Becoming Elevated by Distancing Ourselves from Lies and Dishonesty
Living with Lavan
In our parashah we learn about Yaakov Avinu’s escape to his uncle Lavan in Charan. He was fleeing the wrath of his brother Esav. The question arises, what was the purpose in fleeing to Charan? Couldn’t Esav pursue him there as well?!
In the Sefer Galia Razah, authored by one of the students of the Arizal, and published from manuscript form by the Be’er Mayim Chaim zy”a, he explains that indeed there was a deep purpose in sending Yaakov to Charan—for Esav was primarily envious of the spiritual shefah with which Yaakov had been blessed. By sending Yaakov to her brother Lavan, Rivkah was signaling to Esav, “You see, he’s residing with a rasha, he’s surely learning from his terrible ways, and he’s squandering his great spiritual shefa. Thus, you have nothing of which to be jealous.”
Indeed, the tzaddikim tell us that Lavan—who hailed from the side of tumah—did everything he could to topple Yaakov Avinu from his lofty spiritual state, and this was the deeper meaning in his attempts to swindle him so many times: He attempted to entrap him in the world of lies and deceit.
And that is precisely what Yaakov meant when he told Esav, “עם לבן גרתי ותרי״ג מצוות שמרתי”, with Lavan I resided, but I nevertheless kept all the mitzvos.” “Not only didn’t he succeed in entrapping me in his world of swindling and dishonesty—but I also managed to draw out all the ניצוצות, the holy sparks, that remained within Lavan. And as soon as my work was done, the Ribbono shel Olam commanded me to return home.
Loving Hashem with Our Money
As we see in the parashah, the klipah of Lavan was the klipah of dishonesty in money—so much so that the Torah refers to him as לבן הארמי, Lavan the swindler. This was his essence. When we look at the nisyonos of Yaakov in the house of Lavan, we see that they center around the matter of money.
When a person is careful with the kashrus of his money, he is himself good and kosher. The nisayon of honesty in money is a great one indeed—because it touches a very deep place in the person—and thus, the level of one’s honesty in money is a testament to his overall character.
Indeed, to fulfill “ואהבת את ה׳ אלוקיך בכל מאודך”, to love Hashem with all our resources (money), isn’t a simple matter at all. Just as we understand that loving Hashem בכל נפש requires mesirus nefesh, so too, בכל מאודך requires much sacrifice.
A Ladder That Reaches to the Heavens
The Ba’al haTurim in the beginning of this parashah tells us that the word סולם (ladder, which Yaakov saw in his dream) has the numerical value of ממון, money. And many of the sifrei chassidus explain that money is like a ladder that has its feet on the ground and its tip reaches to the Heavens: On one hand, money can drag a person down—as tzaddikim taught us that the excessive pursuit of money borders on avodah zarah, and that this pursuit is the only remnant of the yetzer hara of avodah zarah, which was quashed by the Anshei Knesses haGedolah.
At the same time, if a person is careful to approach money the right way—he runs from the slightest whiff of dishonesty as from a fire—such a person is ראשו מגיע השמימה, he is truly on a lofty level.
We see people who look for workarounds that border on dishonesty in order to earn a bit more. But the harder it is to withstand the nisayon, the greater the reward for someone who overcomes this nisayon.
But we must remember that this is like a ladder we ascend rung by rung....
