes – Yaakov deceived Lavan to separate himself
from him, while the effect of Rachel’s theft was to provide the justification
and final impetus for Lavan to pursue them - the result is to portray the
ultimately untenable state of affairs that comprised Yaakov’s existence in
Fortunately,
however, the parasha ends on a dramatic reversal. Upon being vindicated, Yaakov turns to
Lavan ferociously and exclaims:
36 And Yaakov was wroth, and he strove
with Lavan. And Yaakov answered and said to Lavan, “What is my trespass? What is
my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me? 37 Whereas
you have felt about all my belongings, what have you found of all your household
belongings? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may
judge between us two. 38 These twenty years have I been
with you; your ewes and your she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams
of your flocks have I not eaten. 39 That which was torn of
beasts I brought not unto you; I bore the loss of it; of my hand did you require
it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. 40 Thus I
was: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep
fled from mine eyes. 41 These twenty years have I been in
your house: I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years
for your flock; and you have changed my wages ten times. 42 Had not the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the
Fear of Isaac, been on my side, surely now had you sent me away empty. God has
seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and gave judgment last
night.”
For the first time, we see Yaakov not
as Lavan’s equal, but as his accuser.
Tauntingly, almost, he challenged his father-in-law to provide evidence
of his wrongdoing. He them insisted
that any wrongdoing is on Lavan’s part – for the past twenty years, Yaakov had
been the paradigm of honesty.
Despite Lavan’s dishonest behavior, Yaakov remained uncorrupted. His ability to remain innocent under
such trying circumstances, he realized, resulted from Hashem’s
protection. Hesitant in accepting
his help at the beginning of the parasha, Yaakov finally recognized how
important Hashem’s hidden protection had been throughout the years.