Chumash B’Iyun - Did Yaakov Tell the Truth? By Rabbi James Kennard

this week's paraa is to do and which the the main element in toot is the giving of the bra to the by to one of his sons and we're all familiar with the story he plans to give it to asav Rifka overhears Rifka tells Yakov to dress up as asav and go and get the braa himself and we come to in quote number one goes into his father bearing the food that his father asked to be prepared andov said my father and replied here I am who are you my sonov said to his father I am as your firstborn a and I have done like you have said to me in other words I've prepared the food I've caught the the game like you asked me now get up and sit and eat from my trappings in order that you can bless my your soul can bless me now we have a like this little problem in this verse what's the little problem in this verse seems like a lie our ancest says I am asov your firstborn and the little problem is he's not and therefore he seems to be saying something which is not true which we would perhaps not expect of our Patriarchs let's go on a little bit further in the conversation is clearly not totally convinced who which son he's talking toov says are you this my son asov and he replied yes I am or he replied I am or I and then later on as turns up in his father said to asov who are you because I'm getting confused of all these Sons coming in and out same name and as says I am your son your firstborn asov so is asov telling the truth yes asov gets it right maybe we should be the descendants of asov which is perhaps what y intended and not the descendants of yakob so we have here a huge problem it's a well-known problem it's a much discussed problem there are dozens of responses to this we're going to go through hopefully four which is really three and a half as I will explain which actually cover I think the main spectrum of how we respond to this how do we deal with our ancestor yakob of whom it said tiain emov Hashem gives truth to yakob we say that every morning how can it be that he says a little bit of a what we call in London a pcup pie a untruth okay so we're going to see as I say four approaches which is really three and a half and we're going to start with the Radu R David Kimi says as follows in number two on the words there are those who Express wonder how could Yakov who was a sadic and a fearer of God how could he speak false so obviously the starting point is we shouldn't speak false the Tor says keep away from a false thing some want to say that's more encompassing than just don't lie someone to say that's less encompassing than don't lie but certainly we should be people of Truth the the signature of Hashem is truth and we would expect our ancestors to be telling the truth how could Yakov who is a sadic how could he Co how could the Sid coexist with the she says the end of line one the it's not a question because here's the answer knew that he was more fitting for the BR than his brother and then the the spirit of no of Prophecy that will settle on to give the blessing just pause for a minute um theak is saying something I think important of the whole story is why was this blessing so incredibly important why did Yakov and asov come to such blows over who was going to get it and the answer is because it's more than just a braa when one of us blesses another of us we just hope for um Hashem should uh shine on the person whom we are blessing but there's no guarantee that that will happen y according to radak was speaking with a spirit of NAA of Prophecy and when he says to whomever whichever son he thinks he's speaking to you're going to get this blessing and this blessing and this bounty and this produce it's a NAA it's a prophet so says uh and it's got an effect so says Yakov the spirit of NAA which will rest on my father to bless him Hashem himself who is providing the N will cause that the braa goes on yov and not on his brother because yov is more fitting in hashem's eyes than him than asov Yakov knows that when Hashem through y wants to give a br to the son who is most appropriate that son is him is yov and therefore he is the real recipient of the braa and he says and a very important Point really sums up his position end of line three and a swapping of things in these situ ations it's not a disgrace it's not a a defaming thing to a sadik and then he gives some proofs for that so his basic answer to our question is yov wanted the braa to go to the one who should get the braa which by coincidence was himself so when he says I am asov yes he is lying but he's lying in a way to bring about something that Hashem wants to happen and that's not called a gai and a I think it's significant that the ru and this will be borne out by what's going to come next the redu does not say this is not a lie he says the way I read it a lie in this circumstance is not a gai it's not a disgrace it's not a hasem it's not a defamation it is a lie I think the Rak is saying that but in this case it's a lie that's permitted uh it's it's it's not anything wrong because yakob is bringing about what Hashem wants to happen and then he says um we can see other examples of this um middle of line four and this is a classic example which is often quoted in the debate is it ever permitted to lie hasem said to so I just pause here let's set the scene sha is king um in the time of SCH sh the navi sha is the king it's not working out so well sha is not proving to be the most reliable of kings and Hashem want to go and anoint David this this young man in Bethlehem to be the King instead of sha and SCH says there's a problem here sha if he hears about this won't be best please in fact he will kill me so what should I do so Hashem says to end of line four take a cal with you in your hands and said I've come to make a sacrifice to Hashem I'm going to don't tell people you're going to to anint of it because that'll be dangerous go and tell people you're going to bleim to have a sacrifice now the interesting thing here and this is the example often quoted is it's not untrue SCH did take a cal and did conduct a sacrifice and then he went to a night du it so this example which the redact bringing here to show that it's okay under special circumstances with hashem's approval to say something that's not true is not necessarily a complete example what's going on there is SCH is telling the truth but not the whole truth when scho says I've come to make a sacrifice it is true but it's also deceptive but however I think the next examples are better for the reduxx position middle of line five both Abraham twice and once said regarding their wives she is my sister and yet we don't think of Abraham and Y as speakers of falsehood so they say something that's not true they said regarding their wives but they were their sisters okay so there are circumstances say the radak where a lie is not considered something that you shouldn't do that's how I think he's he's balancing it let me just finish the paragraph and then we'll take a question so they and yit it wases it was to save their own lives it was to save their wives lives or to save their wives from from something even worse um they spoke something which was not true but says the they're not called speakers of falsehood because out of fear they said what they saidov and now let's get back to Yakov he fits in the same pattern like schm like Abraham like Yak yob did what he had to do to receive the BR of his father and if he switched his words this is not called that doesn't make him a do and I think again the radak is being very precise is it a falsehood yes it is a falsehood but does that make Yakov a liar no it doesn't make him a liar because there are falsehoods which might be necessary which don't change the sidk the righteousness of the person saying it there still he he doesn't become a even though he said one thing that wasn't true that doesn't determine who he is and furthermore it was the Mitzvah of his mother his mother told him to do this a person should fear their mother and father and do what they say now we also are told by kazal um that if your mother or father tells you to go against that you shouldn't do that and the classic example is if your parent tells you to break Shabbat you should not listen to your parents you should not break Shabbat so the radak is is is finding different ways to make the same point yes this is a lie under no under usual circumstances it shouldn't be done but under these circumstances it was the right thing to do and his mother was telling him the right thing to do she wasn't telling him the wrong thing to do and therefore for part of his Mitzvah was to respect what her mother said and we'll just pause there because there's one more point that that brings but I'll take the question over here sorry sorry behind you just I'll come to you in a moment ASA or is he giving it to yob when you talk about the see if he says I'm ASA is this what heed for as or is this what heed okay there's a huge question I I think there is a clear answer to that but I I I I'm going to draw a line in this year because time is limited on what was yak's plan and I'll just mention that when asov comes in all upset and asov says have you got one little braa left for me the yak says well all right I'll find one little braa which which is a story in itself for um and then at the very end of the para calls in yov knows he yov and gives him the Abraham The Blessing of Abraham itself so perhaps you can say and I think the evidence is quite strong that there was a certain blessing that yak always intended for yakob however I think uh it's it's it's reasonable to say the answer to your question is sorry yov says I amov gives him the bra intended that bra to go to asov yes I was lawyer didn't okay we'll get to Rashi who is going to say what you're saying Rashi obviously it was trained in the same legal school okay we will get to that for sure yes about which is before talking about and also it it it it says by Abra when Sor says that my husband is uh is old then also well that yeah that by Abraham when Sarah says my husband and I are both old how can I have a baby and Hashem himself is that doesn't tell the whole story yet [Music] okay no uncomfortable of all the the question okay so you're you're right this because we want Hashem wants us us to have a good piece of Torah to learn um that's why it's so complicated but but um you're right it's forced absolutely because we've dealing with a very hard challenge here Yakov is a sadic Yakov is lying how can we reconcile the two but but we says the radak on good authority and the radak is the radak we have examples of Abraham y SCH saying things that aren't true but in a Justified for a Justified reason and then it becomes that again I think this is a very ke clear key phrase they don't become do even though on that particular instance they said a falsehood that doesn't affect who they are okay um yes I just wanted to ask that he had to be um his mother told him to do it and uh he had to keep yob had to keep keep aim indeed I I the interesting the the challenge of that did Yakov have to keep kib aim is the the hak is if your parent tell you to do something wrong you don't listen to your parents that's what the alaka says so it must be the radak is saying that Rifka told him to do something right which fits in with his whole analysis this is the right thing to do because it was right that he gets the braa I'll just take this last question and then I'll have to move on yes there may have been other ways to do this because the other false choices from the previous examples that you gave us had no negative consequences here it's a history of negative consequences so the implication is exact um maybe okay so was it the right way to do this I I'll leave that as a maybe because I want to get on um the radak continues he said [Music] um thank you the radat continues and says as we were just saying that it was a Mitzvah of his mother and then he says in almost the last line it was also a n and then he refer refers us to vas so let's just jump to okay let's just jump to number six sorry number four number four um when Rifka says to Yakov I want you to do this and dress up as asov Etc and then Yakov says this could be disastrous if my father realizes that I'm deceiving him he'll give me a curse not a br to which Rifka says in number four IMO his mother said to him his mother said to yov Al your curse on me Ben my son but just listen to what I'm saying and go and do what I've asked yeah can everyone please make sure their phones are on silent it's h it would help everyone okay the tarum unus in number five which normally translates literally word for word and when he doesn't that gets us all very excited because he says translating number four into Aramaic but Amar she said to himay his mother Al itar it was said to me by a prophecy that no curse will come on you the simple reading of number four is she says the curse will come on me that's how it's usually translated if there's a curse don't worry Yakov because I'll be the recipient of the curse says the tarum that's not what she's saying and perhaps that's not what she's saying because it's it's it's pretty strange for anyone to want a curse to fall on them so the unus doesn't think that's what um Rifka is saying he says and he adds the words it was said to me to Rifka in a na that there wouldn't be a curse on you on you yakob what was the Na she's referring to so at the very beginning of the paraa when she's pregnant and she notices there's two babies going on she doesn't know what's happening and she goes to Shem son of Noah and Shem reports a prophecy that you're carrying two children and the older will serve the younger so says Rifka that means I have to bring about that the older doesn't get the braa and the younger does and the way the Tas explains that is she's saying it's absolutely BEDA it's absolutely okay I have been assured from the big boss that there will be no curse and that couldn't be more of a HK of a permission from hakes than than the the N that she's talking about so if I can just go back to the redu in almost the last line middle of the line the translation of what looks like on me will be your curse my son is that it's been said to be AA that there won't be a curse on you in other words we have we have Yakov thinking correctly but this is what Hashem wants to happen because Yakov knows that he is much more fitting for this blessing than is Asa we have Rifka telling him to do that and that's a Mitzvah of kib aim and we have Rifka telling him that Hashem has agreed to this in the na that Rifka got and all these indications all these circumstances push us to the conclusion that was it a falsehood yes it was a falsehood was it the right thing to do yes it was the right thing to do okay questions very quickly that should so well maybe sorry his brothers was cor okay so the T seems be ambiguous but I'm going to go I I would suggest but the redu is saying that when you get a NOA it is up to the recipient of the NOA to bring it about and that explains ysf and here this would explain rivka that I think is the Redux position yes given okay but for some for reasons for reasons which other discussed but right now we can just leave to AES that wasn't hashem's plan okay yes I have a question we'll come to that we'll come to that okay I'm gonna move on I'm gonna have to be a little bit uh rigorous and not have time to take every question because I do want to cover all the four positions when aren of hearing more astute so you would think that he would have known may an except that he would have senses so maybe that's why he was able to say Yakov the voice is the voice of yakob as but the hands are the hands of asov because of the furriness but he could hear the voice of the voice of yakob and maybe that's and maybe that's why he got so confused and yes there is a position I forget who who says that y knew all along but he was blessing Yakov I think that personally I think that's hard to sustain I'm going to move on because as I said um I do want to move on um to number eight so I said at the beginning there's four positions which is really three and a half the radak really is a subset of the iban Ezra who says the same thing but in a more defiant way and the first line is really a spoiler for what's going to come later he says in number eight God forbid that yob should be lying Hani as a as a navi r who came but rather what he said was Ani comma about a semicolon m m Ani I'm who I am and as is your firstborn that's rashi's position which we will get to so let's not discuss that now second line and there's others who say quietly he said the word and then lifted up his voice is your firstborn which is sort of equivalent to the way Rashi tries to find an answer but then says the Ean Ezra third line these are words and here he doesn't mean Holy Spirit he means nonsense these words are foolish are divided into two sections there's two types of the first type is sorry is who come to tell you how to do a Mitzvah the second type they're what we normally call prophets by the way people who s say what's going to happen in the future for and if they need to say something which is not correct that doesn't cause any damage and I put in it's my word because I think it has to be there but midox if a can we turn off the phones please if a who's or na'vi okay I think we we've got the message thank you okay okay let's move on as we were saying umv somebody who's come to tell teach us how to do a Mitzvah they can't say anything wrong because if they did say something wrong we'd be learning how to do the Mitzvah wrongly that's no good however so when who's there to tell us about mitv it cannot be that they tell a lie that's impossible G and now he gives examples of nim who lied he gives a number of examples David is described as the man of God and David said that the spirit of hem is speaking in me um except for his words with and he said that the vessels of the lads were holy for the needs of the time this is referring to an incident where David was running away he and his land and they were very hungry and the only food available was bread of Kusha that had been set aside in the B mikdash and he was told you can only eat this bread if you and all your troop with you are tahor not in a state of tumor and David said we're all tahor no worries give us the bread now um as far as I can see it's not clear that David is saying something untrue if you look in the text um and and I couldn't see any evidence that David was saying something untrue but the iban Ezra thinks that was a little lie and he thinks that David said something untrue and it was necessary because David was famished and his men were famished and they couldn't carry on without some food that's one example um sorry we're running out of printing at the bottom of the page here um and the next example uh end of line six so Elisha was asked by the king of Aram through a messenger is the king of Aram going to survive the illness that he was currently undergoing and Elisha says to the messenger who is Le go and say Lo to him now interestingly there's ATIV and a here it might be written or it might be written which changes the meaning you will live even though that what Elisha actually meant is you will live from this illness Hashem but Hashem has shown me that he will be he will die and actually Elisha was hinting to the messenger um kazel that kazel should go back to the king of Aram and say you're going to live and then Kel should um kill him which is what happened so again without going into the details because there's a lot to unpack there Elisha said in the eyes of the iban Ezra something that's not true who to um there was a prayer said by a Novi called M which again the izra I'm not quite sure why regards it is something that wasn't true wasn't going to happen down to the last line on this page Danielle and Danielle said when nebeta said Please interpret my dream Daniel said don't worry this dream is for your enemies it's a dream of lots of terrible things and it's not going to happen to you neuch caneta it's going to happen to your enemies and that was also not true but uh jumping through the next few words last two words on the first page if we turn over the page Abraham Abraham said g which is the introduction to quote number nine um he said when Eli asked Abraham why did Abraham say that Sarah was his sister Abraham said I did uh there was reasons I did it and it's not totally untrue because abam says in number nine the gum she is my sister on The Father's line but she's not the sister for my mother in other words she's my half sister for and she's become my wife now Rashi there says Rashi there says she wasn't his sister as we would say she was his niece she was the son of his brother but Rashi says that there are many places in the Kish where we count two gener is one where we call our father grandfather or the other way around I don't want to get into detail so Rashi says that was in a sense correct the izra doesn't agree H and he says um number 10 what's correct in my eyes what Abraham was saying at that point he pushed away with words according to the needs of the time so whereas r defends what abam is saying in a slightly convoluted way as being true the Ezra says it's not true Sarah was not his half sister she may have been his niece but she wasn't his half sister so what Abraham is doing there is saying something that's not true and the last example that the iben Ezra brings going back to the top of the page he says this is Abraham at the aada and Abraham says to the two Lads whom he's brought with for the journey you stay here at the bottom of the hill of the mountain yak and I will go up to the top we will prostrate we'll bow down Thea and we plural will return and again the mosim say what's Abram saying the plan is not that we plural will return but rather Abraham will return and Yak not so good and yet Abraham says we will return so again abim give different explanations of why Abraham said this but according to izra it's a not true statement and izra would say that each one of these examples I think if I count toite there's five examples they're all not truths for a good reason so says Ezra nobody should be bothered by Yakov also saying something that's not true for a good reason doesn't spell out what the good reason is I think we can take that from the radak and perhaps our own understanding but the basic position of the izra is it's lie get over it it's for a good reason we'll get to Rashi that's how we're leading up to Rashi as I usually do but before we get to Rashi we'll go via the rabaya so the rabaya says in number 11 these are our words that are so problematic I am as your firstborn and similarly when when says to yob asov are you really my son asov and yob replies I and here he means I am so the um who is not going to go down the path of the izra at all is going to say there is no doubt that take out all the double negatives it is absolutely the case that Yakov did only spoke the truth so well we we'll we'll get there according the re's position is this is 100% true 100% true and thei tells usov they say we say it every morning give truth to Yakov Yakov is Mr truth so don't tell me that Yakov told Al Li he did not so the problem will be how can we say that is true it looks sort of not true but the is saying very very defiantly it must be true so end of End of Line two here when he said I am your firstborn what he meant to say what he's implying is I am here in place of asov the your first born I'm here for the B for the right of the firstborn another thing that I'm not going to get discussed today um because our time is limited is what exactly was the B first of all that Yakov bought from asov and what was the B that wanted to give to whichever sign he thought was deserving uh it's not clear I'll just say is it a financial matter in the inheritance of when the father dies and who gets the double portion going to a firstborn or is it as Rashi says the right to serve in the BET mikdash which before it was given to levim was given to the firstborns but whatever the Bor the firstborn right whatever that was was transferred from asev to Yakov when Yakov bought it and asov was prepared to give it to Yakov so going back to line three Yakov is saying I am here in place of asov because I am now the because the the right of the firstborn belongs to me and only wanted to bless as because he was the possessor of the B so what yov sorry yit wanted to do was bless the son who had the B and to which yov says I'm the son who has the B because I bought it from asov so I am playing the role of asov I.E of the firstborn because I am actually now the firstborn because I have the um and therefore because Yakov was now the B because he had bought the Bak y the blessings were now fitting for Yakov in place of because he had already acquired yov had acquired from as the for whom and from the strength of being the possessor of the B he now comes in place of asov for the B to be given to him by and everything that goes with the and somebody comes I would say perhaps on the authority of another person Haru koho for omed bimo he is like him and he is standing in his place and I've just realized the most obvious um uh analogy is he's got power of attorney I didn't think of that until now um and I apologize to any lawyers if I've misunderstood the nature of power of attorney but what he's saying is and I would paraphrase it like this when asov sold the B to Yakov he gave to Yakov power of attorney in any matters dealing with the bakar so now as yob is the one who deserves the bras which go with the B and everything else that goes with it and therefore he is coming in place of the other person who doesn't have the Bor anymore but that Bor has been transferred to Yakov so he can say I have come in place of asov I am playing the role of asov and I am now the B um End of Line we see this examp the idea of speaking on behalf of other people um in a few occasions but he gives an example particularly when a Mal speaks when a Mal speaks and he says for instance as the Malak said to Yakov and I think that's why he quotes this example I am the god of beel was the Mal Hashem no the Mal was the Mal so how can he say I am Hashem he doesn't say I've got a message from Hashem he doesn't say I'm speaking on behalf of Hashem he says I am Hashem because he is there on behalf of Hashem I am Hashem so similar if a Malik can say I am Hashem so Yakov can say I am asov because I'm in place of asov and number 12 now let's wrap this up this is what we from this from this understanding this is what yov said I am as your firstborn if he just said and then stopped that would be something that's not true if he says if yob sorry says who are you and if he had said an I am asov that would be something not true and that's why I am as your firstborn why does he have to add that word yobak did not ask who's the are you the firstborn son are you the second born son he said which son are you and so why did aov have to add I am as your firstborn and the answer is um it was precisely because of the B the right of the firstborn that he came in the place of Asa so yob answers y's question by giving more information then y asked y said who are you Yakov says I am asov your firstborn because I am in place of asov because I have now got the legal status of your firstborn and that's why I'm in place of asov so if he just said I am asov that would have been a lie but I am asov because I now have the status of the firstborn that's not a lie and similarly when yob when said are you really my son asov in other words I've got somebody whom I need to bless is the person that I think I need to bless yob replied I again he didn't say I am as but he just said I I'm the one for whom it's fitting for you to bless now we're going to see and you know this is coming rash is going to analyze the words and the commas and the full stops in a different way um to say something that sounds sort of not true is in a sense true that's rashi's approach R's approach is different R's approach is this is 100% true no trickery I am as because I am your firstborn oh sorry I better still I am in place of Asa because I am your firstborn and when you're asking whom should I give blessings to it's me and again he doesn't say an asov that will be untrue but when he says an it's me he doesn't mean I'm acting I'm dressed up as asov it doesn't mean I'm pretending to be asov he means I'm the one who you should be blessing because you plan to bless asov because you think he's the firstborn but that's me because I'm now the firstborn so I'm the one you should bless that's why he just says Ani and he doesn't say as an ASA and finally um number 13 is um yes whole partial however was engineered by R who had learned about how to be a trickster from the whole thing was engineered to pull the wo over y's eyes she dressed as ASA he put He put on the the Sheep's thing he PL to fool his father um we're just kind of whitewashing it and saying it's not a blatant Li he's not saying hello you plan to bless the wrong person I came to bail you out I'm going to take the blessing okay we all agree that it was done in in a way of trickery which was allowed because it was extenda circumstances but it still was done to fool it's um absolutely okay good us okay um yes sh and then I'll say something Rel talking okay um I I really I'm conscious of time here and I do want to get to Rashi um very very quickly I I I'm not happy with the word whitewashing because according to Rea he wasn't lying he was saying something that's true that's re's position uh it seems a bit extreme for us but is okay okay that's true that's true that's true okay okay order yeah okay okay sh okay you're right the fact sh sh yeah everyone who's making these points now is absolutely correct but the backdrop to this is rivka thought um presumably correctly at least according to the N that she'd received that um she has to bring this about through trickery um I said uh I I said I'm trying to keep straight but I will say one thing um that is such an important point that came out of last week's partial with a comment of the NV um the NV comments on the fact that what does Rifka do when she first sees Yakov Yak she covers her face and falls off her camel Falls or Rashia doesn't say Falls but others say Falls and the NV says that this set up a a relationship between yak and Rifka where Rifka was totally in a of yak and she couldn't speak directly to him and it is remarkable that she doesn't say to Yak you know which of our sons is most fitting I actually think it should be Yanke um and and I'll add and I'll add something else which I find remarkable I'm going off top of myself when it's all over when the terrible drama has sort of come to some conclusion and asov is about to kill Yakov RKA goes and speaks to y after this incredible drama and what Rifka says is nothing to do with what's just taken place she says I think it's time for Yakov to find a wife that's what she says and maybe he should go to my brother Lan and find a wife and she doesn't say anything about what's just happened so yes rivka doesn't speak directly to Yak for reasons beyond the scope of this year and it is done through trickery but getting back to our original question the redu says the RAB yakob is lying but for a good reason the iban Ezra says yakob is lying and Nim do that all the time I'm paraphrasing slightly Raya says yakob is not lying because when he says I am here playing the role of asov because asov is no longer your firstborn but I am that's absolutely true and paragraph 13 covers up something uh tidies up something else he said but we'll go straight on to Rashi saysat okay so yeah Rashi brings that you put two P's into a tube the one that went in second will come out first which fits the idea that yakob is really the Bor it goes against all sense of biology um and I have a daughter-in-law is expecting twins so I will also vouch for I don't think that's how it works but Rashi brings that to show that asov is really in a sense not the B but the key thing at least for Rea is that incident when Yakov bought the b or took the B for himself let's go to Rashi number 14 I am the one bringing to you the food and asov is your firstborn and then on the word we come to the next line in just a minute so this is Rashi this is the famous comment of Rashi what's he saying he's not saying what is saying he's not saying that Yakov can come and tell the truth and say I'm as of your firstborn because I'm in the WR place of of your first one Rashi doesn't go there Rashi says if you carefully punctuate yakov's words you find something that's not untrue I'm choosing my words carefully and I think I'll say at this point there is no doubt in for Rashi that asov sorry that Yakov was planning to deceive y can't get away from that so the way y Rashi puts it is Yakov chooses Words which could be understood as as I am not ASA but also could be understood as yes I am ASA I Others May differ but I think Rashi is saying that and we'll see what the go Aria says which I think backs up my point that Yakov is saying something which he knows can be understood in two ways but but what's the but he doesn't choose to go in and say something totally untrue yakov's passion for truth is such that when he has to say something which is deceptive unlike dark in the Ezra will say to him all right say a lie he finds a way to say it in such a way that it's not necessarily A Lie that's yakov's Passion For Truth Yakov is in a situation where for reasons we're not quite discussing he has to go ahead with this deception and he has to say I'm asov which is not true but he says it in such a way that allows a reading of it which is true that is what we mean by TI the next thing that Rashi has to sort of cover is yakob says ATI I have done um K Eli like you said to me now what's that referring to that's referring to the hunting that y says to asov go and Hunt me some food and prepare it bring it to me and Yakov says aiti I've done what you've asked is that true he hasn't hunted anything he just went to the backyard and got a couple of goats so says Rashi a I've done many things that you've asked me in the past I'm alive for 63 years there have been many times you've asked me to do things and I've done them so I think we can say that Rashi is covering this phrase in the same spirit that he covered the previous phrase yes it's designed to deceive Yakov but it's done in such a way that it can still be interpreted in a true way that's Yo's passion for truth now Rashi one more when he says uh in in uh when yov y says are you says are you really my son and he says I in number 15 Rashi in a similar vein says I an now again it seems to me there's no way around this what did yakob think that yak would hear what would Scot would understand are you my son asov I am he would hear it as yes I'm asov but he doesn't say an asov because that would be not true he says Ani which could be interpreted in a way as I am I'm me I'm me uh sort of answer a consultant would give totally obviously true and useless um who are you I'm me now interestingly um the uh the scholars of Russia have not found a source in the midash for these words the closest you get is number 16 which is a interesting mid that says he came to his father and he said I sorry what does that mean I am the one who's going to receive the Ten Commandments but asov is your firstborn took me a while to realize where's the Ten Commandments come in the answer is Ani Ani in the midra ah you see yeah Ani in the midash is a remes to the Ten Commandments which given the word an so what does this midash help how does this midash help Rashi it puts the semicolon after Ani Ani I am the one who's going to receive the Ten Commandments and by the way as just like Rashi puts a semicolon after the word Ani um and what I alsoo find interesting in terms of the methodology of Rashi is if this is rashi's sort of inspiration he doesn't quote the whole midrash the bit about the Ten Commandments Rashi doesn't mention because he doesn't need to Rashi is dedicated to finding the simplest explanation when he brings a midrashic answer there's a reason why he brings a midrash and sometimes times he Alters the midrash because there are details in the midrash which aren't necessary for Rashi to explain Pat I think this is a very nice example of that that russy's support probably because we can't find any other is not just me but people who gone through every mid rush we can't find any other support for Rashi so this one teaches Rashi that you can put a semicolon after the word Ani but Rashi doesn't need to adopt the Ten Commandments bit because that's not relevant to rashi's explanation okay in the time we got left I want to turn to the Mah in number 18 so he says as follows on the words the Mah is explaining rash I am as sorry I am I am I as is bringing you that's what Rashi says because if we don't go with this explanation semicolon how could yov change for his father change the truth an now we have the words an as Rashi says there's a semicolon between Ani and as Rashi has to say there's that semicolon there because otherwise how could yakob say something that was completely untrue Hashem hates falsehood so it can't be that yob is going to say something false this is the mahar's explanation of what is underlying for Rashi which I think is obvious Rashi must find a way way for yov to say something that's not untrue and how could he receive the blessings through something through falsehood obviously not these blessings which are so crucial and so important he's not going to lie in order to get them and the proves that he was not lying and now we come to a very clever a little bit Inus explanation but I want to see what he says and then comment on it and line three shov there's two ways you can say I in Hebrew In classical Hebrew one is Ani and one is an in modern Hebrew we don't really say Ani very often but we do say an but in classical Hebrew the two could be used one or the other there is perhaps a slight difference in meaning but the point that the maral is making is that whereas asov uses the word Ani yov uses the word Ani why end of line three the word Ani sometimes comes at the end of a clause I.E before a semicolon and sometimes comes in the middle of a clause where it like runs on from one word to the next it's the same Hebrew word there are some words in Hebrew um which if you put them at the end of a sentence The Vow changes it comes from a question of do we say that gim is the end of the line or is go the end of the lineen and we'll find another example in a moment but the word Ani can either fit in the hefc form in other words it comes at the end of a clause before a semicolon but the very same word could be heard as continuing with the next line so when he says an because he uses the word an and not the word an which has a different rule he uses the word so that it can be heard both ways it can be heard semicolon which is what yob wants to say to keep the truth but it can also be heard as which is what yov wants to hear however um middle of line four if he said an with a semicolon after it an I'm I who's bringing you the stuff that's going to be okay in other words he can say it so yov himself hears the semicolon and does not hear the semicolon however line five the word is different if the word is in other words it's the end of a clause if it's got a sh he calls it a Shah we call it a a and a underneath it um who become if you want to use the word oni at the end of a clause you have to have a but if you want to use the word oni um sorry I got it on way around if you want to use the word oni um without being at the end of a clause it will have a and if you want to use the word oni at the end of a clause it will have a comet if it would be on rather than an the word an Al has to be vowelized differently if it's the end of a clause or if it's not the end of a clause and that's why Yakov couldn't use the word oni because he wouldn't be able to say it the single word with two separate meanings because if he used the word oni he would have to have either Beek which is Oni or not Beek which is Ani so he deliberately chose the word an which can be heard either way without changing the vowels sorry if that was clear and I'm sorry if I'm rushing but I just want to get to this point so if he'd chosen the word oni that would have given the game away that would have either it would have been a HEC or not a HEC either Oni or Ani but the word Ani it's the same word with the same vows whether it's at the end of a clause or not at the end of a clause and that's why Yakov chooses it now this this comment of the maral I think is ingenious um I find it a little bit hard to imagine that yak was so um fluid in Hebrew grammar and the very subtle differences between Oni and Ani but this is what was really going on here however the maral has done two things for us first of all he's answered the textual question why does yov use the word Ani compared to asov who uses the word Ani what's the difference and then maral is to answer that but more to the point I think the maral has emphasized just what yakob is trying to do not just is there a semicolon or is there not a semicolon it depends who's listening but even the very word that he chooses is very finely chosen just so it can convey the necessary Nuance he deliberately chooses the word Ani says the Mahar so that what he says is not exactly what y he what he says is as rashy puts it I am I asov is your firstborn with the semicolon after the word Ani but done in such a way that won't sense that so this is why I say that Rashi is saying that Yakov is deceiving y he's saying something which is not true in the ears of yak however on another way of reading it is true that as I say is yakov's passion for truth that is why we say Titan Yakov what we learn from Yakov is not that you can lie which is really what the redu and the ezzar are saying is that even when you're in a situation where you have to deceive you have to go to the nth degree to minimize the lying and we can argue whether he's actually lying or not but certainly you have to make an effort and the way the mara puts it is Extreme efforts even considering the grammar of the letters of the words you have to make every possible effort not to lie I just want to conclude with one source that I I uh missed out before which I think is appropriate um and that is number seven this is the is writing his muser and he talks about not lying and how important it is always to speak the truth and he says in number seven regarding yov going back to the way the Radu explained it and he quoted the tus which quoted Rifka as saying I've had AA that this is the right thing to do if it weren't for the permission that came not just from his mother but from his mother's then yob will be sinning it would be a sin as if he served Idols so what we see and he's commenting really on the reduck and that's why I brought him there after the reduck section is even if we go like the radak who says Yakov had to lie and even if we go like the izra who said Yakov lied and so people did that from time to time in situations of necessity and I would add even if we go like Rashi who says Yakov had to speak in such a um convoluted way so we could just about say but he was telling the truth all of this is only because only because rivka told him to on the basis of rivka's own NAA had Rifka not had a na which gave license to Rifka to tell Yakov to behave in this way then for sure he would not so do we learn from this that it's okay to lie absolutely not do we learn from this that it's okay to lie if your life depends on it possibly yes according to the Ezra H is it okay to lie to bring about what Hashem wants to happen anyway possibly yes according to the Radu but under all these circumstances everyone would say it's not something we should ever ever do lightly and the Kazan is says we should only do it if we had a from Hashem but it's the right thing to do we will stop there