Parsha Vayeitzei: "Every Liar Has a Teacher:" Why Yaakov Had to Marry Leah

"Behold, She Is Leah!" Your Darkness Is Your Path to Greatness

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, 5 Kislev, 5786, November 25, 2025, Parshas Vayetzei, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

The Midrash relates that when Jacob discovered the switch of the two sisters, he told Leah, “You are a liar, the daughter of a liar,” his way of saying that the apple did not fall far from the tree. “All night, you identified yourself as Rachel, yet you lied. During the night, when I called you, Rachel, you responded. Now I call you Leah—and you respond as well! Why did you deceive me?”

Leah responded to Jacob’s accusation: Every craftsman creates students. Even a barber inspires students who learn from him the skill of cutting hair. My father and I, too, had a mentor who taught us how to lie. Some time ago, Leah said, there was an old man who wanted to bless his oldest son. asked you if you were Esau, and you said yes. But later, he discovered you were not Esau, but Jacob. You ask me why I deceived you, and I ask you, why did you deceive your father? Has he not said about you to Esau, “your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing?”

On a simple level, Leah was teaching Jacob the rule of “what goes around comes around.” He deceived his father, causing the blessing reserved for the older son to go instead to the younger son. What he did to his father and brother was not done to him.

Scathing indeed, but deeply disturbing. Let’s assume, for a moment, that Jacob was wrong in taking the blessings—how does that exonerate Leah and Laban for deceiving him? Can I deceive you in a business deal, because you deceived your brother in a deal seven years earlier?

Yet, a deeper reflection reveals a profound reading of this narrative, with incredible lessons for our lives today

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