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Parshas Vayishlach 5785

שכם בני חשקה נפשו בבתכם תנו נא אתה לו לאשה ... (לד-ח)

MASHAL:     There was once a king who had the most beautiful diamond in the world. He kept it in a box with some other special diamonds, and only took it out on rare occasions.

On one such occasion, as he was taking it out, his beautiful diamond received a deep scratch from one of the other jewels in the box. The king was heartbroken and invited all the jewelry experts in his kingdom to see what could be done. All the experts told him that the only way to remove the scratch would be to recut the diamond. Unfortunately, this would reduce the stone in size considerably and it would not be the prized jewel it once was.

Just as the king was about to give up hope, a master jeweler from a distant land appeared in the palace. “Your Majesty,” he said, “I can fix the scratch, and the diamond will be even more beautiful than before.”

The king gave his assent, and one month later, the expert returned with the king’s diamond. The king took it in his hands and gave a cry of great joy. The expert had carved a flower of exquisite beauty into the diamond, incorporating the scratch into the design as the stem of the flower. The diamond was now even more precious and beautiful than ever!

NIMSHAL:     When a person takes a negative middah or reprehensible act and attempts to disguise it by building something apparently positive around it, the consequences are terrible. Yet this was precisely what Shechem and Chamor intended to do. They came to Yaakov Avinu and in effect said, the episode with Dinah has already taken place, let us turn it into something that is good for both of us - let’s move on. This approach is anything but a proper Torah approach and it is one of the great lessons we can learn from this story!

 
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