THE BAIS HAVAAD'S PARSHA PERSPECTIVES Parshas Vayeitzei:All for the Boss By Rabbi Yaakov Ringel

Yaakov Avinu, having endured twenty years of ill-treatment and trickery at the hands of his uncle and father-in-law, Lavan, finally feels that the time has come to air his grievances. In contrasting Lavan’s behavior with his own, Yaakov declares to Lavan, “These twenty years that I have been with you, your ewes and she-goats never miscarried, nor did I eat rams of your flock. That which was mangled I never brought to you- I myself bore the loss, from me you would exact it, whether it was stolen by day or by night. This is how I was: By day scorching heat consumed me, and frost by night; my sleep drifted from my eyes….” (Breishis 31:38-40) In examining Yaakov’s behavior, as described in the above passage, one might conclude that this is yet another example of our forefathers acting in a manner way beyond the normal requirements of halacha. After all, there are many examples in these parshayos of the Avos acting on an almost super-human level.