VAYETZE 1992

In the Torah portion Vayatzay we learn how Yaacov leaves Beersheba and goes to Choron, ostensibly to get a wife but in reality to escape his brother's anger. We learn how he lights at a place, how he lays down and he has a dream of a ladder standing on the ground with its head reaching up to heaven, and behold, G-d appears to him and says, "I am the G-d, the G-d of Abraham, your father, and the G-d of Isaac, the land which you lay upon it to you I will give it unto your seed, and your seed will be like the dust of the land and you will spread westward and eastward and northward and southward and they will be blessed by you all the families of the land and by your seed.  Here I am with you and I will guard you in all which you will go, and I will return you to this land because I will not leave you. I will not forsake you.  I will do all that which I spoke to you." This is a promise that G-d made to the Jewish people, that G-d will never desert the Jewish people, but why does it say in this promise that He gave to Jacob, "Until I will do all which I spoke to you." It would have been enough if G-d would have just said, "I will return you to this land because I will not desert you." Why did He also have to say, "Until I will do all which I spoke to you"?
One of the themes that underlies this whole Torah portion is words, is what people do with words and how we should act with words.  We know that later Jacob goes to Mesopotamia.  There he falls in love with Rachel and his father-in-law to be, who is also his uncle, tricks him and gives him Leah instead, and then Jacob words another 7 years for Rachel, although Laban is a sport and allows him to marry Rachel just one week after he married Leah but he still had to work 6 more years for her.  We learn how Laban acknowledges that when Jacob wants to leave and go back to his own land that G-d has blessed me, Laban says, only because of you. We know that later when Jacob, through hard work and in spite of the trickery of Laban, amasses a fortune that Laban's sons become very jealous of Jacob, which impels Jacob to decide that now he really has to leave, but why should it be that Laban's sons should be jealous? After all, they acknowledge that it was because
 
of Jacob that they got all this wealth.  It is true that Jacob got a percentage of that wealth but their own wealth fastly increased because of Jacob's efforts, but still they were not satisfied.  They could not stand to see that the increase of their own wealth was not completely under their own control, that if something happened that was not under their control they completely disliked it and they completely turned against Jacob when really they, in their heart of hearts, knew that he was the source of all their increased wealth. We see that many times in institutions and in states and ingovernments that although certain things are working very well those in control do not like it because they do not have total control anymore.  Other people are doing things outside their control.  Therefore, they resent them and even hate them.  That, of course, causes the demise of the whole enterprise.  These people who hate those who are actually producing this great wealth for them they end up losing their own wealth.
We see this over and over again in Jewish history where Jews have gone in at the invitations of different countries and they have actually developed the country and they make great wealth and although the Jews have had to retain a certain percentage of that wealth, the whole population benefits, but the people are jealous of the Jews.  They do not want the Jews there even though the Jews are the source of their wealth.  We see that in Poland.  Before World War Two 10% of Poland was Jewish., There were 3 million Jews in Poland and the Poles hated the Jews, so much so that they actively collaborated with the Nazis to kill the Jewish people. Of course, now they are sorry.  Now they want the Jews to come back to help build up their country because their country is such a poor and bedraggled country without our people.  They are still anti-Semitic but they want us Jews to come help them because they realize that the source of their wealth is now gone.
The underlying theme of much of this Torah portion has to do with talk, with words, of how careful we should be with our words. We learn how after Leah has children
 
Rachel could not have children.  In fact, Leah has 4 boys and Rachel has no children
and she is very despondant and she tells her husband, "Jacob, give me children.
If not I will die." Of course, she was distraught and she probably did not mean
that she was going to commit suicide, but she said this terrible thing.  Jacob
got angry with Rachel and he said, "Am I in place of G-d that I have held from
you the fruit of the womb?" The rabbis are very harsh on Jacob for this, although
Jacob was 100% right, but, yet, he should have been more sympathetic to his wife.
He should have realized her pain and her anguish, and because Jacob talked so
harshly to her, in fact, telling her, "I got 4 boys from your sister so it is
obvious it is not me but you, so cut it out already," and Jacob, instead of talking
this way, he should have empathized with her, even though she was 100% wrong
to say what she said.  He should have empathized with her and realized her pain
and suffering.  The rabbis say that because of this later on Leah's children would
have to hear the same words said to them from Rachel's child, Joseph, after the
brothers were cowering in front of him after they found out he was the viceroy
of Egypt and they were afraid he would punish them for selling him to Egypt. He
said, "Am I in place of G-d that I should punish you?" We learn the same thing
with Moshe Rabbeinu that during the rebellion of Korach when Korach and his congregation
rebelled against Moshe's authority the 250 Levites joined them and these Levites,
the rabbis say, were propelled partially by spiritual motivation, that they could
not understand why the Kohanim were given certain duties and they were not also
given these duties, too.  They also wanted to do these particular duties.  They
also wanted so-called spiritual experience even though they wanted it on their
terms.  Moshe looked at them and said, "It is enough for you, sons of Levi.  What's
the matter with you? You have already got a privileged position.  Why do you
begrudge the Kohanim what they have to do? Why are your challenging the spiritual
verities of Judaism?" The rabbis say that later when Moshe Rabbeinu pleaeded
with G-d to enter into the land of Israel, G-d said, "It is enough for you, Moshe."
 
He said, "Moshe, you sinned at the waters of Moreeva.  You do not have a right to go into the land of Israel anymore." Moshe was punished by the same coin. G-d had already announced His decree and Moshe should not look for a spiritual experience that was beyond him, just as the Levites should not look for a spiritual experience that was beyond them.
So we see that words are very important.  Even when you are right you have to be careful with your words.  This theme is continued later on when we learn how Jacob does leave Laban and how Laban overtakes him and would have actually harmed him if G-d would not have intervened.  When Laban comes by he accuses Jacob of stealing his gods.  He says, "It is not enough that you stole my grandchildren and my children from me by sneaking away, but you have also stolen my gods." Jacob heartily denies that, and he says something that he really should not have said also because he did not know that Rachel had stolen these gods.  He said, "If you will find your gods among my people that person will not live." Of course, Rachel was very clever and she hid them in such a way that her father could not find them, although he searched all the tents.  The rabbis are dumbfounded as to why Rachel stole the gods.  They say that really they were magnetic devices that were used in the magician tricks of Laban, and they aided Laban in pursuing them and overtaking them.  Others say, no, Rachel just wanted her father to stop worshipping idols.  In any event, Jacob should not have said the things that he said at that time because the rabbis say that this was one of the reasons why Rachel died early.  Also, after Laban had searched all the tents and could not find anything then Jacob really blew up.  For 20 years he had put up with Laban and he had not said much, but now he really gave it to him.  He said, "What is my sin? What is my transgression that you came after me, you hotly pursued me." Then he gave him all his complaints.  He told him that for 20 years he had worked for him and how he had mistreated him and he gave him the whole litany of complaints. He probably should not have done this because he was not going to see him again
 
anyway, but the point here is that at this particular time Laban was actually right and Jacob was wrong.  Jacob actually blew up for no real reason.  He should have watched his words.
Then we learn another time in this Torah portion about words is when Laban tried
to get Jacob to agree with him on an oath.  As they parted they were to take an
oath that Jacob would take good care of his wives and his children and that they
would make sure that they would not harm each other, etc.  They took an oath and
Laban took an oath on the G-d of Abraham and the god of Nochar.  "They shall judge
between us, the gods of their fathers." Jacob refused to take that oath.  He
took the oath only with the fear of his father, Yitzchak, because Jacob knew that
it is important what words you use when you teach your children, because if you
say that all religions are equal and that all roads lead equally well to G-d,
why should we Jews, the minority take the hardest road? Why don't we take an
easier road? So he refused to take the oath and lumped together the G-d of Abraham
and the gods of Nochar.  Jacob refused to do that.  Unfortunately, in our day
and age there are so many times that we have taught our children and stressed
to our children the similarities between us and the other religions.  It is true
that we share much in common, but if what we share in common is really the important
thing and the differences are really not important, then why stay a Jew? We have
a terrible problem.  Fifty-two percent of our children intermarry now, and I think
it is largely because of this type of education. What we have to do is stress
our differences. We should not be ashamed of our differences, our differences
in the way we look at the world, our differences in the way we worship, our differences
even in the way that we appreciate interpersonal relationships and family relationships,
the way that we do our responsibilities to G-d and man.  It is about time we stressed
the differences.  Now it is true that there was a time that we had to stress our
similarities, especially to our gentile neighbors because Jews were so terribly
 
discriminated against.  Jewish doctors could not practice in hospitals.  Therefore, they had to start Jewish hospitals.  Jewish social workers could not practice in social work agencies, so we had to form our own Jewish Family Services.  Jewish lawyers could not get In with the big firms.  Jews were not hired by big corporations and insurance companies, banks, auto companies.  Yes, It is true we had to stress our similarities to show the rest of the world that we were not moral reprobates, moral gangsters, but we have to also stress our differences.  If we do not stress our differences then we are going to lose our children.  So words are very, very important.  In this Torah portion we learn how we have to be careful what words we use.  We have to be careful that we are sympathetic to people who, even though they are 100% wrong, but we still should be sympathetic and hear them out.  We should especially be sympathetic to people who are seeking a spiritual experience, even though they are wrong, and listen to their claims.  Secondly, we should make sure that we do not blow up against people who have tricked us and deceived us because it might be that this particular time they are right, and we should not especially take crazy oaths, like Jacob did, or make crazy statements, like Jacob did, that the person who has this idol he should not live.  Finally, we have to make sure that our words are precise when we talk about our religion because if our words are not precise and we do not stress our differences then we will give no reason for our children to stay Jewish.  We must remember these things, that our words have great meaning and great weight.
I am reminded of the story they tell about an aging opera singer who used to always try to get on every community program.  His voice, of course, was giving out. One day he got in front of the audience and before he sang he said, "I want you to know that I have insured my voice for $750,000," at which point a little old lady in the back stood up and said, "What did you do with the money?" Our words are Important.  Let's make sure that we use our words correctly.  Jacob was the
 
only one of the fathers who was able to build a family, build a Bayis.  Jacob was a beacon of light to the world.  He was known as a Har.  Yitzchak was known as a Sodeh, a field, because in a field the seeds sprout deep.  He was a mystic. He developed the inner life of man, but Jacob developed a family and he was only able to develop a family because ultimately he knew what words to say and what words not to say.  Let us all be careful of what words we say so that the families can stay together, so that the Jewish people can live together, and so that there will be peace and harmony among us all because we will all be sympathetic people even to the complaints and concerns that really have no basis in reality.  Let us hope we will all do these things so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day. Amen.