In this week’s parsha, Parshas Chayei
Sarah, Eliezer travels to Charan to find a wife for Yitzchak, the son of his
master, Avraham. The Torah describes in great detail the tremendous siyata
dishmaya that led Eliezer to finding Rivka and bringing her back to Eretz
Yisrael.
While on his trip, Eliezer meets the
rest of Rivka’s family, including her brother, Lavan. Lavan takes a more
prominent role in later parshiyos when Yaakov goes to live with him; however, one
aspect of Lavan’s character is shown immediately, starting from our parsha.
Lavan was known as a liar and cheat; different examples show this to be
overwhelmingly true, including most famously, his switching Rachel for Leah
under Yaakov’s chuppah, as well as examples in this week’s parsha and other
encounters with Yaakov. However, there is one pasuk in this week’s parsha that
paints a slightly different picture.
“וּלְרִבְקָ֥ה אָ֖ח
וּשְׁמ֣וֹ לָבָ֑ן” “Rivka had a brother whose name was Lavan.” (Bereishis
24:29). The Ohr HaChaim brings a medrash that explains that when a pasuk in the
Torah introduces a tzaddik, it will write, “and his name was…”, but when
talking about a rasha, the pasuk will write, “and…was his name.” So according
to how our pasuk is written, Lavan was actually a tzaddik!
The Ohr HaChaim
explains that by looking at the whole pasuk, we can understand what was
actually happening here.
Immediately after he
is introduced, the pasuk says that Lavan ran down to the well to meet Eliezer,
and the beginning of the next pasuk says he saw the jewelry that Eliezer had
given Rivka. Chazal explain that he ran down to see if Eliezer was going to
hand out any more money; consistent behavior with our overall impression of
him. However, if this was the case, shouldn’t the pasuk say that he first saw
the jewelry and then ran down to meet Eliezer?
Explains the Ohr
HaChaim, after coming home from the well, Rivka told Lavan all about this
stranger who she was very excited about, but who Lavan saw was clearly making advances
on his sister. This immediately brought up protective feelings in Lavan and he immediately
raced down to the well to defend his sister from whomever this man may be,
without even listening to a proper explanation! But after seeing the expensive
jewelry that Eliezer had given Rivka, and listening to him speak, he understood
that Eliezer had only the best intentions in mind and was actually paying his
sister a huge honor by bringing her into the family of Avraham. At this point,
all of Lavan’s suspicions were gone, and he began to plan to separate Eliezer
from his money, once again slipping back into his natural state.
The Ohr HaChaim says
that it was from this small act of running to defend his sister that Lavan
merited having the Bnei Yisrael come from him. From his two daughters, Rachel
and Leah (as well as Bilha and Zilpa according to one opinion) came the twelve
tribes of Yisrael, meaning Lavan was the grandfather of the Jewish People!
While we hopefully
will do more mitzvos and kind acts in our lifetime than Lavan did, it’s
important to realize the power of a single act. It’s not as if Lavan did
something crazy, he was simply following his instinct to protect his sister,
and yet, Hashem rewarded him magnificently. You never know which act you do
will be the one that affects you, your family, and the whole world for
generations to come. Don’t waste the opportunity, this may be it.
Shabbat Shalom!
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