Double Standards
On November 29th, 1947, the United Nations voted on a plan to partition Palestine, which had been under the British Mandate since the end of World War I, into two states for Jews and Arabs, with Jerusalem and environs as an international city.
November 29th that year was on Shabbos Parshas Vayetze. After Shabbos, people came to Rabbi Yitzckak Herzog, chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazic Jewish community to tell him what happened. He said he was aware of the vote, and he could even tell them how the vote went: 33 in favor, and 13 against.
That was indeed true (an additional 11 abstained). “How could the Rav possibly know?” they asked. He couldn’t have left the radio on over Shabbos.
No need, he said. It’s right in this week’s parsha. At the end of the parsha, Yaakov and Lavan make a treaty and name a mound of stones. Yaakov names it גלעד=ל'ג בעד (33 in support) and Lavan calls it יגר שהדותא=י'ג רשע (13 wicked).
We all know what happened next, of course. The Arab nations were upset that Palestinian Arabs got less than half the land when they were 2/3 of the population and they invaded…so they could seize the entire territory for themselves. But this week’s parsha’s connection to Middle Eastern politics doesn’t end with the UN vote.
First, an overview. After 20 years of shepherding for Lavan, Yaakov and family set off for Canaan. Lavan finds out and overtakes them in Gilead, having been warned by Hashem not to harm Yaakov. Instead, Lavan proposes a treaty. Yaakov raises a stone as a matzevah, a memorial stone to their treaty. Lavan is unimpressed by one measly and has Yaakov set up a large mound. Now he’s willing to make a deal. “This memorial stone is a witness and this mound is a witness; I may not pass this mound to harm you, and you may not pass this mound or this memorial stone to harm me.”
This, R’ Ahron Soloveichik says, is the first double standard. Yaakov has to worry about two borders, and Lavan only has to worry about one. We all know how the Jewish people are held to a higher standard; just look at what happens whenever a Jew commits a crime, or whenever the government of Israel does something.
But we can’t forget that the extra standard that Yaakov was held to was the one he had set up. We are only held to a higher standard in that we hold ourselves to a higher standard. As the saying goes “when a dog bites a man, it isn’t news; when a man bites a dog, it’s news.” And if, God forbid, they stop holding us to our higher standards, it will mean we have failed as a people.
Now, I don’t think R’ Ahron meant that we should go around flaunting our religiosity and bragging about our higher moral standards. That’s obnoxious, annoying, and a violation of הצנע לכת עם ﭏהיך. But it does mean that we need to take ourselves and our actions seriously. People can tell if you are honest, scrupulous, hard-working, or not. Even a Lavan, who has no use for morality, had to eventually concede that Yaakov was in the right. Hopefully, we will be able to be true to ourselves and our holy calling wherever we go.