GEN1292 See [[GEN1176]] Genesis 24:14 water LEHRMAN 323-4

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GEN1293 We should protest against injustice even if we do not know the person who is being wronged.  When Yaaakov saw the cattle lying down (verse 2), he thought that the shepherds were preparing to herd the cattle into their pen. Therefore, Yaakov reminded the shepherds that it was still day and there was still time for the cattle to graze.   That is, if they were hired men, they had not yet completed a day’s work for their employer. (Midrash cited by Rashi).   Although Yaakov did not know the owners of the sheep, he nonetheless admonished the shepherds not to be lax in their obligation to their employers.   The righteous man is repulsed by wrongdoing, even when it is committed by strangers against strangers. (Sforno).   All too many people have lost their sensitivity to preventing others from being dishonest, even though they themselves are honest. A friend of mine recently told me that while he was riding in a bus, someone sneaked in through the back door to avoid paying his fare.   When my friend politely told him that he ought to pay the driver of the bus, several other passengers called out, “Why does it bother you? Leave him alone.” We must learn from our father Yaakov to abhor dishonesty and act accordingly.   PLYN 100

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GEN1294 Even if [a] person [is] more evil than good, but not so evil that he is a chronic sinner, one still should judge this person’s actions favorably whenever there is room to interpret the behavior as moral or immoral.   Chofetz Chaim, Issurei Lashon Hara 3:7. … Nevertheless, Jewish law says that Jews may indeed judge unfavorably a known evil person. … King Solomon already informed us that when a basically evil person seems to be doing something good, we should not believe him. Proverbs 26:25.   Proverbs also says that a righteous person can recognize the cunning ways of someone who is evil, implying that any good that an evil person seems to be doing is sometimes feigned. Proverbs 21:12 The classic example of this can be found in the Torah when Laban, the father of Rachel, whom Jacob had just met at the well, ran out to kiss and hug his long lost relative.  Rashi explains Laban’s intentions behind each seemingly positive action towards Jacob as a means to find and take any jewels that Jacob might have been hiding on his person.  Once a person or group of people have established for themselves a well-deserved reputation as evildoers, it is very difficult undo this characterization and judge their actions favorably, no matter how good they later appear.   AMJV 206-7

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GEN1295 The Midrash infers from this verse that one should extend hospitality to a relative free of charge for one month.   WAGS 179-180

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GEN1296 Our tradition gives us no reason to turn the love we are ordered to have for God into some bloodless spiritual abstraction. When the Bible talks of love, it is describing the same extraordinary emotion that we thrill at today. Thus we read in Genesis: Though Jacob served seven years for Rachel, they seemed to him but a few days because he loved her [this verse].   Biblical love takes the many forms that fill fortunate lives: Jacob’s love for Joseph, Ruth’s devotion to her mother-in-law Naomi, and the classic story of David and Jonathan, a love threatened by King Saul’s enmity for David. But Jonathan’s “soul became bound to the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself” 1 Samuel 18:1.   And then there is that whole book devoted to love, the rapturously named Song of Songs. On the surface, it seems like a passionate series of exchanges between two lovers. But then, how did it become part of Sacred Scripture? Something about human love must have indicated a similar relationship between God and people. Still in rabbinic times, when the final canonization of Scriptures was taking place, there were those who thought Song of Songs too earthly to have been God – Inspired. Yet not only did the rabbis insist that Song of Songs be included, but they began reading it as the love-talk between God and the people of Israel. They would not deprive love of its full libidinous nature, even as they understood it as modeling the most sublime divine-human intimacy. In medieval mysticism, these erotic connotations came into full play. The Zohar, the most important Kabbalistic text, relates in one of its less overtly sexual metaphors: “The angels in the hall of love introduce love between Israel below and the Holy One above. And they all arouse love and remain in a state of love. And when love is aroused from the lower to the upper realms, and from the upper to the lower realms, this hall becomes filled with many good things… and the love of the lower world penetrates the love of the upper world and they are united together” Zohar II, 253b. BOROJMV 316-7

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GEN1297 See [[GEN1242]] Genesis 27:18 which TELVOL1:401-402

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GEN1298 And was she not Leah until now? – Because of the tokens that Jacob had given to Rachel [so that Lavan not substitute Leah in the darkness], and which she, in turn, had given to Leah [so that she not be shamed in the situation she had been placed into], he had not recognized her until that time [when it became light] Megillah 13b TEMIMAH-GEN 130-1

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GEN1299 Rebuke someone who has cheated you; but do not become angry.   Yaakov’s self-control is amazing.   After laboring seven full years for Rochel’s hand in marriage, he had been deceived.  Instead of being married to Rochel, he was tricked by Lovon into marrying Leah. Most men would have become furious.  Yaakov, however, did not become angry.  He merely admonished Lovon and asked him what his motive was. (Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz in Daas Torah: Limudai Mussray Hatorah, vol, p. 183). PLYN 101

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GEN1300 See [[GEN1253]] Genesis 27:34 sobbing SACKS 35-7

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GEN1301 See [[GEN1226]] Genesis 26:27 hate CASTLE 513

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