The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Vayeitzei (29:1-30) we read of Ya'akov's arrival at Lavan's home and his interplay with Lavan and Lavan's family which ultimately results in Ya'akov's marriage to Leah and Rachel. When Ya'akov first meets Rachel, the Torah indicates at 29:12 that Ya'akov told Rachel that he was "her father's brother." This is an odd choice of words for Ya'akov as his mother was Lavan's sister and he was certainly not her uncle.
Rashi offers two explanations for this lashon. The first explanation is that he said to her that he was close to her father like a brother. The second (midrashic explanation) was that Yaa'kov told Rachel that he was like Lavan - if Lavan tried to trick him, Ya'akov was Lavan's brother in deceit.
Rabbi Frand then commented that many times the boys in his shiur will come to him for advice before they begin dating. They discuss many things, but he never has to tell them that its not a good idea to tell a girl that the boy is as good a trickster as the father. What possessed Ya'akov to tell Rachel that he was as good a con man as Lavan?
Rabbi Frand then asked a second question - how do we see that Ya'akov followed through with his statement that he was as good a trickster as Lavan. We actually see the opposite since when Lavan switches Leah for Rachel and then Ya'akov sees the true first wife's identity, Ya'akov approaches Lavan who tells Ya'akov you can marry Rachel in exchange for another seven years of work. If Ya'akov was such a good ramai, he would have taken Rachel and left without having worked the extra seven years!
Rabbi Frand quoted the Tolner Rav who answered the questions by making reference to a gemara in Bava Basra 89b (a Daf Yomi Crossover!) which discusses the various ways in which merchants could trick buyers or buyers could trick sellers by using uneven measuring devices. After discussing these various tricks, R' Yochanan Ben Zakai then questions whether he should openly bar these practices. He states that if he overtly discussed the tricks there is a possibility that people will learn "new" ways to trick others. On the other hand if he does not ban them the unethical people will think that the rabbis are not familiar with their tricks. The gemara then asks - did he or not? R' Shmuel bar R'Yitzchak said that they were openly barred based on a pasuk in Hoshea that the ways of Hashem are straight - the righteous will follow them and the wicked stumble upon them.
In Vayeitzei (29:1-30) we read of Ya'akov's arrival at Lavan's home and his interplay with Lavan and Lavan's family which ultimately results in Ya'akov's marriage to Leah and Rachel. When Ya'akov first meets Rachel, the Torah indicates at 29:12 that Ya'akov told Rachel that he was "her father's brother." This is an odd choice of words for Ya'akov as his mother was Lavan's sister and he was certainly not her uncle.
Rashi offers two explanations for this lashon. The first explanation is that he said to her that he was close to her father like a brother. The second (midrashic explanation) was that Yaa'kov told Rachel that he was like Lavan - if Lavan tried to trick him, Ya'akov was Lavan's brother in deceit.
Rabbi Frand then commented that many times the boys in his shiur will come to him for advice before they begin dating. They discuss many things, but he never has to tell them that its not a good idea to tell a girl that the boy is as good a trickster as the father. What possessed Ya'akov to tell Rachel that he was as good a con man as Lavan?
Rabbi Frand then asked a second question - how do we see that Ya'akov followed through with his statement that he was as good a trickster as Lavan. We actually see the opposite since when Lavan switches Leah for Rachel and then Ya'akov sees the true first wife's identity, Ya'akov approaches Lavan who tells Ya'akov you can marry Rachel in exchange for another seven years of work. If Ya'akov was such a good ramai, he would have taken Rachel and left without having worked the extra seven years!
Rabbi Frand quoted the Tolner Rav who answered the questions by making reference to a gemara in Bava Basra 89b (a Daf Yomi Crossover!) which discusses the various ways in which merchants could trick buyers or buyers could trick sellers by using uneven measuring devices. After discussing these various tricks, R' Yochanan Ben Zakai then questions whether he should openly bar these practices. He states that if he overtly discussed the tricks there is a possibility that people will learn "new" ways to trick others. On the other hand if he does not ban them the unethical people will think that the rabbis are not familiar with their tricks. The gemara then asks - did he or not? R' Shmuel bar R'Yitzchak said that they were openly barred based on a pasuk in Hoshea that the ways of Hashem are straight - the righteous will follow them and the wicked stumble upon them.
The Tolner Rav asked on the gemara - what difference does it make if the wicked think that the Rabbis don't understand their tricks? He answered that a person respects another if the other person knows the intricacies of his trade. By example, when I first visited the Square Rebbi, I knew that he was a great man and he certainly gives the appearance of being a holy man. But when I spoke with him and he asked me about my profession including the type of firm I work for and the type of work we do (all in perfect English) I was floored. Here was a chassidish Rebbi whose chassidim all speak yiddish and live in an insular community and he knew enough to ask whether I practiced civil or criminal law and the subcategories therof. This only served to raise my level of respect for him.
Rabbi Frand gave his own example of this principle in discussing Rabbanim who know a great deal about biology and how when a patient requires that a doctor consult with the Rabbi, the doctors are impressed with the level of knowledge the Rabbi has about the human body.
Rabbi Frand explained that R' Yochanan was concerned that the tricksters did not respect the Rabbanim. However, if they knew that the Rabbis knew the intricacies of their fraud the tricksters might respect the Rabbis. Rabbi Frand then quoted R' Chaim Vital who explains that R' Yochanan Ben Zakai was the gilgul of Ya'akov Avinu.
In telling Rachel that he was Lavan's brother in trickery, he was not saying that he would be tricking Lavan. Instead he was telling her that since he knew Lavan's tricks, maybe he could have an impact on and be mikarev Lavan. It was for this reason that Ya'akov never retaliated against Lavan - his intention was to try to earn Lavan's respect, not outfox him.
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