Vayetze - Michael Shire
Whilst travelling, Jacob dreams of a ladder with angels ascending and descending. He travels to Charan, meets Rachel and agrees to work for her father Lavan for seven years in order to marry her, but is tricked into marrying her older sister Leah, and works another seven for Rachel. Leah gives birth to many children, while Rachel is barren but eventually gives birth to a son. Jacob and his family eventually leave Lavan's home.
Vayetze
Michael Shire is a Rabbi and currently the Acting Principal and lecturer in Education and Practical Rabbinics at Leo Baeck College-Centre for Jewish Education.
Jacob leaves on his journey and arrives at a place where he lies down to sleep. There he dreams of a ladder reaching up to heaven with angels ascending and descending upon it. In his dream he hears God promising him the same promise as that given to Abraham; a land, a people, a blessing and God's protection. When he awakes he realises the significance of the dream and he marks the place as sacred. Rashi's (11th century commentator) comment on Vayetze, which means 'And he left', points to the imprint that a righteous person makes when he leaves. Vayetze - the leaving of an imprint - is the mark of the presence of holiness. When a righteous person abides in a place, there is a realization that God's presence has been experienced directly there too. Wherever the righteous person dwells, so too does God's light rest there. Avivah Zornberg (contemporary Torah scholar) adds that only when the righteous person is absent, is there a full awareness of the loss of his or her presence. The same is true of our experience of God.
This powerful and famous narrative describing Jacob's journey and his dreaming uses these themes of presence and absence to depict the emerging relationship between Jacob and God. It is no coincidence that later Jacob wrestles with God who renames him Israel –'the one who struggles with God'. It is ironic that Jacob is asleep (absent!) when he first witnesses God's presence. In this state, he finally comes to realize his own destiny and the promise that will be fulfilled through him. Though sleeping, it is as if he finally wakes up to his role, despite having struggled so long in the womb and subsequently with Esau. Now Jacob will journey on to be the father of a great nation in the land promised to his parents and grandparents. Similarly we are often seemingly absent from the meaning in our lives until something wakes us up to what is most important.
Moreover God seems to be very present in the beginning of the journey as the word Maqom, place, is repeated seven times in the first ten sentences. Maqom is often used as a synonym for God. Yet God has been strangely absent in Jacob's life up to now, leaving him to his own devices, forcing him to cheat and deceive his own family. Perhaps something has been 'left out (vayetze)' of Jacob's life and only now by leaving will he find it. We can find it most difficult, at times, in our lives, to realize that God whom we expect to be present, is in fact absent leaving a void within us.
Though God's presence is everywhere and reaching God can take place anywhere, the parasha indicates that this 'Beth el' – this House of God - is a special place where God's presence is directly felt. Ibn Ezra (12th century commentator) asks why are there some places where God's wonders are particularly evident? It is in these places, we are awake to some special meaning that is memorable and lasting. These are places where we put down a marker to remind ourselves that something happened here. 'God was in this place and I, I did not know it' (Genesis 28:16). The use of anochi, I, is a statement that Jacob is now fully there and fully cognizant of what is happening within him. It is also true of us; unless I am truly present, I cannot understand who is there with me.
Jacob was sleeping and now is awake to the possibility of God's presence. He marks the spot to signify both God's imprint and his own. He knows that God goes with him but that this was special place where holiness was palpably evident. For in this place he truly experienced a land, a people, a blessing and God's protection.
Another Voice - Eliot Kaye
Life is compared to a ladder. The deciding factor is not how high you have reached, but which way you are going - up or down. Better to be at the bottom yet ascending than at the top but descending.
A story is told of a very smart child who had managed to climb very high up a tall tree. When his father asked him how he had managed it, he told him "simple - I didn't look down".
It is well known that one way to avoid or at least decrease the fear of heights is "not to look down". So too, in our lives, by always aspiring to go one better, looking towards the future and not looking down, backwards, into the past, the task of moving on to the next rung of the ladder becomes far less formidable.