Parshat Vayeytze

1997

A short synopsis of the Parsha: While leaving Haran, Jacob rests for a night. In his dream he sees angels ascending and descending a ladder. God comes to Jacob and repeats the blessing he gave to Abraham and Isaac and promises to protect him and bring him back to Canaan. Jacob vows that the Lord will be his God if God fulfills his promise.

Jacob arrives in Haran and is taken in by his Uncle Lavan who has 2 daughters, Leah and her younger sister Rachel. Jacob agrees to work for 7 years in order to marry Rachel. Lavan deceives Jacob on the wedding night and substitutes Leah for Rachel. Afterwards, Jacob promises to work another 7 years in order to marry his beloved Rachel. Leah gives birth to 6 sons (Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Yissachar, Zevulun) and a daughter (Dina) ; Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant gives birth to 2 sons (Dan and Naphtali). Leah's handmaiden Zilpah gives birth to 2 sons (Gad and Asher) and finally Rachel gives birth to Joseph.

Jacob then asks Lavan to allow him to return to his home in Canaan. They agree that as his wages for 20 years of service, Jacob will build himself a flock from Lavan's herds. Jacob amasses a huge flock (by magic?) and then, unbeknownst to Lavan, Jacob and his household flee. Prior to leaving, Rachel steals her father's idols. Lavan purses Jacob but is warned in a dream to take revenge upon Jacob. Jacob then promises Lavan that whoever stole his idols will not remain alive, but the idols are never found. The Parsha ends with Lavan and Jacob sealing a pact to end all hostilities.

So much to think about! This Parsha is rich in narrative, and there are so many midrashim and interpretations of the story. I have chosen to zero in on the leaving, the "vayeytze" beginning piece of the portion.

I suppose because the notion of leaving one's home and going on a journey is one that we, as Hillel professionals, come in contact with in our student work every day and because it is one that I feel personally connected to. Jacob embarks on a journey away from his parents, at their bidding, and in the course of 20 years in Haran, he marries 4 women and amasses a huge fortune. This is a journey quite different from his grandfather's originating journey, the "lech lecha" wandering to a place yet to be shown, the place of promise and destiny. Jacob does not simply go, he "leaves" He relinquishes what he has achieved and known for two generations and goes to a known and named destination.

The word "Vayeytze" does not mean fleeing going or running, but leaving. For the purpose of the narrative, it would have been sufficient to say that Jacob just went to Haran. Rashi asks why it specifically says that he departed from Beer Sheva. He explains:" A righteous person's departure from a place leaves a void. As long as he lives in the city, he constitutes its glory, its splendor and its beauty; when he departs, its glory, its splendor and its beauty depart with him." There is new awareness of the greatness of a person precisely when his physical presence is removed.

Rashi speaks of a void left behind as Jacob begins his journey. But, perhaps, the void is within Jacob as well. In order for Jacob to separate from his family, find a mate and create a life for himself, he needs to go on this journey, both physically and emotionally. A certain innocence is abandoned. Midrash writes that for 14 years prior to the journey Jacob "buries" himself in study in the house of Shem and Ever- in this study house he constructs his world of mind, strength and spirit. Then comes the moment of going out into the external word, of leaving his parents' home and creating the space to find his place.

As Jacob leaves Haran, he has not yet grasped the magnitude of his exile, not realizing that he would never see his mother and father again. He is completely alone, banished from his homeland, despised by his brother and shamed by his dying father. Unlike Abraham, his grandfather, he is not traveling, in any simple sense, towards the land of promise. Abraham begins his journey in response to God's word.

Jacob begins with God's silence. Without God's express guidance Jacob has to go away and find himself. Unlike Isaac, Jacob will have no servant to bridge the gap for him and him home a wife. As the sun sets during his journey Jacob is exhausted, both physically ad emotionally and he yearns for a place to rest. He finds a round stone and prays for sleep. Rashi quotes a midrash "the sun set for him suddenly, earlier than usual, so that he would indeed spend the night there" God wants Jacob to sleep.

Traditionally the place is identified with Mount Moriah, the place where Jacob's father was brought to be sacrificed. But, that "certain place' can also be a metaphoric reference to God, as it is during Jacob's sleep that he comes in contact with God.

Jacob's ladder is the first explicitly recorded dream in the Bible. There are many interpretations about the ladder and the angels. Perhaps the ladder represents Jacob's desire for upward transcendence, for deliverance from his earthly conflicts. Significantly, the angels are first going up and then coming down. Perhaps they are Jacob's messengers to God, expressing his hope to inherent the covenant and imploring comfort from the pain of his current crisis. In his moment of abject dejection and loneliness, Jacob cries out for help. God offers Jacob a ladder, a bridge connecting heaven and earth.

Jacob may have a rough passage ahead of him , but now he knows for the first time that he will no be alone, that he is indeed chosen and wanted. Jacob, though, is not yet ready to fully embrace his spiritual heritage and so answers God conditionally. The best he can do is admit the possibility that God will deliver on his promise. If God protects him, clothes him and feeds him, only then will Jacob accept him as his God. Yet, the hope and solace that Jacob receives during the darkness of this night will sustain him through many years of lonely exile.

On another level, the ladder maybe symbolizes Jacob's desire to relinquish his boyhood and take control of his adulthood. While he is currently at the bottom rung of the ladder, merely beginning his ascent into manhood, Jacob is reaching out to achieve the spiritual heights achieved by the men and women who have proceeded him in his family. Jacob's ladder expresses all of his yearnings for a spiritual identity that transcend earthly distress and harmonizes different desires. Jacob has taught me that we mustn't give up hope or give into despair.

When he reaches a seeming dead end in his life, he finds a way to "go". He might have a destination, but he is clueless about what the journey will entail. He tries to connect himself to a set of moral and spiritual values that are larger than himself and that transcend the mundane conflicts of his day to day existence. He tries to impose meaningful priorities for himself. Like all of us, he is often besieged by self doubt and anxiety about the future. Yet, Jacob is constantly striving to reach beyond the confines of his daily life to try and endow it with greater meaning.

As we all face difficult passages throughout our lives, it behooves us to look toward Jacob who reaches out for help and looks inward for some direction. Ladders are constantly being lowered into our lives when we have almost despaired of finding a way out. Sometimes in the form of a teacher, friend or mentor and other times the ladders are personal and professional opportunities. But it falls upon us to take the first steps onto the ladder at whatever point of entry is fitting.

Shabbat Shalom!

Prepared by Esther Abramowitz, Hebrew University.