- Sections
- Parashat Hashavua
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Vayetze
371
We have discussed in the past that Lavan had turned Yaakov into a captive of sorts, taking advantage of Yaakov’s fleeing from Eisav as a way to take away his freedom. By escaping from Lavan’s house with his wives, Yaakov was standing up to Lavan and declaring his independence. When Hashem appeared to Lavan and informed him that He would not allow Lavan to continue imposing his will on Yaakov, Lavan decided that it served his interests to enter into a treaty with Yaakov.
We have also seen that in the time of Tanach (and unfortunately still today in certain places), one of the ways to show one’s sovereignty over a conquered region was to distribute the women of the conquered nation among the leader and soldiers of the conquering nation. These women would be taken in addition to men’s own wives. On the basis of this background, we can understand Lavan’s condition as follows. His concern was not for his daughters, whom he used for deception, switching them on the night of Yaakov’s wedding to Rachel. Rather, he was concerned that Yaakov would come back to Aram and wage war against the people among whom he was a central leader. This would be accompanied, in his view, by Yaakov taking additional wives. In truth, if Rachel and Leah were to receive real freedom, it was by escaping from their father and his absurd treatment of their family.
To complete the freedom, though, Yaakov had to deal with the dangers posed by Eisav and his angel. When Yaakov stood up to the angel, he was given the name Yisrael, indicating that he had earned his independence for himself and his offspring.
Let us pray that our independence in the State of Israel will be used to continue the legacy of our physical and spiritual national father, Yaakov.

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