פרשת וישלח

(5) and instructed them as follows, “Thus shall you say, ‘To my lord Esau, thus says your servant Jacob: I stayed with Laban and remained until now;

(1) גרתי I HAVE SOJOURNED — I have become neither a prince nor other person of importance but merely a sojourner. It is not worth your while to hate me on account of the blessing of your father who blessed me (27:29) “Be master over thy brethren”, for it has not been fulfilled in me (Tanchuma Yashan 1:8:5). Another explanation: the word גרתי has the numerical value of 613 - תרי״ג - it is as much as to say, “Though I have sojourned with Laban, the wicked, I have observed the תרי״ג מצות, the 613 Divine Commandments, and I have learned naught of his evil ways.

We learned [in Niddah, end of chapter 3 (30b)]: "An oath is issued to him, be righteous, and be not wicked, and even if everyone in the world tells you 'you're righteous," view yourself as (someone who's) wicked.'" But one has to understand this. For have we not learned, "Do not consider yourself wicked."! What's more, if one will be wicked in his own eyes he will feel embittered and depressed, and he will be unable to serve G-d with joyful and a glad heart. And (even) if he will not be grieved by this at all, this could lead to frivolity, G-d forbid!