An Honest Day's Work

The של״ה הקודש says that an important lesson learned from the Parsha, is the importance of putting in an honest day's work. This is learned from Yakov Avinu when he reprimanded the other shepherds for leaving their job too early in the day. Their answer was that they were unable to remove the heavy stone that was on the well.

Yakov also set the example of hard work with the diligence that he worked for Lavan for twenty years. He barely rested and worked days and nights.

We are to learn from this that when we are hired to do a job, we are expected to do it well. If we are paid by the hour, we are to be certain that we work a full hour and that we do not cheat or mislead our employer. Aside from it being the proper thing to do, if we are religious and we don't act properly, it would be a Chilul Hashem.