כט. וּלְרִבְקָה אָח וּשְׁמוֹ
Now Rebecca had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran to the man outside, to the fountain.
Why did Lavan run to the man? Rashi says that he noticed that the man had a nose ring, which signified that he was rich, so Lavan was running to greet the man that he thought would bring him wealth.
Are there other interpretations of why Lavan ran? Is there anywhere else in the Torah that strengthens Rashi’s idea and shows that Lavan was a money-oriented person? You may compare Lavan’s greeting here with his greeting towards Yaakov later in his life. How are they similar?
Lavan runs and greets Eleazer here, because he thinks Eleazer is rich; this is based off the nose rings Eleazer wears. Lavan runs in hopes of gaining wealth through Eleazer. This is very similar to when Lavan meets Yaakov years later. (in perek chaf bet pasuk yud gimel) Lavan runs and greets Yaakov, hugs him, kisses him, and brings him inside his house. Lavan is acting very enthusiastic here, the same way he was acting with Eleazer. Rashi says, Lavan knew Yaakov came from a rich family (Just like Eleazer who was coming on behalf of this same family.) Immediately, Lavan sees Yaakov is not carrying any visible riches and therefore, hugs him in order to feel if Yaakov is carrying riches hidden in his clothes. Next, when he does not feel them he kisses Yaakov, in hopes of finding riches in Yaakov's mouth.
ReplyDeleteBoth times we see Lavan greet the men with enthusiasm. However, Rashi says, though Lavan seems like he's performing good deeds externally, in reality he is just doing these actions in hopes of gaining wealth for himself.
The Sforno on this pasuk explains that Lavan at first did not intend to invite Eliezer to his home, he truly just wanted to take advantage of meeting a wealthy traveler. However, when Lavan saw all the jewelry, he saw the generosity that this stranger had shown towards his sister and felt that his kindness should be rewarded. Therefore Lavan invited him into his home. Sfrono's view of Lavan is very different from Rashi's. Rashi thought that lavan was only interested in taking advantage of Eliezer, but Sfrono thinks that Lavan felt obligated to repay Eliezer for his generosity towards his sister Rivka.
ReplyDeleteThe Or HaChaim says that Lavan was running in order to protect the honor of his sister. This is because Lavan is introduced with the words "וּשְׁמוֹ לָבָן". The Or HaChaim cites a midrash that says that when the Torah says the "שמו" before the character name then it means that he is a tzadik. If the torah says that word after, then it means he is a rasha. For example. "ושמו שאול" and "גלית שמו". So here, in this passuk, according to the Midrash and the Or Hachaim, Lavan is a tzadik because it says " וּשְׁמוֹ לָבָן". Therefore, Lavan must have been doing an righteous act when running to Eliezer.
ReplyDeleteTamar Dubin:
ReplyDeletelavan's intensions when approaching eliezer were solely money based. he greeted him in order to gain his friendship and use this to take advantage of him by stealing his money. lavan also portrays himself as conniving when he tricks yaakopv into marrying leah and working an additional seven years in order to marry rachel as well. rabbi levi explains that in a sense, yaakov and lavan were actually quite similar in a sense that they both disguised themselves to get what they wanted and they both tried to trick each other to get their flock. but, what separates them is that fact that yaakov's intensions are good and lavan's are bad and that defines their character as yaakov ends up a role model for bnei yisroel whereas lavan remains an unsuccessful scheme artist. in doing so, when he first met yaakov, he hugged him in search of riches hidden in his pockets. he made it out like he was being friendly and greeting his nephew, when in reality, his intentions were clouded. he even takes it a step further as to kiss both his cheeks to check if yaakov was hiding any valuables inside his mouth. these greetings are similar as they both seem like a warm and social manner, but prove quite sneaky as lavan acted as such to gain money for himself.