November 27, 2023|י"ד כסלו ה' אלפים תשפ"ד Yaakov's Greatest Fear and Our Greatest Fear By Rabbi Jonathan Muskat

As Israel battles Hamas terrorists at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, we continue to hear about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, about Palestinians who have no place to go, about patients in hospital who are dying without adequate treatment. But Israel must press on in its battle to search for hostages and to eliminate Hamas terrorists and it’s understandably very challenging. It is so challenging when we are forced to go against our basic nature and yet we try our hardest to remain true to ourselves even under these conditions. And this exactly is the life of Yaakov Avinu in this week’s parsha. Yes, everyone was talking about how this is the parsha where Yaakov was told to go to the house of Lavan, or the White House, and that is the strongest connection between this week’s events and this week’s parsha, but I think that there is a stronger connection. Because this week’s parsha forces us to confront the following question. What do you do when you are forced to go against your very nature? How do you respond?

 

When I read the conversation between Rivka and Yaakov when Rivka tries to convince Yaakov to trick his father to receive the blessing, I am a bit confused. Why does Yaakov hesitate? He tells his mother,  אוּלַ֤י יְמֻשֵּׁ֙נִי֙ אָבִ֔י וְהָיִ֥יתִי בְעֵינָ֖יו כִּמְתַעְתֵּ֑עַ וְהֵבֵאתִ֥י עָלַ֛י קְלָלָ֖ה וְלֹ֥א בְרָכָֽה – maybe my father touches me, I shall appear to him as a trickster and bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing. It seems that Yaakov is comfortable tricking his father. He’s just concerned about getting caught and looking bad. It seems that Yaakov has no moral objection about deceiving his father and Esav, for that matter, but he wants to ensure that the plan is a success. Is that true? Does Yaakov have an issue with lying to and deceiving his father?

 

I am also a bit puzzled by Yaakov’s concern with the plan. Yaakov is concerned that Yitzchak will feel him and will realize that he is Yaakov. Why is Yaakov not concerned that Yitzchak will recognize that he sounds different than Esav? He is not worried at all about this possibility and in fact, it almost caused the plan to fail. Did Yaakov completely miscalculate? Why was he so certain that Yitzchak would not be fooled by Yaakov’s skin but he would be fooled by his voice. Additionally, why was Yaakov ultimately wrong when Yitzchak suspected foul play saying, “Hakol kol Yaakov v’ha’yadayim ydei Esav,” that your voice sounds like Yaakov’s voice?

 

But first things first. What is Yaakov truly afraid of? What is his worst fear if he gets caught? He has two fears. Fear number one: וְהָיִ֥יתִי בְעֵינָ֖יו כִּמְתַעְתֵּ֑עַ – he will appear as a trickster. Fear number two: וְהֵבֵאתִ֥י עָלַ֛י קְלָלָ֖ה וְלֹ֥א בְרָכָֽה – he will bring upon himself a curse and not  blessing. Let’s deal with the second fear first - וְהֵבֵאתִ֥י עָלַ֛י קְלָלָ֖ה וְלֹ֥א בְרָכָֽה – he will bring upon himself a curse and not  blessing. What is this fear?

 

The Midrash states that Yaakov’s concern was  אפילו ברכה אחת שהוא עתיד ליתן לי לבסוף איננו נותנה לי, even one blessing that he plans to give me in the end he will not give to me. Yaakov understood that he is the spiritual one in the family and maybe there are two different types of blessings – a physical one of “olam ha-zeh” and a spiritual one of “olam ha-ba.” Yaakov is concerned that if he tries to receive both blessings, even the physical bracha, and he is caught, then he will even lose the spiritual bracha that he receives at the end of the parsha. After all, explains the Malbim and the Netziv, until now Yaakov is the איש תם יושב אוהלים. He is the simple pious son with good midot. So, yes, Yitzchak plans to give the physical legacy of the family to Esav, but he still plans to give the spiritual legacy to Yaakov. However, if Yaakov is found to be a trickster, a deceiver, then Yitzchak will say that Yaakov is not even worthy of a spiritual legacy and he won’t give Yaakov any blessings.

 

And that is exactly what we are dealing with now. Our hands are tied. We need to enter hospitals and civilian populations and get our hands dirty in an effort to eliminate Hamas and free our hostages. When we were simply the victim and didn’t get our hands dirty with this violent, albeit necessary behavior of going after terrorists, then we received more sympathy from the world. After all, at that point, we were viewed more as a spiritual, moral nation that was attacked and the world would still give us a bracha of morality, of spirituality, and they would say that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we have the moral high ground. Our fear in waging this war is akin to Yaakov’s fear in tricking Yitzchak. We may make mistakes and we may lose even the bracha of morality and spirituality in the eyes of the world.

 

But Chazal point to another fear that Yaakov Avinu had. The Midrash Ha-Gadol makes a rather surprising statement. ד"א כמתעתע כעובד עבודה זרה. Another explanation of Yaakov’s concern that he will be considered like a מתעתע, like a fool, is that he will be like someone who worships idolatry. Why do Chazal connect tricking his father with worshipping idolatry? The Maharsha (Sanhedrin 92a) explains that truth is a fundamental principle of Torah observance. If you have no moral compunction about lying in order to achieve your goals, then you cannot become a true servant of God because there is no truth, and therefore, there is no right and wrong. Yaakov was afraid that he would lose himself, his own spirituality if he no longer is committed to the truth. But it’s much more than that.

 

When Yaakov was telling his mother that her plan may not work, he said אולי ימושני אבי – maybe my father will touch me and realize that I am not Esav. The Maharitz Chayot points out that he did not say פן, which also means “maybe.” The difference between אולי and פן is that you hope that the possibility will happen when you say אולי and you are hope that the possibility will not happen when you say פן. Why then did Yaakov say אולי, which indicates that he hoped Yitzchak would discover the truth? The Maharitz Chayot explains that on some level, Yaakov wanted to get caught. On some level, Yaakov didn’t want to trick his father. His mother told him that he needed to trick his father, but he was very uncomfortable doing this. He was so uncomfortable, writes Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky in his sefer, Emet L’Yaakov, that the sin of sheker is like avoda zara, or idolatry, like what the midrash and the gemara in Sanhedrin states. Why is that? Because lying was the very antithesis of Yaakov Avinu. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky explains that both Avraham and Yaakov were challenged in ways that were antithetical to their essence. Avraham, the man of chesed, was challenged to go against his very nature when he was commanded to sacrifice his son. Yaakov, the man of truth, was challenged to go against his very nature when he was commanded to trick his father. Yaakov’s challenge was whether he would remain faithful to God and to his principles and only act his essence when he was commanded to do so and not derive any pleasure out of this. This is the second reason why Yaakov was afraid. He was afraid of what having to lie would do to him. Many of us may struggle thinking about what the violence of this war is doing to us as a nation, as we are almost compelled to kill innocent civilians to achieve our military objectives and how all of these killings have the potential to desensitize us to the value of life.

 

We can understand Yaakov’s fear. He didn’t want to lose his spiritual status in his father’s eyes and he was afraid how this act might transform his very essence. And we can understand now what our fears are in this battle against terror. So why get involved given all these fears? Because Rivka understands that sometimes we are called upon to engage in behavior that is against our nature and that may induce others to criticize us for being immoral. And that’s what Yaakov had to do at this moment and that is what we must do at this very moment. And do you know why Rivka was right in the end? Because even though Yaakov engaged in deceit, even though “yadayim ydei Esav,” he donned the hands of Esav; nevertheless, “hakol kol Yaakov,” Yaakov Avinu could not hide his voice from Yitzchak. Yaakov thought that all he needed to do was to dress like Esav and then Yitzchak would think that he is Esav and, as the Ramban points out, Yaakov thought that maybe Yaakov had a similar voice to Esav and he can pretend to be like Esav. But Yaakov could not easily pull it off. Because if you are in essence a Yaakov, then your true voice will ultimately come out. Others who honestly look will see and you will see who you really are.

 

One aspect of this past week’s rally that was so beautiful was that we saw firsthand “hakol kol Yaakov.” We are a nation of peace. We are a nation of love. We are a nation that cares for each other. Three hundred thousand people gathered together and none of us engaged in acts of violence or destruction when we converged at National Mall to support of Israel and to protest rising antisemitism. We just sang together, cheered together, recited pesukim of Tehillim together and celebrated each our values and our country. We celebrated life, not death. We told the world and we told ourselves that, yes, sometimes we must don the hands of Esav. Sometimes we may put ourselves in positions where others will criticize us and equate us with murderers and war criminals, and sometimes we may put ourselves in positions when we will need to act in ways that go against our very essence. And, yes, we may question ourselves at times. But that doesn’t make us weak. It just makes us a nation of “hakol kol Yaakov.”