Congregation Beth Shalom

Torah Portion: Vayetze
Book of Genesis
Chaps. 28:10-32:3
December 2, 2011

“Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older one was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.  Leah had weak eyes; Rachel was shapely and beautiful.  Jacob loved Rachel. .(Gen. 29:16-18).”

To this point, the life of Jacob can be described in one word: deceitful.  He cheated his twin brother Esau out of his birthright, and later disguised himself as Esau to deceive his father into giving him his brother’s blessing.  Fearing a brutal response from Esau, Jacob fled to his Uncle Laban’s home.  There, he first cast his eyes upon Rachel.  In a world where marriage was typically an economic arrangement, Jacob expresses an emotional attachment to Rachel.  Literally, love at first sight!  For one whose early years were distinguished by deceit and superficiality, his response is not surprising.

What convinced Jacob he must have Rachel?  And, why not her older sister Leah?  The answer:  “Leah had weak eyes; Rachel was shapely and beautiful.” In a superficial world, outer appearances always trump inner beauty.  In the end, Jacob-the deceiver- is, himself, deceived by Laban.  As Jacob lifts his wife’s veil beneath the wedding canopy, he discovers he has married Leah, not Rachel.

The Social Issues Research Center of Great Britain did a study on the influence of appearance in everyday life.  Their findings suggested 1) attractive children are more popular, 2) attractive applicants have a better chance of getting a job, and 3) in court, attractive people are found guilty less often.  In summary, all their research showed we react more favorably to physically attractive people.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to reach the above conclusions.  Take a look at what appears on television.  Have you ever seen a less-than-handsome bachelor or slightly overweight bachelorette featured on these matchmaking shows?  Today’s society is infected by superficiality.  What is most important in life is how you look.  The Plastic surgery industry has gone beyond repairing bodily injury to perfecting on God’s creation.  The SIRC research also found, “female dissatisfaction with appearance - poor body-image - begins at a very early age. Human infants begin to recognize themselves in mirrors at about two years old. Female humans begin to dislike what they see only a few years later.”

It is no crime to be physically attractive, but if that is the goal, it is as shallow as Jacob’s early life.  The ancient rabbinic text “Ethics of Our Ancestors” teaches, “Do not judge a bottle of wine by it’s appearance, but by its contents.”  When we speak of those who have shaped this world over the centuries, we seldom refer to their physical appearance but to their deeds and actions; their true essence.

In 1981, the late filmmaker Blake Edwards produced a movie re-make of Tarzan.  The movie featured the “shapely and attractive” Bo Derek in the role of Jane.  In a critical scene, Jane and her father are taken captive by a tribe of African cannibals.  As the natives bathe Jane in preparation for their cannibalistic ritual, her father says to her, “Remember Jane, you are not of the flesh, but of the spirit.”  The movie maker reminds his audience that Jane (Bo Derek) might be a “10” in appearance, but that is not who she really is; she is much more.  

Leah might have possessed “weak eyes”, but Jacob’s were weaker.

Rabbi Howard Siegel