The Big Lie
The guideline to history which our Sages have given us is that whatever transpired with the Patriarchs will be relived in some form by their descendants.
In this week's Torah portion we read the outrageous claim of the deceitful Lavan in his confrontation with Yaakov that "these daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that you see is mine."
Here we have the age-old slander that Jews have profited at the expense of their non-Jewish neighbors.
In the Diaspora this lie was directed at individual Jews or communities by envious anti-Semites. Today this is the core of Arab propaganda which claims that the land given to the descendants of Avraham is really theirs.
Just as Lavan's argument proved to be futile because of a Heavenly warning to desist from harming Yaakov, so too do we pray for Heavenly intervention to render Arab propaganda meaningless and secure Israel forever.
