Torah Portion - December 4, 2008

Parashat Vayetze  12-5-08

Rabbi Mark S. Kram, Temple Beth Or, Miami, FL

Dreams are funny things.  We are told that they can help us solve problems we have during the day or resolve issues through our “subconscious”.  We all dream.  Some dreams are more memorable or vivid or remarkable.  I remember as a child having some dreams that were also disturbing – being chased or falling from a high place.  (Probably resulting from some antics played out as a kid during the day.)

On the run, Jacob dreams.  In one of the most famous parashiyot (Torah chapters), Jacob is fleeing from Esau’s rage.  Using one of the stones where he stopped for the night as a pillow (doesn’t sound very comfortable), he dreams.  Torn from within, unsure of the ethics of what he did – obtaining the birthright from his brother in exchange for a hot meal.  So he dreams.

What does he dream?  God standing above a ladder on which angels were (and this is the order) going up and going down on it.  Jacob awakens, wipes his eyes shaking off the dream-vision, and proclaims, “God was in this place, and I did not know it.”

So often we walk around in our world stating to ourselves Jacobs’ words - “God was in this place, and I did not know it.”  God manifests everywhere at all times.  But it seems that we are “blind” to that, as Jacob surely was.  Jacob’s response?  The pillow-stone becomes the base of an altar for God which he makes holy (by pouring oil on it).

Then, I imagine, Jacob sits back, studies his work, smiles, and realizes the power of the moment and the place.  Holiness on earth.  Sanctified, hallowed, blessed.  Raising Jacob up from only a desert with a rock pile to a special place – a place of holiness.

We have these opportunities every day – to realize how precious and out of the ordinary can the places we inhabit or visit be filled with holiness – and we did not know it.

May we as father Jacob notice more, and realize god’s presence in OUR world.

SHABBAT SHALOM!

MARK