EXTRA · Side-ring · Parashas Vayeitzei · Passuk 31:43
This page is an EXTRA derasha. It is not part of the main-ring PREV/NEXT chain.
Then Lavan answered and said to Yaakov, “The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. Yet what can I do today for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne?”
Classical sources beyond the TT-numbered main ring: Rashi on 31:43 (citing the plain sense of Lavan’s claim) and parallel classical readings.
Lemma: מה אעשה לאלה.
English: “What can I do unto them” — How could it enter my mind to harm them, my daughters!
Derash / classical peirush — not a formal named middah of the 13. The rhetorical force of “what can I do” is taken as a denial of any intent to injure.
Lavan presents himself as incapable of harming his daughters and their children, framing the confrontation as concern rather than threat.