These divrei torah are dedicated to the eternal memory of Avi uMori, Reb Reuven Ben Reb Moshe Shor, z'l, my beloved father Mr. Robert Shor, of blessed memory upon the occasion of his twentieth yartzeit...

There is an interesting teaching in the early rabbinic text the Midrash Rabba, regarding the path taken by our father Abraham as he came to recognize our Creator. The Sages discuss that Abraham came to fulfill even the most specific details of Jewish Law through his great spiritual consciousness, even though those very laws did not become revealed and binding upon the Jewish People until that great moment at Sinai. The teaching continues that Isaac and Jacob also fulfilled the precepts of the Torah through their great spiritual consciousness, just as Abraham before them...(See Midrash Rabba, Breisheet34:9).

I have for some time found this teaching challenging, particularly in regard to the life story of the last of our patriarchs, Jacob. Jacob, according to this midrash, was aware and fulfilled the entire Torah, just as Abraham and Isaac had before him.

The Torah in Vayikra (Leviticus) 18:18, instructs us regarding an important rule in family relations:

"V'Isha el achota lo tikach, litzror legalot ervata aleha bechayeha..."

'Do not marry a woman, and then take her sister (as a wife) as a rival as long as she (the first sister) is alive..."

When Jacob arrives in the house of Lavan, he falls in love with Lavan's daughter Rachel (see Breisheet Chapter 29), and agrees to work seven years in order to marry Rachel. As we know, Lavan tricks Jacob, and he marries Rachel's older sister Leah, only to work another "seven years" to take Rachel as a wife as well.

How are we to understand that Jacob marries two sisters, in light of this biblical prohibition and the rabbinic teaching that Jacob like Abraham and Isaac before him, actually fulfilled the entire Torah?

This very question is dealt with by a number of our biblical commentators, including Rabbi Chizkiya, the Chizkuni, a 13th Century French sage. He wrote:

'And how could our father Jacob have married two sisters while they were both living? Did he not observe the entire Torah? Rather our rabbis reminded us that Rachel and Leah were converts to Judaism, and one who converts to Judaism is no longer, from a strictly legal standpoint, considered a "sibling" with their biological siblings. Other Sages explained that Leah and Rachel must have been from two different mothers and thus truly half-siblings, and therefore permitted unto Jacob...'

It seems as though, as cited by the Chizkuni, our Sages have gone to great lengths to explain how Jacob could have possibly married two sisters!

Nachmanides (Ramban), the great 13th Century Spanish Sage, takes another unique approach in answering this question:

'And Jacob was only allowed to be married to two sisters because he was living outside the land of Israel . Because the mitzvot are the laws of God, for the Land of God, even though we must always keep up these practices in any place- the mitzvot are truly meant to be fulfilled in the Land itself...'

One could give an entire year- long course on the importance of this very statement, but for our purposes herein, it offers yet another attempt to reconcile this apparent problem.

Personally, the most satisfying answer I have seen to this question, is found in a more contemporary work, Tal Chermon, a wonderful collection of essays on the weekly Torah reading penned by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a prominent Israeli Rabbi, Dean of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim in Jerusalem's Old City, and Chief Rabbi of Beth-El.

Rabbi Aviner explains:

" The parameters and requirements associated with the mitzvot, are not learned from our patriarchs, rather from the time of Moses at Sinai! How then are we to understand the tradition that our patriarchs "fulfilled the entire Torah?" What we do learn from the stories of our patriarchs are Midot haTorah- the fundamental values and purity of character that personify the "entire Torah" the very foundation of a Torah way of life..."

Jacob, truly remained committed to Rachel. He made a loving commitment to Rachel, and despite Lavan's underhandedness, he remains committed to Rachel. Jacob also lives up to his commitment to Leah, despite not being dealt a fair deal, he rises above Lavan's unethical behavior, and does right by Leah, even as he continued to work to fulfill his commitment to Rachel.

So even though, as explained by Rabbi Aviner, Jacob did nothing wrong since the laws of the Torah did not become binding upon the Jewish People until that great moment at Sinai, perhaps we can understand an even more profound lesson from Rabbi Aviner's approach to this question.

Perhaps in Jacob's complete devotion, and steadfastness to neither abandon Leah, nor forsake Rachel, he personified the moral fiber, the values of love and compassion for others which are certainly among those midot hatorah- the pure character traits which form the essence of a Torah way of life, to emulate the compassion of the Divine.

In many ways this teaching parallels the life of my father, z'l. Though raised in a home steeped in Jewish tradition, my father z'l, did not have the opportunity for an extensive formal Jewish education. However he lived his entire life as a committed member of the Jewish community, and remains to this very day my mentor and teacher in what it means to exhibit true Midot HaTorah- to live life as a manifestation of our love for God, our love and compassion for our fellow Jew, and our love and compassion for each and every human being. Each day I feel truly blessed to have had such a profound gift to learn these fundamentals together with Avi uMori, z'l...Yehi Zichro Baruch...

Shabbat Shalom Umevorach...Rabbi Sam Shor