Armed robbery in France Knifepoint robber sought by police $317m Ponzi scheme in New Zealand These are some of the recent headlines in newspapers around the world. Stories of cheating, thievery and embezzlement have become the norm in our society. Whether the crimes are being committed by governmental agencies, corporate companies, or even in local retail stores, cases of cheating are on the rise and ethical values are seemingly decreasing rapidly. While there are some criminals who begin their profession with the intention to rob and steal, I believe that most of them start off with good intentions. The opinion that bending and twisting some ethical rules for a while with the intention to ensure that everything is right and kosher in the future, is a common one amongst criminals. How does one protect oneself from falling into this enticing trap that has ensnared so many intrinsically honest and ethical people? The solution may come from one of the lessons taught by our forefather Yaacov (Jacob) in this weeks torah portion, Parshat Vayetze. We start learning about Yaacovs travels from his home town to the land of his uncle and cousins in the city of Charan. The Torah recounts how at nightfall, as he was preparing to go to sleep, he took some stones and placed them around his head. The commentators explain that the reason he placed the stones around his head was in order to protect himself from the wild animals around him. However, I have a simple question a Klotz Kashe(as the phrase gos in Yiddish). If he needed to protect himself from wild animals, why then did he only place the stones around his head? Why would he not place them around the rest of his body as well? Wouldnt that truly serve the purpose he was trying to accomplish - to protect himself? Is it possible, that by protecting just his head, he was also protecting the rest of his body? We can perhaps understand all of the above by studying the context of Yaacovs travels. Yaacov was traveling away from his hometown - a place that stood on high morals; righteous parents, a place that gave him a good upbringing and a place where the fear of the almighty was truly felt. He was traveling away from there in order to marry and build his life in a place of cheating and deception, a place that even family members could not be trusted. When he left home, he had a dilemma. How would he succeed in retaining the values and beliefs he was taught at home while living in such unethical surroundings? How would he manage to curtail the influence his surroundings had on him? It was for this reason, that at his first stop, he protected his head with stones. He said to himself, in order for me to stay strong to my morals ,strong to The Almighty, I must protect my head, my thoughts. I must etch my values and beliefs into the very essence of my being so that they cannot be moved or changed, just as a stone cannot move or change itself. By doing so he would protect his entire body from all the spiritual dangers he might face from the animals of prey that surrounded him. And this would allow him to build his own home based on the strong ethical values he saw in his parents home, rather than the dishonesty that surrounded him in Charan. The same is true for each and every one of us. In order for us to stay true to our morals, and continue to conduct our businesses in the most ethical and honest way possible, we must actively work to protect ourselves. We must etch the values and ethics that we were taught, into the very core of our essence. We must remember that it is The Almighty that gives our livelihood to each one of us and that acting unethically, against His wishes, will not make life better for us. We must keep these thoughts in our minds on a consistence basis and engrave them there so that under no circumstances, will we be able to convince ourselves that its ok to do otherwise. May G-d reward our honesty and righteousness with blessings for health, wealth and happiness and much Nachas (joy) from the entire family up until the time of our righteous redeemer, Moshiach
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 09:57:01 +0000
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