Lavan {Laban}, the Father-in-Law, the Trinity Believer, the Swindler, the Aramean is Blamed for Destroying our Forefather Yaakov

Background Breishit/Genesis Chapter 31 as translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

Yaakov’s Journey or as translated by Rabbi Kaplan, Jacob’s Journey, Marriage and Children
Genesis » Chapter 31

31:1 [Jacob] began to hear that Laban’s sons were saying, ‘Jacob has taken everything belonging to our father. He has become rich by taking our father’s property!’
31:2 When Jacob saw Laban in person, [Laban also] did not behave to him as he did before.
31:3 G-d said to Jacob, ‘Go back to your birthplace in the land of your fathers. I will be with you.’
31:4 Jacob sent word and summoned Rachel and Leah to the field where his flock was.
31:5 ‘I saw your father’s face,’ he said. ‘He is not acting the same with me as he used to. But the G-d of my father has been with me.
31:6 ‘You know full well that I served your father with all my strength.
31:7 Your father swindled me and changed his mind about my pay at least ten times, but G-d would not let him harm me.
31:8 If he said, ‘Your pay will be the spotted ones,’ then all the animals gave birth to spotted young. If he said, ‘Ringed ones will be your wage,’ then all the animals dropped ringed ones.
31:9 G-d thus eroded your father’s livestock and gave it to me.
31:10 ‘During the breeding season, I suddenly had a vision. I saw that the bucks mounting the sheep were ringed, spotted and flecked.
31:11 ‘An angel called to me in G-d’s name, ‘Jacob!’ – and I replied ‘Yes.’
31:12 He said, ‘Raise your eyes, and you will see that the bucks mounting the sheep are ringed, spotted and flecked. Let this be a sign that I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
31:13 I am the G-d of Beth El, where you anointed a pillar and made an oath to Me. Now set out and leave this land. Return to the land where you were born.’ ‘
31:14 Rachel and Leah both spoke up. ‘Do we then still have a portion and an inheritance in our father’s estate?’ they exclaimed. ‘Why, he treats us like strangers!
31:15 He has sold us and spent the money!
31:16 All the wealth that G-d has taken from our father actually belongs to us and our children. Now, whatever G-d has said to you, do it!’
31:17 Jacob began the journey, placing his children and wives on the camels.
31:18 He led away all his livestock, and took all the goods he had acquired, including everything that he had bought in Padan Aram. He was heading to see his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
31:19 Meanwhile, Laban was away, shearing his sheep. Rachel stole the fetishes that belonged to her father.
31:20 Jacob decided to go behind the back of Laban the Aramaean, and did not tell him that he was leaving.
31:21 He thus fled with all he owned. He set out and crossed the Euphrates, heading in the direction of the Gilead Mountains.
31:22 On the third day, Laban was informed that Jacob had fled.
31:23 He took along his kinsmen and pursued [Jacob] for seven days, intercepting him in the Gilead Mountains.
31:24 G-d appeared to Laban the Aramaean that night in a dream, and said, ‘Be very careful not to say anything, good or bad, to Jacob.’
31:25 Laban then overtook Jacob. Jacob had set up his tents on a hill, while Laban had stationed his kinsmen on Mount Gilead.
31:26 Laban said to Jacob, ‘How could you do this? You went behind my back and led my daughters away like prisoners of war!
31:27 Why did you have to leave so secretly? You went behind my back and told me nothing! Why, I would have sent you off with celebration and song, with drum and lyre!
31:28 You didn’t even let me kiss my grandsons and daughters goodbye.
‘What you did was very foolish.

31:29 I have it in my power to do you great harm. But your father’s G-d spoke to me last night and said, ‘Be very careful not to say anything, good or bad, to Jacob.’
31:30 ‘I realize that you left because you missed your parents’ home. But why did you have to steal my gods?’
31:31 Jacob spoke up. ‘[I left this way] because I was afraid,’ he said. ‘I thought that you might take your daughters away from me by force.
31:32 If you find your gods with anyone here, let him not live! Let all our close relatives here be witnesses. See if there is anything belonging to you and take it back.’ Jacob did not realize that Rachel had stolen them.
31:33 Laban went into the tents of Jacob, Leah, and the two handmaids, but he found nothing. When he left Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s.
31:34 Rachel had taken the fetishes and placed them inside a camel cushion, sitting down on them. Laban inspected the entire tent, and found nothing.
31:35 [Rachel] said to her father, ‘Do not be angry, my lord, but I cannot get up for you. I have my female period.’ Laban searched, but he did not find the fetishes.
31:36 Jacob was angry, and he argued with Laban, asserting himself. ‘What is my crime?’ he exclaimed. ‘What terrible thing did I do that you came chasing me like this?
31:37 You inspected all my things – what did you find from your house? Place it right here! In front of my relatives and yours! Let them determine which of us is right!
31:38 ‘Twenty years I worked for you! All that time, your sheep and goats never lost their young. Not once did I ever take a ram from your flocks as food.
31:39 I never brought you an animal that had been attacked – I took the blame myself. You made me make it good whether it was carried off by day or by night.
31:40 ‘By day I was consumed by the scorching heat, and at night by the frost, when sleep was snatched from my eyes.
31:41 Twenty years now I have worked for you in your estate – fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for some of your flocks. You changed my wages ten times!
31:42 ‘If the G-d of my fathers – the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac – had not been with me, you would have sent me away empty handed! But G-d saw my plight and the work of my hands. Last night, He rendered judgment!’
31:43 Laban interrupted Jacob. ‘The daughters are my daughters! The sons are my sons! The flocks are my flocks! All that you see is mine! But my daughters….what can I do to them today? Or to the children they have born?
31:44 Now come! Let’s make a treaty – you and I. Let there be a tangible evidence of it between you and me.’
31:45 Jacob took a boulder and raised it as a pillar.
31:46 ‘Gather stones!’ he said to his relatives. They took stones and made a large mound. They ate there on top of the mound.
31:47 Laban called it Witness Mound (Yegar Sahadutha), but Jacob named it Gal’ed.
31:48 ‘This mound shall be a witness between you and me today, ‘ said Laban. ‘That’s why it is called Gal’ed.
31:49 [Let the pillar be called] Watchpost (Mitzpah). Let it be said that God will keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other’s sight.
31:50 If you degrade my daughters, or marry other women in addition to them, there may be no one with us, but you must always realize that God is the Witness between you and me.’
31:51 Laban then said, ‘Here is the mound and here is the pillar that I have set up between us.
31:52 The mound shall be a witness, and the pillar shall be a witness. I am not to go beyond the mound with bad intentions, and you are not to go beyond the mound and pillar.
31:53 May the G-d of Abraham, the god of Nachor, and the god of their fathers be our judge.’
Jacob swore by the Dread of his father Isaac.

31:54 He then butchered an animal on the hill, and invited his relatives to break bread. They had a meal and spent the night on the hill.

How Do We Know Lavan was an Aramean?

1. 1. Bereishit – Genesis – Chapter 25:20
   2. Bereishit – Genesis – Chapter 28:5
   3. Bereishit – Genesis – Chapter 31:20,24

How Do We Know Lavan was a Trinity Believer?

Rashi to Genesis 31:53 explains when Lavan said G-d of Abraham – this is Holy but the god of Nachor is profane (a false deity) and god of their fathers is profane (a false deity). But to be completely honest I can only say that he limited his belief to 1 true G-d and 2 false Deities if what Rachel stole happened to be either the god of Nachor or the god of their fathers. Otherwise, it would be more accurate to state that Lavan was a Polytheist who in addition also happened to believe in the 1 true G-d.

Is there Biblical Proof that the god of Nachor and the god of Nachor’s Father, Terach Were False Deities?

Yehoshua – Joshua – Chapter 24
And Yehoshua {Joshua} said to the whole nation, “Thus said G-d, the L-rd of Yisrael {Israel}, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river from earliest time, Terach, the father of Avraham {Abraham}, and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods”.
It should be noted that according to the Midrash , Breishit Rabba (Vilna Edition) 38:13 Terach was in the business of selling idols and turned over his son Avraham to the government, when he found out that his son Avraham broke his idols. If we interpret according to this Midrash, then it might be that Lavan {Laban} believed in additional gods and not just a trinity.

According to Rabbi Moshe Isserles (also known as Rama) Is Lavan {Laban} Excused From the Sin of Idolatry Because He Also Believed in Avraham’s G-d?

The short answer is that Rabbi Moshe Isserles based on Sanhedrin 56b would hold Lavan responsible for the sin of Idolatry, even though Lavan was a Gentile and even though he believed the other deities are partners with the true G-d (the Hebrew concept of “Shituf”). But since I have found some religious Jews confused about this issue I will have to provide some background information.
In Breishit/Genesis 9:4 the sons of No’ach {Noah} are commanded the following:
“But nevertheless, you may not eat flesh of a creature that is still alive”.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan whose translation I quoted above comments on the words “creature that is still alive”

Literally, ‘flesh whose blood is in its soul.’ As long as an animal is alive, its blood is seen as being attached to its soul (Hirsch. Cf. Deuteronomy 12:23). This commandment is meant to forbid flesh from a living animal.

The Talmud in tractate Avoda Zara 6b as translated by https://www.sefaria.org.il/Avodah_Zarah.6b.1?lang=en states:
“From where is it derived that a person may not extend a cup of wine to a nazirite, who is prohibited from drinking wine, and that he may not extend a limb severed from a living animal to descendants of Noah? The verse states: “And you shall not put a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14).
In the uncensored versions of Rabbi Moshe Isserles in Darkei Moshe Ha’arokh, Yoreh Deah, chapter 151 we learn that a Jew violates “And you shall not put a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14) if he is the cause for a Gentile doing an act of worship to a foreign deity and the fact that the Gentile also believes in the G-d of Avraham does not help undo the prohibition.
If the Gentiles were permitted to worship other deities together with G-d, the Jew would not be violating “And you shall not put a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14) for his assisting the worship by the Gentile. The fact that a Jew is guilty in this situation, indicates that the Gentile has done something he is not allowed to do.

Why is Lavan {Laban} blamed for Destroying our Forefather, Yaakov {Jacob}?

When we had the ability to bring the first fruits to the Temple, we would declare our gratitude for all that G-d did for us.
Dvarim/Deut. 26:5 as translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan:
‘My ancestor was a homeless Aramaean. He went to Egypt with a small number of men and lived there as an immigrant, but it was there that he became a great, powerful, and populous nation.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan author of the above translation brings alternative translations to homeless Aramean
He says:

(Rashbam; Sforno; cf. Chizzkuni on 11:17). Or, ‘a poor Aramaean’ (Ibn Ezra, Chizzkuni; Bachya), or, ‘a persecuted Aramaean’ (Radak, Sherashim). Jacob is referred to as an Aramaean because this was the homeland of his ancestors. Or, ‘my ancestor was exiled to Aramaea’ (Targum Yonathan; Ralbag), or, ‘my ancestor abandoned Aramaea’ (Septuagint). Or, ‘An Aramaean [tried to] destroy my ancestor [Jacob],’ where the Aramaean is Laban (cf. Genesis 31:22,29; Targum; Sifri; Saadia; Rashi).

Not only Rashi explains the Aramean is Lavan {Laban} but also the Vilna Gaon in his Aderet Eliyahu commentary.
There the Vilna Gaon explains that Scripture attributes to Lavan the Aramean, as if he had actually destroyed our ancestor, Yaakov {Jacob} and in some editions of the book http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14035&st=&pgnum=227 it is added “for by the Gentiles we add intent to deeds”.
A friend who was reading this article pointed out that the Passover Hagada also agrees with the Rashi and Vilna Gaon viewpoint concerning the blame assigned to Lavan for his evil intent.

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This article was written by Shlomo Moshe Scheinman.
One final note, In the responsa of Yaavetz, vol. 1, chapter 41, Yaavetz provides an argument why Lavan might be a little bit better than the people that Rabbi Moshe Isserles is talking about. However based on Sanhedrin 56b I would not excuse Lavan. And more importantly, Nodeh BeYehudah, Tinyana, Yoreh Deah 148, Minchat Chinuch 86, Chatam Sofer on Orach Chain 156:1, and Mishna Brura chapter 304, comment 4 would not view Lavan’s beliefs with leniency.

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