In the Hagaddah we read that Lavan was actually worse than Paraoh, because “Paraoh lo gazar eleh al hazicharim, v’Lavan bekaish la’akor
es hakol”. Lavan sought to totally uproot everyone…..
Virtually all the meforshim find it difficult to identify the source which indicates that Lavan wanted to eradicate everything. Rav Soloveitchik said that based on the pisukim quoted in Parshas Va’yetzei, perhaps we can identify a source.
Yaakov has noticed that his father-in-law, Lavan, is no longer pleased with him. HKB”H appears to him and tells him to return to the land of Canaan.
Packing up his entire family, Yaakov leaves suddenly without saying good bye to Lavan. Lavan overtakes Yaakov and complains that he did not even have the opportunity to bid farewell to his children and grandchildren.
The critical pisukim follow:
“V’atah lichah nichrasa bris ani v’atah”. “Let us make a covenant”. There are two types of covenants. One indicates that the two parties will pursue a common goal, a shared destiny and a pledge to help one another. There will be interaction between their respective cultures and there is
no hesitancy to intermarry with one another.
However, there is a different type of covenant where the two parties have no interest in pursuing a common path. The agreement consists exclusively in respecting each other’s independence, a non-aggression pact. “I will not attack you and you
will not attack me”. Yaakov agrees to establish a covenant with Lavan but the two men have opposing visions regarding what the covenant will
represent.
“Vayekach Yaakov ehven va’yireeme’ha ma’tzaiva” Yaakov takes a single stone which for him symbolizes a barrier between his family and Lavan’s
and establishes it as a monument.
“Vayomer Yaakov li’echav liktu avanim”. Yaakov tells the clan of Lavan to gather stones because he knows that for Lavan the symbol of the covenant is the gathering of many stones, of many cultures and values and merging them together.
In confirming his understanding of the covenant, Lavan states “Elohai Avraham vai’lohai Nachor yishpitu baynaynu”. Avraham, in his early age was
an idolator just as Nachor was. It is this god, whom the pagans worshipped that should serve as a witness to this covenant. But Yaakov…..
“Va’yishava Yaakov bifachad aviv Yitzchok”…does not include Avraham. His understanding of the covenant is to be confirmed exclusively by the God of Yitzchok, who served God all his life.
Finally, “Vayizbach Yaakov zevach bahar”…In preparing the feast Yaakov slaughters the animal in accordance with the laws of shechita (vi’zavachta ka’asher tziviseecha”). The laws of kashrut are destined to remind us that social interaction with idolators, expressed throughout the
world by food and drink, should not exist.
Had Lavan succeeded in convincing Yaakov that Lavan’s understanding of the covenant should dominate, this in effect would have been the end of kedushat Yisrael and the uniqueness of the Jewish people.
Hence, Lavan beekaish la’akor es hakol. Lavan wanted to uproot everything we stand for.
This could explain why the Ba’al Hagaddah begins the paragrah with the words “Tzei u’limad”. “Go out and study”. When we are faced with a Paraoh, a Haman, a Hitler etc. who would like to eradicate us, it is easy to recognize their motive. When it comes to someone like Lavan, who tells us he would like to make a covenant, a peace treaty (i.e. Arafat) then we need to really go out and study the true motives of that person, because it is presented it a way which is much harder to detect. We need to study it again and again and be extremely wary!