Vayeshev 2021
Isaac’s Parsha Corner · 2021
Deception - A pattern that needed to stop
The Book of Bereishis is replete with stories of people deceiving one another. Often the deception is overt falsehood but sometimes merely hiding the truth has the same effect. The consequences are always bad if not awful. The first deception is the snake who tells Eve that she may neither touch nor eat from the tree of knowledge. This small deceit leads to devastating world changing consequences. Abraham, with cooperation from Sarah and the family, tells all of Egypt that Sarah is his sister. He repeats this deception later with Avimelech. Isaac falls into the same pattern also with Avimelech. Lot’s daughters ply Lot with drink placing him in state where he is unaware what was happening to him in the night. Abraham fails to tell Sarah of his plan to sacrifice their son and when she finds out she dies from shock. Jacob tricks his father to obtain his brother’s blessing. Lavan tricks Jacob switching Leah for Rachael. Rachael cooperates with this deception and gives Leah the secret signs. Jacob plays the striped animal trick on Lavan and runs out in the middle of the night. Rachael lies to her father about the stolen idols and gets cursed for it. Tamar pretends to be the harlot on the corner tricking her own father in law Judah into a sexual encounter. Joseph’s brothers hide their misdeeds with a false story implying that Joseph was attacked and eaten by a wild animal. Joseph hides his true identity from his brothers thereby delaying the reunion with Jacob.
The pattern of trickery and deceit is often self justified. The excuses proffered for these falsehoods are served up by the perpetrators themselves in the Torah. Often the rabbinic literature offers excuses to justify the behavior. Occasionally the Midrash takes the falsehoods to task by offering consequences to the perpetrators. Judah gets his comeuppance for asking his father “Do you recognize whether or not this is your son’s shirt? This happens when Tamar asks “Do you recognize this ring?
Do lies work? Sometimes they do and sometime not. It is a high stakes gamble “May be my father will find me out and will curse me” with often unanticipated outcomes. We know that one falsehood leads to another and one is caught in a downward spiral of never ending deceit. The liar is actually deceiving his or her self and often brings other into the deception.
I can’t say for sure but from all these stories it seems to me that it is best to tell the truth. The consequences may be less than perfect but it will be an honest life. The Rabbi’s have taught us, “God’s signature is “TRUTH”. It has got to be better than the alternative.
The Parsha Corner is dedicated this week to the memory of my Uncle Shmaryahu Shulman of blessed memory who passed away this week. He was a true Gadol, and will be sorely missed by all those who knew him and learned from him.