Overcoming Dishonest People

It is interesting that the final Parsha of the Book of Bereishit that speaks of the death of Yakov, is called ויחי, “and he lived.”

This is meant to teach us that צדיקים don’t really die, as their teachings live on.

Yakov showed the power of his faith because during his lifetime, he had major confrontations with Lavan and Eisav, and he needed to deal with the ordeal of Dina and Yosef.

Despite these tremendous challenges, Yakov never lost his faith and reached a level of moral perfection. He is recognized for his truthfulness, as we say, תתן אמת ליעקב, “give truthfulness to Yakov.”

We are meant to learn from Yakov how to stand up to the challenges we face, in an upright and dignified manner.

He also taught us that we need to adapt to the situation before us. This is based on a Pasuk in תהילים that tells us עם נבר תתבר ועם עקש תתפל, “With an honest person, act honestly, and with a perverse person, show yourself subtle.”

Even though we need to adjust our tactics when dealing with a crook, it does not necessarily diminish from our own integrity.

Perhaps this was the greatest lesson of all, learned from Yakov Avinu!