by Zelig Golden
6 Kislev 5768 | November 16, 2007
Jacob left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran. He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of G-d were going up and down on it. And G-d was standing besides him and He said, “I am the Lord, G-d of your father Abraham and the G-d of Isaac: the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and to your offspring. Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants. Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is present in this place, and I did not know it!” (Gen 28:10-16).
In Parsha Va-Yetse, Jacob is sent out of Canaan by his father Isaac to find a wife back in his mother Rebecca’s home of Haran (and to flee the wrath of his brother Esau from whom he stole the birthright and Isaac’s blessing). Like Isaac’s prayer and planting in the fields that opened him to the love he found with Rebecca, Jacob must also stop in the desert alone before he may encounter true love in Rachel.
After the sun set, Jacob lies his head down on a stone to sleep and he brings in his first vision: a ladder connecting earth to heaven, angels traveling up and down the ladder. The Midrash tells us that in the dream, G-d invites Jacob into heaven, asking “Why don’t you go up the ladder?” The Midrash explains that Jacob feared that if he ascended, he would also have to descend. However, G-d promises Jacob that if he climbs the ladder to heaven, he will not have to descend, yet he still refuses to climb. Why?
Jacob’s awakening may explain. When Jacob returns from his dream, he proclaims “Surely G-d is in this place, and I did not know it!” “How awesome is this place! This is none other that the home of G-d, and that is the gateway to heaven.” Maybe Jacob’s decision to stay on earth was not from fear, but a realization from his dream that the holiness of G-d in heaven is found equally on earth – in the cold stone beneath his head, the dry sand that made his bed, and the warm sun that greeted him to awaken. Indeed, the work Makom, or “place,” is one of the many names for G-d. And our sages teach us that four-letter name of G-d represents the unification of the transcendent, unknowable aspects of the world (yud he) and the tangible, grounded, knowable aspects of world (vav he). Jacob’s dream teaches him that while he could have left this realm by ascending to heaven, he knew that the holiness of G-d equally resides right here on earth.
Jacob, who remains on earth to become the father of the twelve tribes of the Jewish clan, becomes one our greatest teachers. He demonstrates the importance of acknowledging the importance of both the spiritual and the worldly, the “holy” and the mundane. He teaches us to equally respect G-d in heaven as well as G-d on earth.
