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.