Recent Issues
By: Rabbi Natan Landman, author of
Make It Short, Rabbi: Brief Jewish Lessons from Scripture
and
Take Words with You: Sermons and Addresses of a Lifetime
What Goes Around, Comes Around
“Now, my son, listen to me: flee at once to Haran to my brother, Laban. Stay with him a while until your brother’s fury subsides . . . and he forgets what you have done to him. Then, I will fetch you from there. Let me not lose you both in one day.” (Genesis 27:43-45)
The Torah portion is very rich and infinitely complex in its implications, lending itself to a variety of interpretations from the commentators. Its central drama revolves around two morally suspect actions: Jacob’s taking advantage of Esau’s hunger to “steal” the birthright and Rebekah’s ruse to deceive Isaac to assure that Jacob receives the blessing. Many elaborate expositions of the texts build an often-brilliant case to show that Isaac was never really deceived by noting the actual content of the blessing given to Jacob and the one given to Esau.
There is another level from which one may derive an important lesson that the great philosopher Franz Rosenzweig noted: the Torah often makes its point implicitly rather than directly. Thus, without overtly criticizing Rebekah for her guiding Jacob to deceive his father, Isaac, the moral is brought out in the events that follow: namely that Jacob must flee to his uncle Laban in Haran where he, in turn, is deceived by his uncle’s substitution of Leah for Rachel in his first marriage. He must wander like a refugee until a much later reconciliation with Esau, and despite Rebekah’s promise to recall him, she never does so and, presumably, she never sees him again.
The subtle message of the Torah’s silence on this point is that means and ends are important. No matter how we try to justify eyebrow-raising behavior, there is a price—often tragic—to be paid.
There is another level from which one may derive an important lesson that the great philosopher Franz Rosenzweig noted: the Torah often makes its point implicitly rather than directly. Thus, without overtly criticizing Rebekah for her guiding Jacob to deceive his father, Isaac, the moral is brought out in the events that follow: namely that Jacob must flee to his uncle Laban in Haran where he, in turn, is deceived by his uncle’s substitution of Leah for Rachel in his first marriage. He must wander like a refugee until a much later reconciliation with Esau, and despite Rebekah’s promise to recall him, she never does so and, presumably, she never sees him again.
The subtle message of the Torah’s silence on this point is that means and ends are important. No matter how we try to justify eyebrow-raising behavior, there is a price—often tragic—to be paid.
To read previous issues of Torah From Around The World, please
click here