Parashat Vayetzei by Rabbi Lionel Moses
Light of the Eyes
Parshat Vayeitzei begins with the story of Jacob’s departure from home, to escape the wrath of his brother, Esau. On his journey, he encounters God in a dream. He declares the site to be a place where God is present and names the place Beit El.
Jacob arrives at the home of his uncle Lavan in a place called Haran and falls in love with Rahel, the younger of Lavan’s two daughters. After working for his father-in-law, Jacob is permitted to marry Rahel, but not until he first marries Rahel’s older sister, Leah.
Leah gives birth to four sons, one right after the other. Rachel remains childless. The narrative continues with Rachel and then Leah each producing two additional sons for Jacob, this time using surrogates. Leah then gives birth to two additional sons and a daughter and Rachel finally gives birth to a son, Joseph.
The story continues with Jacob’s desire to return home. He realizes that Lavan has no intention of either paying him for his years of work, let alone allowing him to leave for home. Jacob surreptitiously packs up his family, gathers the flocks that he considers to be his legitimate pay and leaves for home, while Lavan is away from his home in Haran. Lavan hears of the escape and pursues Jacob and his family, but in the final analysis, Lavan and Jacob enter into a treaty and Jacob and his family continue on their journey back to the land of Cannan.
Many commentaries have been written that discuss Jacob’s dream in which he saw a ladder with its feet on the ground reaching all the way to heaven with angels go up the ladder and then down the ladder. This dream is counter-intuitive, since we imagine that angels live in heaven and not on earth and therefore should first be seen going down the ladder, before climbing up the ladder again.
Among the many commentaries is the commentary of the early Hasidic master, Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl. The commentary is called the Ma’or Einayim, which now appears in English translation as Light of the Eyes, translated by Rabbi Arthur Green. The Ma’or Einayim writes that Jacob was able to see into the future and saw that all the gates of prayer would be locked up during the lengthy period of Israel’s exile from the land, after the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Romans. Jacob sought some relief for his descendants and it was then that God showed Jacob the ladder. The Zohar tells us that God’s Shekhinah, God’s Presence, is called a ladder and the ladder/Shekhinah is the gateway to the Lord. It is by means of the ladder that we may “go up to God.”
What the Ma’or is teaching us is that even during our most difficult days, both individually, as well as collectively as a people, even though the Gates of Prayer appear to be closed, there is still a ladder that reaches to heaven. That ladder is the essence of God, the Shekhinah. That ladder will convey our tear-laden prayers to God’s Mercy Throne, because as the Psalmist wrote “God is with us in our sorrow” (Psalm 91:15). Even if the direct path to the gates of prayer appears to be closed, that ladder, the Shekhinah, is the hidden path for our prayers to reach God’s heavenly throne, since as we learn in the Talmud (Tractate Berakhot, page 32a) the gate for our tears is never closed. We can be comforted, even in these difficult days of antisemitism, that our prayers are heard by God and that while God does not appear to interfere directly in history, God feels our pain and anxiety and collects our tears. Perhaps, this is just small comfort, but for now, it must be enough to know that we are not alone and we have not been abandoned.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Lionel Moses