(from Daas Torah on Bereishit)
“Who Needs Struggles?”
Our parsha begins with Yaakov innocuously, “living in the land of his fathers’ sojourning,” but Rashi makes an critical comment. “Yaakov wanted to live serenely (b’shalva), but the tumultuous Yosef episode (“rogzo shel Yosef”) jumped up at him. Tzadikim want to live with serenity. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them, ‘Is not what is prepared for you in the World to Come enough for you? You also want to live serenely in This World?’”
Rav Yerucham asks the obvious questions: What is so terrible about the tzadikim also getting serenity in this world? Why begrudge them the double good? Furthermore, what kind of serenity are they interested in anyways? – peace of mind for spiritual pursuits. Didn’t Yaakov want to spend his time involved in wisdom, meditation, and prayer? Does G-d not encourage the tzadikim to live a spiritual life? Why is the “Rogzo shel Yosef” so important?
The Midrash (Bemidbar Rabba 19:1) lays down a principle, “The World to Come stems out of This World,” but the two levels of existence cannot be identical. This world without the “rogez” would not be this world.
Why must this world be so full of tumult and struggle? Another Rashi gives us an insight.
Yaakov told Eisav, “I lived with Lavan” (Bereishit 32:5) — in Hebrew, “Im Lavan garti.” “Garti” is written gimel reish tav yud, numerically equivalent to 613, so Rashi comments, “I lived with Lavan and kept the 613 commandments.” Why does Yaakov not just say that he kept the 613 commandments? Why say it in a roundabout way?
Yaakov did not only keep the 613 commandments despite living in Lavan’s house; he learned how to keep them through living in Lavan’s house. The Sages also say (Avoda Zara 3a), “Let Lavan come and testify that Yaakov is beyond any suspicion of theft.” The hostile environment he found himself in actually contributed to his development. Yaakov’s struggles with Lavan helped to forge him. So when he wanted to communicate to Eisav that he kept the commandments, he spoke of his stay in Lavan’s house, the testing ground for really keeping the commandments.
It was Lavan’s trickery that put Yaakov’s honesty to the test, and he held up to his own high standards during all of the long years of having his salary changed time after time. He worked as tirelessly during the 7 years after Lavan switched Rachel for Leah as he did during the first 7 years (see Rashi on 29:30). During their final showdown Yaakov was able to say with confidence that he had taken absolutely nothing during the long years of living in his father-in-law’s house (see Bereishit Rabba 74:7).
The struggles of this world forge us. We of course do not run after difficulties, but we are often presented with them. Yaakov’s life teaches us that they are necessary for our development.
Every time we encounter a situation we must ask ourselves, like Yaakov did, “How can I grow through this? How can this forge me? Am I still complete after the struggle?
[prepared by Eliezer Kwass]
