In the Passover Haggadah, which Jews read aloud during the Seder meal, there is a strange sentence about this week’s portion “Vayetze”:
“Go and learn what Laban the Aramean sought to do to our father Jacob. Pharaoh only decreed against the males, whereas Laban sought to destroy everything.”
The problem is that in our parashah there is nothing about Laban wanting to destroy Jacob, while the Torah explicitly says the Egyptians killed all the male Israelites. So what did Laban do that was worse than Pharaoh?
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks offered a brilliant interpretation of this difficulty that fits our times perfectly and describes the treatment of Jews throughout the long exile. Rabbi Sacks explained that Laban’s behavior is the model for antisemites of every era. The Haggadah is referring less to what Laban actually did and more to the pattern his behavior set in motion across the centuries. If you replace Jacob with the Jewish people and Laban with the nations that gave the Jews refuge during their exile, the story suddenly sounds very familiar. Laban and...
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