Vayetze 5774 - English

By Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik
Kol Shearith Israel - Panama

“Jacob left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran.” (Gen. 28:10).

Thus begins Parashat Vayetze

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Jacob’s departure from his home signals the start of his transformation.  The young immature man, who manipulated and used unethical practices, needs to leave his home not just to protect himself from the threats of his brother Esau (27:41), but also to grow and aspire to be the legitimate and worthy heir of his grandfather’s and father’s legacy.

In this sense, the mention of Haran takes us back to the divine calling of his grandfather Abraham, when he was 75 years old, which happened precisely in that city and gave rise to the family saga (12:4).

In Jacob’s case, the experience marks the beginning of the transformation following his departure.  He goes to sleep at night and dreams about a stairway that goes from earth to heaven, with angels going up and down.  In this manner, God renews the promise of land and descendants conferred to his father and grandfather, guaranteeing Jacob His protection throughout his traveling.

When he wakes up, deeply affected by the dream, young Jacob says:

“Surely the Lord is present in this place, and I did not know it! … How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven." (28:16-17)

And then he calls the place Beth-El, the house of God (26:19).

The Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 68:12) associates Jacob’s stairway (Sulam) with Mount Sinai, based on the numerical equivalence of both words (in Gematria, Sinai and Sulam are worth 130, since Sulam appears in the Torah without the Vav).  We could say that for Jacob, the dream was a revelation and the start of a new way of life, inspired by his contact with the divine.

A couple of days ago, I read a commentary that connected the story of Jacob’s dream with the well-known story of the Tower of Babel.  The first key appears on the similarity of the expressions:

“whose top will reach the heavens” –  verosho bashamayim (Gen. 11:4)

“the top of it reached toward heaven” – verosho magia hashamaymah (Gen. 28:12)

Of course, there is a variety of points of contact between both stories, in language and in content, that turn their comparison into something fascinating as regards to their similarities and differences.

A central element in this analysis would be the names.  Besides the fact that the Torah explains the meaning of Babel as jumble or confusion (11:9), its etimology would seem to be Bav – Ilu, the Lord’s door, very similar to our patriarch Jacob’s Shaar Hashamayim, gate to the heavens, he still decides to name the place Beth-El, the house of God.

It is in this “subtle” difference that the abysmal separation between both world views lies.  Babel is the aspiration of humankind to find the “gate to heaven” and invade it, in other words, to become god, whereas Jacob’s ladder reminds us that our goal is to climb so as to reach “the door of heaven” and feel in “the Lord’s house”, living forever under His presence.  And the way to get there is likely to be, as our sages say, through the words of the Torah that we received at Mount Sinai.

Jacob’s dream signals the beginning of a new stage in his life.  Far from his home, anxious about his future, he finds in the divine revelation the inspiration of a goal which transcends times and places.

The young man who awakes in the morning is not the same as the one who went to sleep the previous night.  Being aware of God’s presence as his life’s guide will bring him the courage to begin his transformation, until he gets to be our people’s third patriarch.  The path will take him years and it will not be free of obstacles, but his conviction will help him overcome the challenges presented by life.

Similarly, Jacob’s story projects on our lives.  We only have to be alert.  It is a dream, a stairway that reminds us of Sinai, and a gate that invites us to make our lives an abode to the transcendental.

Shabbat Shalom,

Gustavo