Parshas
Vayeitzei
Considerable
Consideration:
Pareidolia
and The Way of a Tzaddik
By:
Daniel Listhaus
וַיֹּאמֶר
לָהֶם יַעֲקֹב אַחַי מֵאַיִן אַתֶּם
וַיֹּאמְרוּ מֵחָרָן אֲנָחְנוּ:
וַיֹּאמֶר
לָהֶם הַיְדַעְתֶּם אֶת לָבָן בֶּן נָחוֹר
וַיֹּאמְרוּ יָדָעְנוּ:
וַיֹּאמֶר
לָהֶם הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ וַיֹּאמְרוּ שָׁלוֹם
וְהִנֵּה רָחֵל בִּתּוֹ בָּאָה עִם
הַצֹּאן:
וַיֹּאמֶר
הֵן עוֹד הַיּוֹם גָּדוֹל לֹא עֵת הֵאָסֵף
הַמִּקְנֶה הַשְׁקוּ הַצֹּאן וּלְכוּ
רְעוּ
“Yaakov
said to them, 'My brothers, where are you from?' And they said, 'We
are from Charan.' He said to them, 'Do you know Lavan the son of
Nachor?' And they said, 'We know.' Then he said to them, 'Is it well
with him?' They said, 'It is well; and see – his daughter Rachel is
coming with the flock!'”
-Vayeitzei
29:4-7
The
Torah describes that Yaakov found himself by a well in a field. At
that well, Yaakov saw three flocks of sheep alongside their
shepherds, who were just hanging around seemingly wasting their time.
Yaakov approached them and asked where they were from. When they
responded they were from Charan, he asked if they knew Lavan and if
everything was well by him. They confirmed that indeed Lavan was
doing well, and they proceeded to point out that Lavan's daughter,
Rachel, happened to have been coming to the well at that moment. The
passuk
(verse)
continues to state that Yaakov then asked them why they were just
sitting around and not watering their flocks. They answered that as
much as they wanted to, they could not, because there was a large
stone blocking the well which they were unable to roll off until the
other shepherds would come with their flocks, and only together would
the stone be able to be removed. The passuk
then
continues that while Yaakov was still speaking to the shepherds,
Rachel had come and when Yaakov saw her, he immediately stepped
forward and rolled the stone off in order for Rachel to be able to
water her father's sheep.
There
are a few interesting things about this event and a couple of lessons
to take to heart. After all, the purpose of the Torah is not to
relate history or to be a storybook but rather to teach us good
middos
(character
traits)
and
mitzvos.
Clearly the Torah details the conversation between Yaakov avinu
and
the shepherds in order for us to learn how to act properly.
The
S'forno1
writes
that in Yaakov's mind it was extremely important for him to know how
Lavan was doing before just showing up at his front door. After all,
it is not proper for a guest to come unannounced to someone's house
without at least knowing what is going on there. Perhaps the host is
in the middle of a simcha
(happy
occasion) or some other event, whether good or bad, that may be
preoccupying his mind. If that were to be the case it would not be
nice for a guest to barge in and steal the spotlight or divert the
host's attention.
The
problem with this
is
that the S'forno
does not seem to be taking Yaakov's situation into account. Keep in
mind, Yaakov was not going to his uncle Lavan's house for a shabbaton
or
family vacation; he was running away from his brother who had
threatened to murder him. Additionally, as if Yaakov's life was not
difficult enough, he bumped into his nephew, Eliphaz, Eisav's son,
along the way who robbed him of everything he had.2
Yaakov desperately needed a place to stay, food to eat, work to make
money, and a wife to marry. Would it be so unreasonable for Yaakov to
show up at Lavan's door with just the shirt on his back and ask for a
place to stay? Was it really necessary for him to stop to ask about
Lavan's well being before seeing him?
As
mentioned above, when the Torah finishes the dialogue between Yaakov
and the shepherds and mentions that Rachel came to the well, the
Torah testifies that it was only at that moment that Yaakov chose to
remove the large rock from on top of the well – a feat that even
the three shepherds could not accomplish.3
The
S'forno4
is bothered at this point with the following. If indeed Yaakov had
the strength to move the stone off the well, then why did he wait for
Rachel to come before he rolled it off? Why did he not do so
originally to help out the three shepherds who were their with their
flocks?
The
S'forno
therefore
comments that it must be that Yaakov did not want to roll the stone
off the well for the three shepherds. When Yaakov asked the shepherds
why they were just sitting around, they responded that they needed to
wait for the other shepherds to come in order to roll the stone off
together. Therefore, Yaakov did not want to roll the stone off for
them because he was concerned that if he would do so, the shepherds
would water their flock and leave instead of waiting around to help
out the other shepherds they were originally waiting for. Clearly
Yaakov avinu
was
not merely listening attentively to the words the shepherds were
telling him, but was even in-tuned to how his actions would effect
those who were not even present.
This
S'forno
too
is difficult to understand. Why did Yaakov have to involve himself so
intricately into the business of the shepherds? He chanced upon a
situation which called for his simple help, yet he went above and
beyond. Yaakov took into account all the details and information
thinking about even those who he had never met and would never meet.
Imagine if Yaakov would have rolled the stone off and indeed the
three shepherds would have watered their own flock and then left
before the others came. Would it have been the end of the world? The
other shepherds would have probably been confused how the stone was
removed from the well, but other than that they would have just
watered their own flocks by themselves. Yet Yaakov did not want to
roll of the stone because usually the shepherds would have all helped
each other, so he did not want to be a cause of taking away the extra
help that the other shepherds were used to getting. Only when the
curve-ball was pitched and Rachel entered the equation did Yaakov
have to re-calculate and decide that, for Rachel, the right thing to
do would be to remove the rock. However, was it really necessary for
Yaakov to care so much to make personal calculations how his actions
would effect every single person? Once again, he had much more
important things to worry about than the feelings and effort of
people he never met. He was running away from Eisav with absolutely
nothing to his name. Why did Yaakov go the extra mile to what seems
like an extreme care of others at this particular point?
There
is a fascinating phenomenon, which seems to be programmed into every
individual, called pareidolia. Although the concept is broad, there
is one facet of it which almost every person could relate to. Namely,
the ability of people to recognizes faces in many objects. For
example, take a look at the electric outlet in your wall, you will
see two gasping 'uh-oh' faces staring back at you. Look at the front
of any car and you could determine its imaginary character by the way
its headlights, hood, and bumper are shaped and sized. Whether it be
food arranged on a plate, holes in a tree, or windows on a house,
people tend to see faces in common objects all over the place. Yet,
as much fun we have pointing out these imaginary faces and putting
our own comments in like, “look at that angry oriental-man-car
zooming down the street” or “that house looks quite tired with
its eyes half closed (shades down halfway on the upstairs windows)”,
we tend to often ignore the feelings and story behind real
faces. Despite global warming, there is a certain coldness and
aloofness which is taking over the world. Friends are for Facebook
and emotions go no further than an emoticon in a text message.
Everything is virtual, everything is fake. Rarely is someone laughing
when they write LOL and rarely does one really care about what one of
his Facebook friends is doing, except out of jealousy or to make sure
to do something cooler and better. There is no question that it is
becoming increasingly uncommon to find a person who genuinely cares
about how others are doing.
Yaakov
avinu,
on the other hand represents exactly the opposite. Despite the fact
that he was being hunted by his brother and trying to move to the
next stage of his life, Yaakov still paid a tremendous amount of
attention to even the little details when it came to caring for
others; his asking about Lavan's well-being before barging in, and
his being able to stand in the shoes of people he never met in order
to determine how his potential actions would effect them, were things
that were so important to Yaakov that even his hard situation would
not stop him from behaving in ways he deemed as sub-human. It would
have been so easy to throw in the towel and feel that he had a right
to knock on Lavan's door and ask to stay there. It would have been
fine to not go so far as to worry about the possible extra effort
that the shepherds who were coming later might have to exert. However
that was not Yaakov. Yaakov is our role model as one of our avos,
and demonstrated how we, as people who were created b'tzelem
Elokim,
are expected to act towards others.
May
Hashem help us recognize Yaakov avinu
as
our role model and in turn allow us to mend the three legs that the
world stands on - Torah, Avodah,
and Gamillas
Chasadim
(kindness),5
and push away the three things which are currently destroying it –
Kinnah
(jealousy),
Taivah
(lust),
and Kavod
(honor).6
1S'forno
Beraishis 29:6
2See
Rashi Beraishis 29:11.
Eliphaz was really coming on Eisav's orders to kill Yaakov. However,
Eliphaz found himself in a conflict because on the one hand Eliphaz
loved Yaakov, but on the other hand, he felt he had to carry out his
father's wishes. So, they “compromised” and Eliphaz robbed
Yaakov of everything because someone with no possessions is
considered to be dead.
3See
Rabbeinu Bachayei 29:10 who
writes that Yaakov was so strong that even though he was exhausted
from traveling, he was able to lift the stone off the well, while
three shepherds who evidently had not even started their day's work
yet, were not able to budge it.
4S'forno
Beraishis 29:10
5See
Avos 1:2
No comments:
Post a Comment