[Avodah] Yaakov's pragmatic (not philosophical) reactions

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jan 04, 2023 at 05:11:54AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> Anyone comment on the parallels of Yaakov's pragmatic (not philosophical)
> reactions in Toldot (27:12) (maybe my father will find me out) and in
> Vayishlach (34:30) (maybe the locals will destroy me/us)?

It could be that he trusted his mother (and the navi she consulted) that
there was a net moral positive to deceiving his father. So, he only had
the fear that it wouldn't work anyway, and the positive outcome wouldn't
happen, only the moral negative of geneivas daas.

OTOH, at the end of his life, he leaves Shimon and Levi with a more
value-driven message about the attacks on Shechem and the sale of
Yoseif. Maybe he suspended judgment on the moral question until he learned
of the sale and realized he was dealing with "kelei chamas mesheiroseihem"
and not holy kana'us.

(R Matis Blum zt"l, Torah LoDaas, wrote something along those lines about
mechiras Yoseif informing Yaaqov's judgement of slaughtering Sechem in
my Bar Mitzvah derashah, which was parashas Pinechas.)

Chodesh Tov!
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Life is a stage and we are the actors,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   but only some of us have the script.
Author: Widen Your Tent                  - Rav Menachem Nissel
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF