[Avodah] patterns???

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Harvey Benton asked:

> we all know the damage that yaakov did by favoritising joseph. 
> q1. ...
> q1a ...
> q2. ...
> 3. ...

I would like to suggest that all the questions can be resolved by analyzing your first initial comment. All these questions boil down to a very respectful way of asking, "How many times does he have to make the same mistake, until he finally understands that dangers of playing favorites?" Indeed, the subject line attests to this repetitiousness.

My response is that, as you wrote, *WE* know the damage that is done by playing favorites. But it seems that Yaakov Avinu truly did not understand this. We have learned and benefited from his mistakes.

In a similar vein, one can say that while Moshe Rabbenu certainly knew Torah and Kedusha better than anyone else, his knowledge of some other areas (such as how best to set up a judicial system) was imperfect, and he benefited from Yisro's advice in these areas.

Also: Consider the matter when two women had a maternity dispute over an infant, and the case was brought to Shlomo Hamelech. He rendered his verdict, and both women honestly spoke their mind, whereas we today would like to think that we'd call the king's bluff. We think we're smarter than those women, just like we don't understand Yaakov Avinu. But the truth is that we're not any smarter than those women - we merely have the advantage of having heard the story already.

I think this is at least part of what is meant by being "midgets standing on the shoulders of giants." We are truly smaller than them; we're simply fortunate to be walking the paths that they've blazed long ago.

Akiva Miller

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