Parsha Vayeitzei: Distinguishing Good from Evil — Revisited.
By Moshe Burt
In view of events of 3 1/2 months ago as well as the current election campaign, this author reflected back on last year’s word on Parsha Vayeitzei.
In last week’s parsha Toldos, we learned about Yaakov, the “Ish Tam”, one who was “totally honest, a man of great integrity”, who was master over the trait of being “tam”, a “‘plain man’, … without trickery, but he did not allow this character trait to dominate him. He knew when and where to act otherwise.”
We later learned that Yaakov told Rachel “‘…that he was her father’s kinsman’, according to the Sages, ‘If he has come to be sly, I am his kinsman in being sly.'”
The Hozeh of Lublin quotes the Sages saying; “‘Whoever is compassionate where he should be cruel will eventually be cruel where should be compassionate.'” He continued by saying that “a person needs to be master over all of his traits. If he fails to apply so-called negative traits in their proper times, he will end up applying them when it is wrong to do so.” “A person needs to know how to act in different circumstances, sometimes one way to further the will of Hashem and other times the exact opposite way for the same end.” (“Growth Through Torah” by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin on Parsha Toldos, pages 62-63, “Torah Gems” by Aharon Yaakov Greenberg, on Parsha Toldos, page 203)
So, when we learn that Lavan ran to greet Yaakov and hugged and kissed him and brought him to his house, we see that while Lavan appeared extremely loving and warm, he was not acting out of brotherly, familial love when embracing Yaakov. The fact was that the knivving Lavan, expecting a rerun of the gifts showered upon his family by Eliezer when he came to acquire Rifka as Yitzchak’s Shidduch, instead saw an empty-handed Yaakov and subjected him to a full-body grope searching for goodies. Maybe there was gold under them thare garments, or maybe Yaakov was hiding diamonds in his mouth.
And we later learn about Lavan’s 100 lies, deceptions and violations of his agreement with Yaakov and how Yaakov, with Hashem’s help , was able to foil each of Lavan’s attempts. Therefore, Hashem enabled Yaakov’s words to Rachel to come to fruition; that Yaakov was Lavan’s “kinsman in being sly.”
Rav Pliskin in “Growth Through Torah” expresses the importance of judging people favorably. But he then goes on to quote Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz who says that “if someone is an evil person we are obligated to judge him unfavorably. Some people may find this rather harsh, but that is the reality: with evil people assume the worst. (Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz; Daas Torah: Breish’t, Pge. 192)”
Rav Pliskin continues that “we need to master the ability of seeing the good in the bad and the bad in the good. Then we need to know when to use each ability. Judging an evil person on the side of merit is not a virtue but a fault. Failure to be on guard to protect yourself from a deceitful person can cause you and others much damage and heartache. … The way of the Torah is to use wisdom to know when to assume negative motivations and when to judge others favorably.”
While Rav Pliskin says that it’s unfortunate “…that many people fail to judge others favorably when they really should”, he also says that the opposite, the tendency “…of believing everyone is considered … to be the attribute of a fool.” (Growth Through Torah, Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, Parsha Vayeitzei, pages 75-76)
And so, it seems that there is this attribute of judging and distinguishing the “good in the bad” favorably and the “bad in the good” negatively. This attribute would seem to go hand-in-hand with applying one’s own positive and negative attributes at the appropriate times, i.e., compassion to the compassionate and cruelty to the evil.
It’s amazing how, even after the horrendous Israeli government expulsion of or brethren from parts of our Jewish land, things seem not to have changed for the better, and perhaps for the worse, over the past year since we last visited our Parsha HaShevua. The lesson of time and place; when to be cruel and when to be compassionate has still not yet been learned by those whose political cheshbonot plays them right into the hands of the cruel who, in exchange for free, unhindered passage from Gaza, yet again pay us back in Jewish blood as in Netanya this past Monday.
The lesson of time and place for cruelty or compassion in the political chesbon has not been learned by the Israeli politicians and generals who cruelly, hatefully and with disdain danced upon their Jewish brother’s years of toil, effort and blood in Gush Katif. (i.e. acting to keep themselves out of court trial or anticipating the racking in of future wind-fall Casino profits or land deals.) All of these cruel, slimey, heartless, deceitful politicians climb all over each other, each in an effort to curry favor with the The Big Bulldozer. I can’t wait for Kadima’s inner-feuding, the T.O. syndrome to begin.
And once again, as was one year ago, this lesson has not been learned by those Israeli politicians who, blinded by their own hateful, anti-Torah political agenda, again call for freeing the cold-blooded murderer Marwan Barghouti y’machsh’mo so that he can run for p.a.(sic) parliament because he won the Fatah primaries.
We still await in our time, the “Ish Tam”, the “totally honest … man of great integrity”, the master over the trait of being “tam”, the “‘plain man’, … without trickery”, who “knew when and where to act otherwise” but who did not allow this character trait to dominate him. Is he around the corner? Do we know him? Will he come in our lifetime?
May it be in this year and beyond, that our brethren; the refugee families from Gush Katif and the Shomron, as well as our dear brother, Jonathan Pollard be in our thoughts, prayers, chassadim and actions.
B’Ezrat Hashem, may we soon know the day when Torah is the law of the land, when we pray thanks to Hashem for the Ge’ula Shlaima. May we soon see the day of the restoration of our Brethren, expelled by the evil regime from Gush Katif and the Shomron towns, to bigger and more beautiful homes and neighborhoods, Bati Knesset, Yeshivot in Gush Katif and the Shomron and only happiness and success for all time. May this abominable period of history called hitnatkut be as a bad dream. And may we soon see freedom and long life in Eretz Yisrael for Jonathan Pollard.
May we be zocha in this coming year take giant steps toward fulfilling Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations.”
May we be zocha the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Meiyad, Etmol!!!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.