Being Saved From Lavan - בימים ההם בזמן הזה

Rochel and Leah say כי כל העושר אשר הציל אלקים מאבינו לנו הוא - All of the wealth that Hashem "saved" from our father is ours [31/16].

Rashi says that the word הציל means to separate. Funny that earlier [31/9] we had the same word and Rashi didn't say anything.

What was Lavan trying to do? Lavan was trying to mix his tumah into everything that Yaakov had. הבנות בנותי והבנים בני וכל אשר אתה רואה לי הוא. All that you have, is MINE, said Lavan. כל אשר לבן בו -  There was Lavan in EVERYTHING [30/35], says the Zohar. He wanted to contaminate Yaakov with his Lavan-ess.

The true הצלה is to separate from Lavan. Many Jews who went through the holocaust never recovered. Every time they heard a loud noise they screamed Heil Hitler and saluted, as they had in the camps. You can take a Jew out of Aushwitz but can't take Aushwitz out of the Jew. Even when they left Lavan it wasn't certain that they would really be separated. That is why the pasuk emphasizes that Hashem הציל he separated them from Lavan.

That is also the meaning of the second lashon of geula. והוצאתי והצלתי וגאלתי ולקחתי. What is the הצלתי after והוצאתי? After Hashem takes the Jews out of Egypt, he has to take Egypt out of the Jews.

[See also the pasuk in Shmos where Moshe says to Hashem והצל לא הצלת את עמך which takes on a new meaning...]

We can also understand the statement ארמי אובד אבי - The Arami was Lavan and he tried to destroy Yaakov by mixing his tumah into everything. [Imrei Emes]


In the Rambam Hilchos Chanuka he says that Hashem was מושיע [saved] the Jews from the Greeks and adds והציל אותם. What is the הצלה if we already had a ישועה? Yeshua is being saved, והציל is that he took the Greek-ness out of the Jews.

The Levush says that זדים ביד עוסקי תורתך we say in Al Hanissim is referring to those Jews who had been influenced by Greek attitudes. We had to be saved from them too.

That also explains  why Rashi only explained the word now and not when it was mentioned earlier [31/9]. Then it was Yaakov talking about himself. In the later pasuk it was Lavan's daughters talking. It is much more difficult to separate them from the horrible "klippah" that was Lavan for they grew up in his house.

That is also why Yaakov consulted with his wives about leaving even though he received a Divine command to go. He wanted to see if they were ready to separate themselves from the tumah of their home. They affirmed that they were. כל אשר הציל אלקים מאבינו לנו הוא - Everything Hashem separated from our father is OURS and no longer connected to him.

Let us separate ourselves from all impure external influences and have a great shabbos!

[Summary of the Rebbe Shlita's shiur last night]