Now let’s answer the question we asked about Yaakov. Why did he trick and deceive his brother Eisav?
The Rambam says something that sheds light on the subject:
The foundation of all foundations, and the pillar of all wisdoms, is to know that there is a first Being Who brought all of reality into existence. And all of reality — from heaven to earth and whatever is in between — came into existence only by means of His true reality.
The Rambam is speaking here about belief in Hashem’s existence. He says this emunah is not just “the foundation of all foundations,” but is also “the pillar of all wisdoms.” If a person does not live with the realization that “brought all of reality into existence,” he lacks all wisdom and understanding. He does not understand things even a little. He is totally insane!
Hashem is the soul of the world, so to speak. He grants existence to everything, and He is everything. In other words, if the world is real — if there is a ceiling and a floor, there is light, there is time, there is you and me, there is oxygen in the air, etc. — then it all comes from Hashem. He is the Source of reality.
Since Hashem is the Source of all reality, He also is the Source of all truth. This is because Hashem creates and defines reality. Let’s say a person asks himself, “Do I truly exist? Am I real?” The answer is that he exists only as much, and only as long, as Hashem wills him to exist. A person has no independent existence and reality. Only Hashem does.
Now, truth is something that is valued by all of humanity. Everyone recognizes that truth is a virtue. Let’s say Reuven is driving his car through an unfamiliar neighborhood, trying to find a certain street. He rolls down his window, sees a scary-looking guy walking around and asks him cautiously, “How do I get to such-and-such street?”
The man answers, “Go straight and take the second right.”
What does Reuven do? He goes straight and takes the second right, just like he was told. But why? Maybe the man was lying? Isn’t it obvious that this man is of questionable character?
The answer is human beings naturally have respect for truth. They will not lie for no reason. This adherence to truth is because a person’s soul comes from Hashem. His very life comes from Hashem. And Hashem is Truth; there is nothing else true and real besides Him.
So whatever Hashem wills, that is truth — in the simplest sense of the word. And whatever is against Hashem’s will is falsehood. We, however, live in a world of darkness, and we “see” things differently. This is why it is necessary to give truth a special name: emes v’emunah. This is the truth that is based on emunah. The truth based on emunah is true, and whatever is not based on emunah is false.
We go around in the world with our eyes opened, but we don’t know what we are seeing.
Chazal recount:
R. Yosef son of R. Yehoshua ben Levi fell ill, and expired. When he regained consciousness, his father asked him, “What did you see there?” He answered, “I saw an upside-down world. The prominent people were on the bottom, and the lowly people were on the top.” His father replied, “My son, you saw a clear world.”
What we see in this world is upside-down, far from the true reality. Truth has only one name: emunah. Someone who lives with emunah, lives with the truth.
This is the kind of person that Yaakov Avinu was. He lived with the truth. He lived with emes v’emunah. And this is why he is called “a man of wholesomeness.” What was his “wholesomeness,” his temimus? “He dwelled in tents.” In other words, he was in the beis midrash. His entire outlook, all his thoughts, came from the Chumash. There will be a day when Yaakov Avinu will live the truth of emes v’yatziv. But here in this world, he lived the truth of emes v’emunah, which indeed is the truth.
