Although the Avos kept the whole Torah before it was given,Yakov Avinu married two sisters, because at that time it wasn’t considered a negative mitzvah, just a stringency. At that time, since society deemed honesty as a fundamental behavior, and since Yakov had promised Rachel that he would marry her, that vow had the power of a mitzvah. Marrying two sisters was only considered a stringency at that time. We derive from this that when it comes to keeping the basics, we don’t pay attention to stringencies. The takeaway is to be more focused on helping someone else with their basic needs -whether physical or spiritual- as opposed to being occupied with perfecting ourselves and having no time for others.

לקו״ש ה-ב