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PARASHA VAYEITZEI
GENESIS 28:10-32:03
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
"Earth Angel"
SYNOPTIC ABSTRACT:
Jacob goes to his uncle Laban's home to escape Esau. He falls in love
with Rachel and works seven years for her. Laban tricks Jacob, and he
marries Leah. Jacob protests and a week later he marries Rachel, but
works seven more years for her. Leah has six sons and a daughter. Their
maids, whom they marry to Jacob, each have two sons. Rachel finally gives
birth to Joseph. Jacob now has eleven sons, one daughter, and four wives.
Jacob works six more years for Laban, and amasses a fortune in herds
using genetics principles. After twenty years with Laban, Jacob flees
with his family and property. Laban pursues, and they make a peace
treaty. For further insight, we invite you to read on.
Our Torah portion gets its name, Veyeitzei ("departed"), from the first
words of verse 28:10 in Genesis. Jacob departs and travels to his uncle
Laban's home. Rashi says that the Torah could simply state that Jacob
went to Laban's home and not use the word "depart." Rashi says," a
righteous person's departure from a place leaves a void. As long as this
person lives in a city, he constitutes its glory, its splendor, and its
beauty. When he departs, its glory, splendor, and beauty depart with
him."
Night arrives, and Jacob arranges stones "around his head." He dreams of
a "ladder set earthward and its top reached heavenward...and angels of
God were ascending it and descending on it"(Gen. 28:12). When Jacob
awakes he says,"surely God is present in this place and I did not
know...and he named that place Beth-El (house of God)"(Gen. 28:16-19).
He "took the stone (NB: singular) that he placed around his head and set
it up as a pillar."
The Midrash notes that first the Torah says that Jacob took stones
(plural) for his pillow. But in the morning he took the stone (singular)
that was his pillow to make an altar. The Midrash says that the stones were
quarreling because each one wanted to be the top stone on which Jacob's
head would rest. God got tired of their quarreling, and I suppose so
did Jacob, as who could fall asleep on a noisy pillow? God fused all the
stones into one big stone.
The sages teach some interesting lessons from
this. People should not vie and quarrel politically for leadership in the
Jewish community. All members of the community need to be combined as one
unit. All members of the community who wish to participate should be
allowed to. The rabbis also teach that there were twelve stones that were
combined as one. They say that each of the twelve tribes had its own
customs. Each was unique and each had its own mission. Israel was at its
greatest when all Jews were united as one, and differences were not used
for divisiveness.
The rabbis of the Midrash also have different interpretations of the
dream of the ladder. One says the ladder is Mt. Sinai, as the numerical
value of the letters of the Hebrew for ladder (sulahm) and Sinai are both
130. The angels represent Moses and Aaron who will bring Torah from God
in heaven to earth. The Midrash says that if Jews obey the Torah, they
will ascend. If Jews do not obey Torah, they will descend. A second
interpretation is that Jacob was shown the guardian angels of the four
kingdoms that will dominate Israel in the future. Each of these angels
climbed a number of rungs equal to the number of years its conquering
nation would control Israel. The Babylonian angel went up 70 rungs and
then came down. The Median-Persian angel went up 52, and the Greek
angel went up 130. The Roman angel went up and never came down. This
frightened Jacob which is why God reassured him that he will return to
the promised land (28:15). If the Midrash was written today, the sages
would have said the Roman angel went up 1873 rungs before it descended.
A third Midrashic interpretation says that the angels who protected Jacob
while he was in the promised land went up to heaven, and lesser angels
came back down. These angels will escort Jacob while he lives with
Laban. This also taught Jacob that the land of Israel was holier than any
other place. Ramban (Nachmanides of 13th-century Spain) interprets the
dream as God's agents carrying out God's orders. They need to go back to
heaven to continually get new commands. The Ramban says that this means
that Jacob and his future nation would continually be at God's command to
follow His orders.
Our sages miss some interesting points which are important to us as
liberal Jews. Jacob awakes and realizes that God was in this place. The
Hebrew word for place is "maqom." One of God's names is "Maqom." Jacob,
after having the dream, realizes that God is there with him. The verse
says "I did not know." Prior to the dream, Jacob did not know that God
was with him. But Jacob does not take a philosophical leap, as his
grandfather Abraham did. He calls this place God's house and makes an
altar. The Talmud says this place was Mount Moriah, the same place that
Abraham binds Isaac. The Talmud also says that this place will become the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Jacob still thinks of God as being in a
particular place.
The Talmudic sages follow suit two millennia later and
devote Tractates of Talmud to the ritual sacrifices which will partially
resume when the Temple is rebuilt. The prophets later condemn the altars
of Beth-El and even the Torah outlaws stone markers to show where God
"lives" (Ex. 23:24, Lev. 26:1, Deut. 16:22). Jacob and the sages
therefore, miss the point of the dream.
God is always with us . God and heaven are not at the top of the ladder.
The Torah says that God was down on earth with Jacob. "God was standing
over him"(Gen. 28:13). God was not on the top rung. God was not floating
like a figure in a Chagall painting. God was standing on terra firma.
Each of us as Jews must ascend our own spiritual ladders. Angels do not
come down to us. We must go up first. And what happens when we go up the
ladder? We plateau and reach a comfort zone. The ladder is reset on this
level. And then we repeat the process. Spiritual progress in Jewish Spiritual Renewal is never ending.
Our province is on Earth. God is with us everywhere and in every place. It is our
responsibly as Jews to seek him by climbing. Climbing a ladder is not
easy. It takes balance, skill, coordination, dexterity, and strength.
Reaching God takes work. And when we have reached one spiritual plane, we
are to incorporate that learning into our daily existence. And then the
process of growth begins anew.
As Jews, we can never rest on our laurels.
When we finish a religious text, and make a blessing, we immediately
start a new book. When we finish the Torah on Simchat Torah, we
immediately start reading Genesis.
Judaism is an active religion. It is
not a religion of a faithful acceptance of a creed. It is a religion that
stresses not the mezuzah on the door, but the learning and love of God
and each other that goes on behind that door. It is not a religion of
being spoon fed once a Sabbath from the bimah. We are commanded to
continually study. Angels do not come from heaven to us. We have to climb
that ladder first. But when we reach out to find God, we will find that
He has been here with us all along with His hand outstretched, ready to
grab onto ours.
This idea is reiterated at the end of the Torah portion. "When Jacob went
on his way, angels of God encountered him"(Gen. 23:2). Jacob decided to
leave Laban's camp after twenty years to continue his service to God.
Jacob made the first move. When he did, the Torah says that God came out
to greet and accompany him.
Many times, we as liberal Jews are afraid to experience God or to
increase our spirituality. Maybe we think folks will think we are
becoming ultra-orthodox and call us "too Jewish." Maybe it is because we do not
know what paths to take to do this. The prophet Hosea (11:7-14:10) sees
this same fear during his time in the 8th-century BCE. "My people is
unsure about returning to Me...but it does not rise."
Start with sincere quiet prayer and reflection. Continue by reading a Jewish book. Take
another step with weekly Torah study. Set aside time each week for doing
good deeds to those less fortunate. Make an appointment and speak with
your rabbi, if he is Spiritually based and of God and not of ego. Study and discuss theology with a friend, your spouse, or
an on-line class. Read a step by step text on Jewish Spiritual Renewal. Closeness to God will come. "Whoever
is wise will consider these words. He who is prudent will take note of
them. The paths of God are smooth. The righteous walk in them" (Hos.
14:10). Enjoy the process!
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR. SEGAL
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