In Genesis 31:1 we read
“And he (Jacob) heard
the words of Laban’s sons…”
וישמע את דברי בני לבן
Anti-Semitism starts with
evil speaking and accusations
against Jacob or Israel.
We read further
“Saying, Jacob has taken away
all that was our father’s;
and of all that which was our father’s
has he gotten all this glory (wealth).”
לאמר לקח יעקוב
את כל אשר לאבינו
וּמאשר לאבינו עשה
את כל הכבוד הזה:
This is nothing less than envy
which is the root or basis of anti-Semitism.
This envy falls into three categories:
1. Envy of wealth.
Here the scripture uses the word
glory כבוד for wealth.
2. Envy of intelligence.
There is the question
“Why are Jews so smart?”
It ends with accusations of stealing
and using devious methods.
This thought process
changes the peoples face.
The countenance and favor turns sour.
In Genesis 31:2 it says
“And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban,
and, behold, it was not toward him
as before.”
וירא יעקוב את פני לבן
והנה איננו עמו
כתמול שלשום:
3. Envy of the covenant and blessing of G-d.
These accusations of the sons of Laban
were the same accusations that
were hurled against the Jews in Germany.
In Genesis 31:3
HASHEM immediately speaks to Jacob
and tells Jacob to return
to his own country,
the land of Israel,
and gives him the promise
“ and I will be with you .”
“And HASHEM said to Jacob,
Return to the land of your fathers,
and to your kindred:
and I will be with you.”
ויאמר יהוה אל יעקוב
שוב אל ארץ אבותיך
וּלמולדתך
ואהיה עמך:
The Hebrew word for
‘I will be’ אהיה
is the first part of the
Name of G-d that he revealed
to Moses in Exodus 3:14.
It is the ‘I AM’.
“And G-d said to Moses,
I AM THAT I AM:
and he said, Thus shall you say
to the children of Israel,
I AM has sent me to you.”
ויאמר אלהים אל משה
אהיה אשר אהיה
ויאמר כּה תאמר לבני ישראל
אהיה שלחני אליכם:
G-d spoke to the Jews
to get out of Nazi Germany
before the Holocaust
and to return to the land of Israel
where he would BE WITH US.
He said to take their wealth,
but they did not want to take their wealth.
The name of Laban לבן
means ‘white’ in Hebrew.
This signifies that he was
righteous in his own eyes.
He was ‘religious’.
He was a Syrian.
He and his sons pursued Jacob.