Lies in Ruin

In the Torah’s typology, Yaakov Avinu is the exemplar of emes, truth. But it’s also axiomatic that no one comes into this world with their attributes fully formed. One must instead do the work needed to perfect his traits, and that is true of Yaakov and his unshakeable commitment to truth, too.

Chazal teach that “rov banim domin l’achi ha’eim,” children tend to resemble their maternal uncle in certain respects. It would follow that Yaakov, too, might have started off life bearing traces of his mother’s brother Lavan, the very quintessence of deceit.

Arriving at Lavan’s home, Yaakov may have understood that it would not only be a refuge from Eisav but also a crucible of personal transformation. He needed to be there to evolve into that which he could be and ultimately became: the peerless paradigm of honesty — but only after having shed every vestige of Lavan’s influence.

Perhaps this why the pasuk says, “And it was when he saw Rachel, the daughter of Lavan, his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Lavan, his mother’s brother, he stepped forward and removed the stone from upon the mouth of the well and he gave the sheep of Lavan, his mother’s brother, to drink.” The repetitive identification of both Rachel and the sheep as connected to “Lavan, his mother’s brother” fairly jumps off the page.