The Gemara in Baba Basra (123a) teaches us the right perspective in understanding the language of the Torah. The Talmud oftentimes makes the observation, "Dibra Torah b'lashon binei adam," the Torah expresses itself in the language of people. That is in matters of din (justice). However, when recounting the "stories" of our holy ancestors we are told: "If the Torah did not speak disparagingly of an unclean animal, for it is written, "of the clean animals and of the beasts that are not clean" would Scripture speak disparagingly of the righteous!?" For example, when the Torah describes Leah's eyes as "tender," it is no to expose her lack of beauty in contrast to Rachel, rather it is to hint that there was a noteworthy reason why Leah had this physical "defect." She had been constantly crying and beseeching G-d not to be given to Esav in marriage.

This week's parsha has many surprising and episodes that are difficult to understand. In light of the above Gemara, how is it possible that the Torah mentions any of the sins of our righteous forefathers? Regarding Dina, why do we need to know of this "outrage done to [a daughter] in Yisrael." From this Gemara it seems that the Torah should focus only on the positive, not on the negative?

The answer is that there is always a cause and effect. Not to mention the sins of our ancestors would deprive us of the lessons learned there from and would take away from the completeness of Torah. Rashi notes that when Yaakov takes his wives and eleven sons, there is no mention of Dina. Rashi explains that this was because Yaakov had hidden Dina away from the desirous eyes of Eisav. For that he was punished, and Dina fell into the hands of Shechem. It is possible to understand why the Medrash learns that Dina was hidden, but how does one understand learning the cause for punishment from this very same verse? The answer is that speaking of punishment is not casual degradation of our ancestors, rather it demonstrates G-d's great love for them. "The righteous are judged within a hairsbreadth," that is, with a higher standard. To mention punishment without mentioning its cause would take away form the "Toras Hashem temima," the completeness of G-d's Torah. For this one must search deeply and carefully for the Torah's subtle hints of inequity.

At the same time, it is the completeness of Torah that can use the starkest terms to describe the sin of Reuven when he moved his mother Leah's bed to the tent of Yaakov. Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, in a masterful essay entitled "The Sins of Great Men," uses this incident as an example of the unbiased attitude of our holy Torah. What we may perceive on the surface as an extremely "light" sin, the Torah, seeing into the true capabilities of our righteous leaders, describes the sin in a way that conveys the gravity of the sin when performed by men of such stature.

We can appreciate how fortunate we are to have a "complete" Torah, for a complete Torah calms the soul. The Torah is comprised of that which we have some understanding of, and what we don't understand at all. This is a parable to life. We have moments which we ask "why," and times when everything makes sense. Calmness of the soul comes only from a deep understanding that everything in Torah is positive, whether understood or not. Let us always remember there is no crude description of something seemingly negative. That would go against the very fabric of Torah. There is always something more meaningful beneath the surface. The Torah of G-d is complete and we are lucky to have it to guide and preserve us tribulations of life's journey.