In this week's parsha, we learn about the not-so-holy Lavan, whose Hebrew name literally means "white." What does this represent, exactly?
Says Rebbi Moshe Shapira z"l (D'var Shefar): White means I can write on it what I want—the options are open. Our Sages teach us that the Torah is written "black fire on top of white fire." Yaakov Avinu (who represents Torah) comes to put "tzura to the chomer," to establish Truth in the World, and therefore marries the righteous daughters of Lavan.
Now says Rebbi Moshe z"l: As long as emes (truth) is "just another option," then it is not really the "truth" in its full sense, for emes in a deeper sense represents the reality, a person that lives with the recognition that only Hashem is running the world, in the greatest and most perfect manner (and that is why lashon hara, the spreading of negative truths, is so bad, for it turns reality inside-out, and paints a black picture of the world and of Hashem).
"Lavan" means that all options are open, which on the one hand is where Klal Yisrael is built, but on the other hand represents a refusal to "commit" to the reality that there is only Hashem and that He is running everything in the most perfect matter, from start to finish and everything in between. Lavan is our "rebbi" how not to be!
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During Corona, A.E.* was more "there than here." The doctors had given-up a long time ago, and had suggested that the family get together to say "good-bye"...until someone "by mistake" dialed a big Novardekor, who right away "denied" the whole thing, saying that it was all a "bunch of baloney", and that A.E. is the biggest bluffer that ever lived. He "guaranteed" that within three days A.E. will be jumping-out of bed, singing and dancing like nothing had ever happened. Needless to say, kach hava (that's exactly what happened). This is the power of extreme positivity (with a rebbi). (You can cry, too—it's not a contradiction). And the truth is, you too can do things like this. It is one of the best-kept secrets of how Hashem made the world (even "without" bitachon, and so much more so "with" bitachon). So let's make a bumper-sticker: "Positivity Saves Lives"! (Or, go like Rebbi Arush shlit"a, and "sing and dance" thanking Hashem for your problems, which itself is a great segula for all that is good).
