GEN1352 It was taught: “Until what point is a hired watchman required to watch? Until the point of: ‘Thus I was: In the day, the drought consumed me, and in the night, the frost’” Baba Metzia 93b TEMIMAH-GEN 136

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GEN1353 Growing up, of course, means learning not only how to trust but also how to be trustworthy ourselves. It means accepting increased accountability for our actions. As the third-century sage Resh Lakish taught, “First clean yourself, and then clean others” Bava Batra 60b.  The Mishnah tractate Demai discusses those persons whose word should be accepted: “If a man is not trustworthy about what he does, how can he be trusted when he attests to what others did?” 2:2. We must guard against unintentional deception. “R. Judah said in the name of Rav, ‘You must not keep in your house a measuring vessel smaller or larger than the standard’ Deuteronomy 25:14, even if it is to be used as a chamber pot. Others may use it as a measure by mistake” Bava Metzia 61b  The author of Psalm 15 demands even more.   First raising question, “Adonai, who may sojourn in Your ‘tent,’ who made dwell on Your holy mountain?” the Psalmist answers: someone “who stands by his oath even into his own loss” 15:1,4. The Torah presents two outstanding studies of how trustworthiness evolves, played out in the lives of our patriarchs Jacob and Joseph. When Jacob hears Laban’s sons complaining about Jacob’s increasing wealth, he hurriedly gathers together his wives and possessions and flees toward Canaan.  Laban pursues and finally catches Jacob, first chiding his son-in-law for running away and then accusing him of stealing the household gods.   Jacob angrily retorts: “… Anything in your herds that beasts ate, I never brought to you; I had to pay for it. You also required me to pay for anything beasts snatched from the flocks during the day or the night. This is how it was: in the day drought consumed me and at night there was frost so bitter I couldn’t sleep. I was in your house for 20 years. I worked 14 years to marry your two daughters and six more to gain my own flock, and in that time you renegotiated my wages ten times! If God… hadn’t help me, you certainly would have sent me away empty-handed” [this verse].   Jacob’s son Joseph embodies a similar ideal of trustworthiness. Trying to rid themselves of this pesky know-it-all, his siblings throw Joseph into a pit. They then sell him to Midianite traders bound for Egypt, where Potiphar, Pharaoh’s chief steward, buys the hapless lad.   Joseph’s new master observes that “Adonai made Joseph successful in everything he undertook. Potiphar took a liking to him. He made Joseph his personal attendant and put him in charge of all of this household and all that he owned…  He left all that he had in Joseph’s hands; with him in charge, Potiphar needed to pay attention only to the food he ate” Genesis 39:3 – 6. When Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph, he resists, arguing that Potiphar trusts him too much to betray him this way: “Look, with me here, my master gives no thought to anything in this house, how than can I do this awful thing and sin before God?” Genesis 39:8 – 9. Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses Joseph, and Potiphar has him thrown in jail, where he again proves so trustworthy that the warden makes Joseph responsible for the whole prison Genesis 39:22–23. Finally, Pharaoh places the entire nation under Joseph’s care, saying: “… except by your authority, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt” Genesis 41:44 So we learn that the greater our position of responsibility, the greater must be our trustworthiness. Even Moses, God’s “own servant,” is not exempt from this rule.   A midrash explains that the Torah provides a detailed list of all gifts brought by the people to build and decorate the wilderness tabernacle.   It goes to such great length in order to uphold Moses’ reputation for honesty, ensuring that no one charges him with taking anything as a personal payment Yalkut Shimoni, Proverbs 28:2.   BOROJMV 28-30

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GEN1354 When Laban’s search for his idols turns up nothing Genesis 31:33, Jacob unleashes a tirade against him.   Jacob contrasts his own integrity with Laban’s perfidy during their entire twenty-year relationship. Genesis 31:36-42 Only at this point is Laban moved to propose a covenant of peace between himself and Jacob [this verse]. Jacob’s integrity has finally made its impact upon Laban.   The encounter between Jacob and Laban at Gilead brings into sharp relief the contrast between authentic and false integrity.   While Jacob adheres to an objectively verifiable standard of honesty, Laban’s claims are not subject to verification.   Masquerading as a doting father, Laban berates Jacob for depriving him of the opportunity to embrace his daughters and grandchildren before they took leave of him. Genesis 31:28 Laban’s protest that he would have sent off Jacob amidst musical accompaniment amounts to nothing more than an unsubstantiated claim, bordering on mockery in the light of their previous relationship. Genesis 31:27 Finally Laban’s assertion that God commanded him to do Jacob neither good nor evil amounts to another unverifiable claim. Genesis 31:29 The Gilead episode demonstrates that championing the cause of integrity often requires polemics with both attackers and evildoers.  If integrity is to elevate the moral climate of society, its exponent must choose his battles carefully.  The temptation to disprove the charges of an attacker must be resisted if such polemics would divert society’s attention from one’s own honest.   Jacob resists the temptation to explode Laban’s masquerade as a doting father.  To do this, Jacob would only have to relate to Laban Rachel and Leah’s reaction when Jacob asked them to flee with him. “Rachel and Leah answered him, saying: ‘have we any share or heritage left in our father’s house? Are we not regarded as strangers by him? He has sold us, and then used up our money.’” Genesis 31:14-15 A lesser man would have seized the moment for sweet revenge by setting the record straight.  Jacob, however, knows that his prime concern must be to establish his own integrity.   The true feelings of Leah and Rachel toward their father are secondary.   To avoid diverting attention from the central issue, his own integrity, Jacob allows Laban’s self-serving pretense as a doting father to go undisputed.   Jacob, who epitomizes integrity, chooses his battles carefully and is not obsessed with a need to set the record straight as regards his opponent’s wrongdoing.   All this demonstrates that Jacob subjected himself to objectively verifiable standards and formulated his commitments in precise and unequivocal terms.   CASE 26-27

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GEN1355 “If you afflict” – by withholding their conjugal requirements: “And if you take” – rivals.  From here it is derived that the withholding of the conjugal requirement is considered “affliction” Yoma 77b TEMIMAH-GEN 137

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GEN1356 [In] Ramban [Nachmanides’] opening commentary on Parshas VaYishlach [this verse], [] he writes as follows: “This parsha (passage) was written to let it be known that God rescued his servant [Yaakov] by sending an angel to free him from the clutches of his more powerful opponent [Esau]. We also learn that Yaakov did not merely rely on being rescued by virtue of his righteousness, but endeavored with all in his power to save himself.  [This parsha] also offers guidance for future generations, for we will constantly face situations vis-à-vis the descendants of Esau similar to that which our Patriarch faced [in this encounter] with his brother Esau.   We should therefore follow in the footsteps of the tzaddik [Yaakov] by preparing ourselves for our own moments of peril the same way he did: with prayer, gifts, and a means of escape by which to save ourselves in the course of war. EYES 23-4

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GEN1357 He used to say: Do His will as you would your own, that He may do your will as though it were His. Negate your will before His, that He may negate the will of others before your will. Pirkei Avot II:4   Imagine that it is cold and raining outside, and you are schedule to attend a class in humash [Torah] this evening. You hestitate to go. Perhaps you had better stay home this one time, you think. Suppose, however, that a customer were waiting to see you, from whom you expected a large order. Would the weather stop you? In the case of the class, the Almighty’s will is involved. In the case of business, it is your will. The Mishnah earnestly advises: Do His will with the same devotion and enthusiasm that you have when you carry out your own will.  Yet more than this: If you want to know how strong a will can be and how thoroughly it can be fulfilled you can learn this best from the wicked. When Jacob returned to Canaan, he sent word to his brother Esau: “I lived with Laban…” [this verse] Rashi interprets this with a paraphrase, “With the wicked Laban I lived, and I kept the 613 commandments [of the Torah]; and I did not learn from his evil deeds.” Torah Shelemah on the verse §31 and note, for Midrashic sources Scholars have wondered why Rashi found it necessary to add that Jacob “did not learn from his evil deeds.” Surely, if Jacob continued to observe the 613 commandments, obviously he was not influenced! But perhaps Rashi means to imply something quite different: that Jacob is being self-critical. I have indeed lived with Laban, admits Jacob, and I have observed this man’s complete and thorough dedication to evil. When he decides to steal a horse, he rises like a lion in the middle of the night. Neither cold nor snow nor danger deters him from his self-appointed task. Yet, alas, I who observed all this, continued to perform my commandments with much less devotion and much less enthusiasm. To my sorrow, I did not learn this sense of self-sacrifice from Laban; I did not learn to emulate his devotion. Would that I could apply his zeal, his whole-heartedness to my good deeds. Attributed to R. Israel Ba’al Shem Tov SINAI1 141-2

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GEN1358 As an example of his Hibbat Ha’Aretz [i.e., love of the land – AJL], his comment on [this verse] may be quoted. Drawing attention to the Hebrew word for “sojourned” (Garti), which means “I have been a stranger, the Hatam Sopher [Moses Schreiber, 1763-1839] adds 537 : The patriarch (Jacob), symbol of Israel throughout the ages, stresses that while staying with Laban in another country, far from his own Canaan, it was only possible for him to sojourn there, to feel like a stranger, not able to settle down in undisturbed tranquility. Peace of mind can only come to the Jew who, no longer hated and baited, hunted and haunted, no longer driven from one land and not allowed to enter another, is allowed to strike roots once again in Eretz Israel, the land of our fathers which we must help to become again the land of our children.”   LEHRMAN 126-7

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GEN1359 See [[GEN1271]] Genesis 28:20 bread SINAI3 322

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GEN1360 There is an important thought experiment devised by Andrew Schmookler known as the parable of the tribes. Andrew Bard Schmookler, The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution (Berkeley: University of California, 1984). Imagine a group of tribes living close to one another.   All choose the way of peace except one that is willing to use violence to achieve its ends. What happens to the peace-seeking tribes? One is defeated and destroyed by the violent tribe. A second is conquered and subjugated. The third flees to some remote and inaccessible place. If the fourth seeks to defend itself it too will have to have recourse to violence. “The irony is that successful defense against a power-maximizing aggressor requires a society to become more like the society that threatens it. Power can be stopped only by power.” Schmookler, 21. There are, in other words, for possible outcomes: (1) destruction, (2) subjugation, (3) withdrawal, and (4) imitation.” In every one of these outcomes the ways of power are spread throughout the system. This is the parable of the tribes. (Ibid., 22).   Recall that all but one of the tribes seek peace and have no desire to exercise power over their neighbors. Nonetheless, if you introduce a single violent tribe in to the region, violence will eventually prevail, however the other tribes choose to respond. That is the tragedy of the human condition.   As I was writing this essay in the summer of 2014, Israel was engaged in a bitter struggle with Hamas in Gaza in which many people died. The state of Israel had no more desire to be engaged in this kind of warfare than did our ancestor Jacob. Throughout the campaign I found myself recalling the words earlier in Parashat Vayishlah about Jacob’s feelings prior to his meeting with Esau: “Jacob was very afraid and distressed” [this verse], about which the sages said, “Afraid, lest he be killed, distressed lest he be forced to kill” (quoted by Rashi ad loc.).  What the episode of Dina tells us is not that Jacob, or Simeon and Levi, were right, but rather that there can be situations in which there is no simple right course of action. Whatever you do will be considered wrong; every option will involve the compromise of some moral principle. That is Schmookler’s point, that “power is like a contaminant, a disease, which once introduced will gradually but inexorably become universal in the system of competing societies.”   Shechem’s single act of violence against Dina forced two of Jacob’s sons into violent reprisal and in the end everyone was either contaminated or dead. It is indicative of the moral depth of the Torah that it does not hide this terrible truth from us by depicting one side as guilty, the other as innocent. Violence defiles us all. It did then. It does now. SACKS 50-2

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GEN1362 It is clear from Rashi [See above] that Jacob was not concerned about killing Esau himself since this would be a legitimate act of self-defense.   [This and other Torah sources, i.e. Leviticus 19:16] point to the legitimacy of self-defense in Jewish thought and affirm the general concept of “if someone comes to slay you, you should slay him first.” Sanhedrin 72a. AMJV 62-3

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