The Life of Jacob
D’var Torah for
Parashat Vayeitzei (Deut. 28:10—32:3)
By Rabbi Boaz D.
Heilman
I went to see Life of
Pi yesterday. I recommend it: The acting is great, the story is exciting, the
music is enthralling, and the visual effects are nothing short of spectacular. Yet—and maybe because one of the main
characters in the story is a tiger, and because of the nature of this story, it
leads one to think of yet another tiger tale:
“The Lady, or the Tiger?” by Frank Stockton.
Actually, there seems to be a whole genre out there that
could be described as “Alternative Endings,” or, more appropriately, “Alternative
Realities.” One of my favorite movies of
this genre is Tim Burton’s “Big Fish.”
Then there’s also the heart-rending song from A Chorus Line, “At the Ballet.”
Without giving away too much of the movie’s plot, a major theme
in Life of Pi is religion and the
role of God in our lives. One of the many
secondary questions that arise is whether God is an invention of the human mind,
or rather indeed something out there that somehow manages or even directs our
life. The adventures that Pi goes through
as the lone survivor of a shipwreck (along with a handful of animals, including
one mean tiger) can be understood as the result of some inborn survival
mechanism; alternatively, they can be seen as steps, or even tests, along a
spiritual journey. It is not unlike the
passage that is our whole life, from birth to the loss of innocence, and then from
physical maturity to the understanding and acceptance that often grace the last
part of one’s life.
Psychologically, the phenomenon commonly known as “out of
body experience” has been explained as an acute way in which the mind and/or
body react to extreme physical effort or stress. Frequently, this experience takes the form of
a religious ecstatic event
.
In a way, this is what Jacob experiences on his first night
away from home.
Driven away by his brother’s murderous hate, Jacob’s journey
assumes cultural/religious significance from the start. In order to separate between the two
brothers, Rebecca sends Jacob to Haran, Rebecca’s homeland, there to find a
wife and to establish himself. The Canaanite
women surrounding the patriarchal home are the wrong sort for Jacob to marry,
and so Isaac bestows upon Jacob the blessing of God’s protection and
sustenance. Jacob leaves with naught but
a staff—but imbued with a sacred blessing and a holy mission.
Jacob is keenly aware of the dangers that now surround
him. He’s not a hunter or a warrior, and
his knowledge of self defense is probably minimal. He hasn’t been around enough yet to know
where his strengths lie or how to use them to survive. And so, as the sun sets, we can only imagine
the loneliness and terrifying darkness that surround him.
Far from the comforts of home, Jacob lies down on a bed of
dirt and stone, with a rock serving him as a pillow. And it is here and now, literally between a
rock and a hard place, that he has his first vision of God. Jacob dreams of a ladder that reaches all the
way to heaven, with angels ascending and descending its rungs. And then God appears at Jacob’s side and
bestows a blessing on him, reaffirming all that Isaac had prophesied earlier,
and promising to bring Jacob back safely to his homeland.
A dream, a vision, an hallucination, or perhaps an
out-of-body experience—whatever it was, the encounter has the desired
result. Jacob finds his strength and
completes his journey to Haran.
What has Jacob learned that on that night of terror and
fright?
He learns of God’s existence and potential presence on Earth. “Surely this is the dwelling of God, and this
is the gate of Heaven!” he exclaims in the morning.
But Jacob also realizes that heaven is no place for
mortals. No matter how fearful, our
place is down on earth. A more
adventurous soul might have attempted to climb the ladder, to see what is above
the clouds, beyond the earthly bounds of our existence. But the angels—ascending from earth and descending
back to it—teach Jacob that it is down on earth where his life’s journey must unfold.
Jacob’s newfound understanding of religion lies at the
foundation of Judaism. Our
role is to live out our lives on this earth, albeit in company with angels whose
task it is to form a bridge between us and God.
Reaching for a higher state of existence is nothing more than escapism. No matter the mechanism by which some people
achieve that out-of-body sensation, it is within our bodies that our souls must
remain. Through the work of our hands,
the thoughts of our mind and the emotions of our heart we become angel-like, ascending
and descending the scale of holiness and bringing sanctity—sparks of God’s Presence—down
to the ground. It is within each of us
that we can discover the dwelling place of God and the gateway to Heaven. It is within our reach and abilities to become
a source of holiness, a blessing to ourselves and to others. Sleeping, standing or sitting on the earth
from which we come, we are rooted in the soil that sprouts all life around us
and which will enfold us even when our lives are done.
©2012
by Boaz D. Heilman
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