Parsha Vayeitzei 5767: Distinguishing Good from Evil, Compassion from Cruelty…
In last week’s Parsha Toldos, we learned about Rivka, who rose above an evil environment while internalizing it’s insights and was thus well positioned to urge Yaakov to claim the Bracha, and about Yaakov, the “Ish Tam”. We learn that Yaakov 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.”