Rabbi Gordon - Vayeitzei: 7th Portion
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Braun Ilan
Le TOUR du PARC
November 24, 2012
parashat Vayeitzei
Dear Rabbi Gordon, Thank you so much for your wonderful and humorous teachings. Please can you tell us if the tradition says anything about Rachel's age when she met first Yaakov?
Yours respectfully,
Ilan
Reply
Jacob's life in treachery i am confused by the fact that Jacob is involved in so much deceipt. In events with Esau, Rivkah, Issach, and Laban. Yet HaShem continually ends up supporting a positive outcome for Jacob.
So how do we know when to act deceiptfully to attain what we believe to be in Hadhems plans for us in our life?
Shimeon Mayer Ben Avram Katz
Daytona Beach FL
( see you in Ormond Beach soon, Baruch HaShem )
This topic came up in a recent discussion with some friends struggling with the same issue! One of the people there offered the idea that rather than trying to learn how to deceive, we should pay attention to what happens when we do. Several interesting examples were used; Jacob pretends to be Esau, and Leah pretends to be Rachel. Jacob deceives Isaac, and Laban deceives Jacob... The idea was that we should look at the results of what happens when we do something, and learn from it, rather than try and copy behavior we wouldn't like if done to us.
Someone else pointed out that it all worked out in the end, even though it took a very long time, and Jacob had a very hard life until his last 17 years.