He said, “Is it because his name is Yaakov that he tricked me twice? He took my rights as the firstborn, and now he took my blessing.” (Bereishis 27:37)
Anyone who pays attention to what is going on in these parshiyos, which tell us about the life and times of Yaakov Avinu, sees right away that there is a sort of contradiction. Yaakov represents the trait of emes, as it says, “Give truth to Yaakov.”
However, we see numerous instances in which he seems to act with deceptiveness.
First of all, Yaakov’s very name connotes deceptiveness. This is what the word means, as we see from the following pasuk: “Let each man beware of his friend; do not trust any relatives! For every relative acts deceptively (עקוב יעקב), and every friend spreads evil gossip.”
Now, we might answer that Yaakov acted deceptively with Eisav and Lavan only because that is the proper and straight way to deal with such people. As it says, “With the crooked, act deviously.” But this does not really solve the problem. If his deceptiveness was not part of his nature, why was he named “Yaakov”?
This was, in fact, Eisav’s claim. After Yaakov took the blessings, Eisav exclaimed: “Is it because his name is Yaakov that he deceived me twice?” Eisav claimed that Yaakov’s name fits him well: he is indeed an untruthful and deceitful person.
So how do we answer Eisav’s claim? And why wasn’t Yaakov given a name that connotes truthfulness and honesty, if that is his core trait?
The difficulties do not stop with Yaakov’s name; they involve his deeds as well. After all, he did get the blessings from his father Yitzchak in a way that seems patently dishonest. We all know Rashi’s explanation of Yaakov’s famous words “I am Eisav your firstborn.” According to Rashi, Yaakov meant: “‘I” am bringing you the food. ‘Eisav is your firstborn.’” Now, how would you explain that to a child? Is that what we would expect from the paragon of honesty?
The same questions may be raised regarding how Yaakov handled Lavan. In fact, Yaakov himself says to Rachel “He is Lavan’s brother, i.e., his equal, in the trait of deception.” In other words, Yaakov says about himself that he is exceptionally skilled in trickery. It seems that Yaakov expressed a novel idea at this point, as his wife-to-be, Rachel Imeinu, did not think that tzaddikim are allowed to be deceptive in any circumstances. This shows it is not so simple to say that the straight thing to do is to treat crooked people deceptively. Because Rachel Imeinu was puzzled: how could it be permitted to act in such a way?
All this needs to be explained.
