Parshat Vayetze and Yaakov Avinu's Business Ethics

Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum talks about the Torah portion of Vayetze and how Jacob kept his morals and benefits from the fruits of his labors.

Shalom my friends, this is Simcha Hochbaum of Hebron. This Shabbat we read about Yaakov Avinu’s adventures in finding a wife, when Yaakov struggles with living with his father-in-law Lavan. But also it’s all about Yaakov’s business ethics.

Yaakov Avinu and this book of Beresheet is called by many Sefer Yesharim, the Book of the Righteous.

The Rambam refers to Yaakov as Yaakov HaTzadik. We know we refer to Yaakov in Birkat HaMazon, Kidosheinu kidosh Yaakov, the Holiness of our patriarch Jacob.

What made Yaakov so unique and so holy? It was Yaakov’s business ethics, his hard work, his labor, his toiling, working for his father-in-law seven years to get Rachel.

Even after being ripped off, Yaakov didn't allow himself to fall into the trap of stealing from a thief, but rather he worked with the same fervor, with the same energy for Rachel the second set of seven years.

When Yaakov says I’ve toiled and I’ve labored, and ate from the fruit of my labors, it was in that merit that he prayed to Hashem that God saved from any attack from Lavan both monetarily or physically.

Today, unfortunately sometimes hard work is a dirty word. We want everything to come easy and everything to just fall into our hands.

But Yaakov Avinu teaches us how to have clean hands how to be yashar, straight in business ethics, how to work and toil and labor to receive the gifts of life.

God willing we should see the fruits of our hands in Eretz Yisrael, all the hard work, all the mesirat nefesh, both on the battlefield and in settling here in Hebron.

We should be able to taste those great fruits.

Shabbat shalom.