VaYetze - Thou Shalt Not Steal

 בס"ד

Trickery is one of the themes in the story of Ya'akov avinu. In parshas Vayyétsé after working 14 years for Laban essentially for free, Jacob asks for compensation. They strike a deal that sheeps and goats that have black in them will go to Jacob. The Chumash then recounts how Jacob put speckled pieces of wood in front of the stronger animals while they were mating which resulted in them having black and white offspring. However he did not display these rods when the weaker animals were mating. In this way the weaker ones fell to Laban and the stronger to Yaakov causing him to become more prosperous then Laban. When Lavan recognizes the situation, he turns against Jacob.

At this point it looks like Laban has been cheated. However the narrative continues that HaKadosh baruch Hu revealed this technique to Jacob, told him to do it, and explains that He has taken note of Laban's many rip-offs. It comes out that in this situation it was appropriate to be cunning.

This contrasts with Ya'akov cunningly getting Esau to assign him the rights of the first born. Things go badly after that. First Yaakov is pushed into stealing the blessing his father intended for his brother. Next he must deal with Lavan who is constantly pulling these types of shenanigans. In both cases the tricks succeed. However with Lavan it seems that they were appropriate, but not with Esav. This is because these assets in essence had been transferred from Laban and Esau to Jacob. Jacob had earned them, they had forfeited them. 

The only question was the way that it was proper for Yaakov to take possession of these gifts. In the case of Esau he later tells Jacob, "my brother what's yours is yours", (Genesis 33:9), meaning that he did not want to be a leader of a holy nation and better that these things should go to his brother. Rather Esav's objection was to the manipulation Yaakov employed to obtain them. He really deserved better than that. On the other hand it is revealed later that Laban does not accept that Yaakov owns a thing, not the livestock, not his wives, not his children. Consequently surreptitious behavior against him was proper. Lavan does accept it and parts with Ya'akov in peace.

The holy One, blessed be He, pays attention to what is really happening and peers through the sophistry. In the story of Bathsheva, when King David instructs Joav, "Place Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest; then fall back so that he may be killed", ( ll Samuel 11:15), the prophet tells him in the name of G-d, "You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites", (ibid 12:9). In the Ten Commandments it says, "Do not steal". Later on it says don't rob, cheat, lie, give somebody a run around, gouge, chisel, be enchanting, use clever timing, bribe. These are all bad practices in and of themselves. But they are all ways of saying a person is obligated to be honest not only with their money, but also their social position, and most everything else too. In the case of Ya'akov, he was, that is why he succeeded.

לע"נ  האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח

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