5784/2023
After 14 long years Yaakov Avinu finally pays off his debt to
his Lavan. At this point, Yaakov has had enough and is ready to
go. He has worked for 14 years for no salary, receiving only
room and board. He has been away from his home in Eretz
Yisrael for 14 years. He is done and ready to go home. And he
says as much to Lavan, requesting permission to go home.
Lavan knows that in order to get Yaakov to stay he needs to
come up with the most convincing argument possible, and he
“ַ,ויְ ָב ְר ֵכנִי ה ִּבגְ ָל ֶלָך” for ,stay to needs he that Yaakov tells He .does
“Hashem has blessed me because of you” (BeReisht 30:27). He
brings Hashem into his argument: his claim is that all this
blessing is from Hashem, and therefore Yaakov needs to stay.
What's curious is how Lavan explains that he knew that it was
from Hashem. Lavan says “תיִּשְׁחַ ִנ,” “I performed nichush”
(BeReishit 30:27). What exactly he did is hard to determine
with certainty. Nichush in other places in the Chumash refers
to some kind of superstitious symbology. The Gemara explains
that it means making decisions based on unrelated occurrences
in your life. For example (not the Gemara’s) if you decide not to
enter into a business deal because you see a black cat, that
would violate the Torah prohibition of Nichush. Based on this,
we could conclude that Lavan says that he did some sort of
voodoo practice (whether Nichush is actually effective or not is
a long standing machlokes in the Mefarshim and beyond the
scope). It would seem strange that in Lavan’s knockout
argument referencing Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Lavan also
mentions the anti-Torah concept of Nichush. Why does Lavan
mention it at all? If he wants to convince Yaakov, he should’ve
steered away from any non-Torah concepts? So why mention it
at all?
Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch shares a brief but very profound
insight in his commentary to the Chumash. He explains that
Lavan was in fact trying to sound as religious as he possibly
could. He knew that in order to convince Yaakov to stay he
would need a convincing holy argument. However, explains
Rav Hirsch, Lavan didn’t really understand what true religious
meaning and holiness really meant. He thought that his
divination, voodoo-esque actions tap into a spiritual place and
that would be something that Yaakov would appreciate. Lavan
did not understand what it really means to tap into the divine
to really have a spiritual connection to Hashem. Therefore he
had to substitute it with something false and fake. Lavan never
had a relationship with Hashem and therefore could not
differentiate between his Avodah Zara actions and that of true
holiness. Therefore, Lavan mistakenly thought that he was in
fact mustering a convincing argument that Yaakov would agree
to.
In our times there are many people that are starving and
seeking for a connection with something greater than
themselves, something spiritual and divine. Unfortunately not
everyone knows where to look. There are alot of isms and
causes (not to say that these causes are bad) that people take
up because they feel that lack of connection to G-d in their lives.
However, they, like Lavan do not have a true appreciation for
what it really means to live a life of connection to Torah. And
unfortunately some people we know suffer from the same
ailment. They feel that they are missing out on true spirituality.
They feel that they have no holiness in their lives and therefore
must turn to other causes and isms to fill the void in their lives.
However, in truth we sometimes feel there is a void when there
isn’t one. We sometimes might not feel very spiritual, but must
recognize that we in fact are. The Rambam in Shoresh 4 of the
Sefer Hamitzvos explains the Pasuk of “תהיו קדושים,” “be holy,” as
“ מצותי עשו,” “do my Mitzvot.” Explains the Rambam, true
holiness is following the 613 commandments that Hashem laid
out for us. At times we may not feel that connection with
Hashem, but if we are following the Mitzvot to the best of our
ability then we are truly holy people.