GEN1233 See [[GEN1230]] Genesis 26:34 bitterness BLIDSTEIN 36

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GEN1234 Because the rabbis usually equated wisdom with knowledge of traditional Jewish law, a field all but closed to women, they tended to overlook the frequent, positive connections between wisdom and women found in the Bible.   For there we find the vivid portraits of savvy females endowed with both practical street smarts and complex intelligence, able to handle whatever comes their way. Rebecca knows that Jacob, not Esau, deserves Isaac’s blessings and masterminds the plot to achieve that result [this and following verses]. Yael entices the Canaanite general Sisera into her tent and kills him Judges 4:17 – 22. Moses’ sister Miriam looks after her infant brother as he floats in the Nile River bulrushes and suggests to Pharaoh’s daughter that she hire his real mother to nurse him Exodus 2:4,7. But the rabbis were not so sexist that they never associated wisdom with women. One midrash tells us that “Miriam took wisdom” as her inheritance and passed it on her descendent, Bezalel Exodus Rabbah 48:4 Another relates how Miriam found fresh water to drink after the people crossed the sea to freedom Taanit 9a. However, the ultimate connection between understanding and femininity is supplied by the Book of Proverbs, which personifies wisdom as a woman: “Wisdom cries aloud in the streets, raises her voice in the squares… at the gates she speaks out” 1:20 – 21   “Say to wisdom ‘you are my sister,’ and call understanding a kinswoman” 7:4 “She is more precious than rubies, all your goods do not equal her work. Length of days is in her right hand, riches and honor in her left-hand. Her ways are ways a pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that grasp her, and all who hold onto her are happy” 3:15 – 18. Proverbs does not only depict woman as an allegorical figure of wisdom; it also praises the living human being in “The Woman of Valor” poem that closes the book. Feminist scholars have faulted some of the poem’s verses because they portray the archetypal female as glorying in self-sacrifice: “She rises while it is still night, and supplies provisions for household… And never eats from the bread of idleness” 31:15, 27   We prefer to see her as an early exemplar of female entrepreneurship, for the next text also says: “She sets her mind on an estate and acquires it … She girds herself with strength and performs her tasks with vigor; she sees that her business thrives” 31:16 – 18. Some of these early themes have been adapted in more modern times. For example, the 18th-century Polish poet Isaac Halevi Satanov writes: “Because God loved wisdom, He adopted her as His daughter and lovingly brought her up. Before God made heaven and earth, she was God’s delight” Mishle Asaf [The proverbs of Asaf].   A twentieth-century female incarnation of wisdom may well be the poet and playwright Gertrude Stein, whose wise dying words were, “What is the question?”   Of course, of all women honored by the tradition, we must not fail to mention our first and most influential teacher—our own mother. As our first and most constant connection with life, our mother bequeaths us her insight and wisdom, which serve as the foundation of our knowledge for all the years to come. Our later teachers are either her surrogates or her colleagues.   BOROJMV 18-9

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GEN1235 Rabbeinu Yonah, in his Sha’arei Teshuvah, classified the various manifestations of deceit and falsehood, in nine separate categories. … The third category is … An individual whose deceitfulness will not cause his neighbor actual financial loss, but will prevent him from receiving a benefit or financial gain, while directing that gain, instead, towards himself. Or, perhaps he craftily persuades his neighbor to give him a gift because of his artfully feigned friendship. While this individuals did not actually cause his neighbor financial loss, he, too, is a man of deceit, and he will be punished accordingly. The Sages said, Sanhedrin 92a “He who is deceitful with his word, is as though he had worshiped idolatry.” As Yaakov said when his other suggested that he pose as Esau to obtain the Berachos from his father, Yitzchak [this verse], Perhaps my father will touch me, and I will be in his eyes as a deceiver. And elsewhere, we find the word תעתעים used in regard to idolatry, as it says Jeremiah 10:15, They are vanity, the work of deception. Sha’arei Teshuvah, 3:180 FENDEL 109-10

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GEN1237 In the thinking of R. Isaiah ha-Levi Horowitz (Poland, 1565-1630), training in truth-telling is the centerpiece of the moral education of youngsters.   The ideal is for the father to spare no effort in emphasizing to his child the importance of truth-telling. Toward this end, a father should magnify the punishment for those who lie and glorify the reward for those who speak truthfully.  If the child is caught lying, the father should admonish him harshly instilling great trepidation in him.  This approach will guarantee that the child will always go on the straight path, even when not under the father’s supervision. Because the child will feel compelled to always tell the truth, he will always depart from evil and do good.   Further insight into the connection between truth-telling and the ability to resist the temptation of veiled misconduct can be obtained from the connection the sages make between truth-telling and belief in God: He who speaks truth harbors belief (emunah) in God. [In contract] chronic liars harbor idolatrous fancies (Midrash Pinhas).   R. Eleazer also said: Whoever dissembles his speech is as though he had engaged in idolatry: Here it is written, And I shall seem to him as a deceiver [this verse]; and elsewhere it is said, they are vanity, and the work of deceivers (Jeremiah 10:15).   The key to understanding this connection between deceptive speech and idolatry, according to R. Judah Loew b. Bezalel (Bohemia, ca. 1525-1609), is that the seal of the Almighty is truth.   He who possesses the attribute of truthfulness, therefore, clings to the Almighty.   To engage in deceptive speech, however, amounts to embracing something that has no existence at all. What idolatry and deceptive speech share is that both are vanities; that is, they have no real existence.   Hence, whoever dissembles his speech is as though he engaged in idolatry.  Judaism’s standard for truth-telling makes it a sin to lie even when the fabrication causes no harm or damage to others.  Two varieties of harmless lies are identified: the lie that brings some advantage or benefit, and the lie that brings no discernible benefit.   Both varieties are prohibited by dint of Torah law.   The latter variety is more egregious and warrants greater punishment because it reflects a love of falsehood for its own sake.  CASE 4-5

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GEN1238 R. Elazar said: “Those who are deceptive in their speech are akin to idol-worshippers. It is written here: ‘And I will be a deceiver in his eyes, and elsewhere [in respect to idols] Jeremiah 10:15: ‘They are vanity, the work of deception […the portion of Jacob is not as these’]” Sanhedrin 92a TEMIMAH-GEN 122

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GEN1236 [A category of liars is] one who comes with cunning and words of guile to withhold good from its owner and direct it towards himself.   He does not steal from his fellowman that which is already his, nor rob it by force.  Rather, he sets his eyes on the good destined for the other, and he stalks it, taking possession of it through his false words. Alternatively, through his lies he maneuvers the other into giving it to him as a gift.   He is punished primarily for lying; nonetheless, the punishment for lying takes on greater severity when another’s loss is involved (even though [here] the punishment is not primarily for the loss incurred, since he did not deprive the other person of something that he already acquired).   This is as our Sages said Sanhedrin 92a [I.e. describing the severity of sinning through verbal manipulation], “One who speaks words of guild is as if he has served idols, as the pasuk says [this verse]. GATES 363-5  [See also TZADIK 385]

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GEN1239 Avoid Causing a Quarrel between Parents.   If your mother tells you, “Son, please do this,” and then your father angrily exclaims, “What is that you have done? Who told you to do that?” do not reply, “It was mother who asked me to do it,” for then you would be to blame if your father became enraged at your mother and cursed her, and it is counted as if you had cursed her.  … When Jacob demurred [to Rebekah’s request], fearing that his father might realize the deception, Rebekah replied [this verse].   She meant to say, “Don’t tell your father that I ordered you to bring the delicacies, lest he become angry and curse me, which would be counted as if you had cursed me. But if he does, let any curse be on me, my son.”   (citing Sefer Chasidim, 336).   ISAACS 134

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GEN1241 They [our Sages] said Shabbat 10a: “Rava put on expensive socks before praying, saying “Prepare yourself [adorn yourself – Rashi] before your God, O Israel” Amos 4:12.  Our Rabbis of blessed memory further said Genesis Rabbah 65:16, on [this verse] [that] “Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: “I used to serve my father in soiled clothes, but Esav, when he served his father, served him only in clothes of royalty.” Now it this is the case regarding a creature of flesh and blood it must apply with far greater force to the King of all kings, the Holy One blessed be He; before Whom one should stand in prayer dressed in clothes of honor, and before Whom one should sit the way one sits before a great king.   PATH 126

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GEN1240 A person should consider it an honor to serve his parents.   The Midrash Genesis Rabbah 65:16 states that Aisav’s coveted garments were the one’s he seized from Nimrod after having killed him.   Aisav wore these regal garments whenever he served his father.  Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said, “I served my father my entire life, but I did not reach even one percent of the level of honor with which Aisav served his father.   I wore soiled garments when I served my father and wore clean garments when I went outside.   When Aisav served his father, he wore only regal garments.   He felt that it was improper to attend his father wearing any attire other than his very best.”   PLYN 96

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GEN1242 Even in instances where lying can be justified, untruth still introduces deceit into our relationships.  Thus, although the text offers no criticism of the lie Jacob tells his blind father, Isaac, that he is Esau, Isaac’s firstborn son, it does not seem to be a coincidence that no other biblical character finds himself on the receiving end of so many deceptions. His father-in-law, Laban, tricks him into marrying Leah instead of Leah’s younger sister, Rachel, whom Jacob loves and who has been promised him Genesis 29:21-30. Many years after this deception, Jacob’s sons sell their brother Joseph, Jacob’s favorite, into slavery. But first they remove the beautiful coat Jacob had given Joseph, dip it into the blood of a slaughtered goat, and show Jacob the bloody garment Genesis 37:31-33, leading him to believe that Joseph had been killed by a savage beast.   He who deceived his father is now deceived by his sons.  The narrative seems to suggest that sin and telling mistruths, even if they can be justified, bring an element of deceit into our relationships. Thus, if we find ourselves in a relationship, or a society, in which we must often lie, it is best to remove ourselves from such an environment as soon as possible. Even justifiable lies, if we tell them often enough, become a bad habit and can lead to a lack of truthfulness in all our relationships.   TELVOL1 401-2

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