חוּמָּשׁ עִם רַשִׁ״י · ויצא · חֲמִישִׁי

Look at the lashon Yaakov Avinu uses when speaking to Rachel and Leah. He says, "B'chol kochy avadti es avichen", I worked for your father with all my strength. Think about who he was working for! Lavan is a crook, a cheat who changed his wages ten times over. Mimeila, we would have thought Yaakov would do the bare minimum, just enough to get by. But no. Yaakov put his whole heart and all his energy into his work, doing absolute emes, because a Yid acts with integrity regardless of how the other person treats him.

Then look at the second half of the story. Yaakov puts out the maklos, the peeled sticks, doing his own hishtadlus. But how did he actually get wealthy? An malach comes to him in a dream and shows him that Hashem Himself was moving the sheep: "Ki ra'iti es kol asher Lavan osehlach." Yaakov put in his full effort, but he knew with total emunah that his parnassah wasn't coming from Lavan's trickery, nor was it coming from his own clever sticks. It was coming straight from Hashem.

This is a major chiddush for our daily life. In our business, in our jobs, or in any bein adam l'chavero, we often encounter people who aren't fair or honest. The yetzer hara comes and says, "Why should I put in full effort for someone who takes advantage of me?" Yaakov teaches us that our ehrlichkeit and our effort are between us and Hashem. We do our job with all our strength, b'sheleimus, while keeping our eyes open to the emunah that no human being can withhold a single penny that Hashem has designated for us.

Today, whatever task or job you are doing, whether at work, at home, or helping another Yid, do it with complete ehrlichkeit and your full energy, without making calculations about whether the other side truly deserves it.