As this week’s parsha begins, Jacob is hastily leaving the home he has known all his life, and setting out for Haran, the birthplace of his mother, Rebecca. Jacob, previously described as ish tam yoshev ohalim, a simple person, a dweller in tents, Jacob is not naturally inclined toward adventure. He prefers the comfort of home, and is here being pushed out of his comfort zone by fear of his brother’s murderous anger. Though Jacob has tricked his father into blessing him with the inheritance of the land of Israel, with prosperity and fertility, he now finds himself venturing out into the desert, running away from the land that he will supposedly inherit, away from everything he has ever known. He is going towards the place that Abraham and Sarah left, the place that Rebecca left as well, as each of them embarked on the mission of founding the Jewish people. Things do not seem to be going Jacob’s way.
In the very next verse, Jacob comes to a place and is forced to make camp for the night because the sun is setting. He makes a pillow out of rock, and lies down to sleep. Camping alone in the desert, sleeping on a rock, Jacob seems to have hit a pretty low point in his life. He is about to dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder, of God promising to accompany him on his journey and to bring him back safely to inherit the land which he will pass on to his many children.
But even before the comforting, reassuring dream, the midrash and commentaries on the second verse imagine Jacob in a posture of prayer. The verse reads, vayifga bamakom, he arrived at a place. Which place? Many say this place was the place where the Holy Temple would one day be built, a place of inherent holiness. Another reading interprets makom, place as a name for God, asserting that Jacob arrived not just at a physical location, but at an encounter with the divine. In the midst of this moment of upheaval in his life, Jacob arrives at an awareness of God. The same midrash reads the word vayifga, not as an arrival but as a prayer. While he physically arrived in a place, he turned in prayer to God.
We do not know the content of his prayer, but the next thing that he does is lay down to sleep, even in the harsh conditions of the desert with a rock for a pillow. If this verse does indicate that Jacob prays, this turning to God allows him to calm himself, and to listen.
After his dream, and God’s promise to be with him, Jacob wakes up and exclaims, “God is surely in this place, and I did not know.” Jacob finds the strength in this encounter to continue on his journey, difficult as it will be, but not before offering thanks to God, marking and renaming this holy place.
In Jacob’s place, how many of us would have the strength and presence of mind to turn beyond our own misfortune? Faced with a difficult journey, a promising life-trajectory turned upside down, being cut of from home, family and everything he has known, Jacob is able to pull himself out of his darkest thoughts and express awe and gratitude.
In the busy, high-stress, non-stop lives so many of us lead, it is easy to be derailed by unexpected challenges, by bad news, by all the darkness that threatens our lives’ trajectory. It is easy to forget to stop, to rest, to regroup, and to express gratitude and awe for all that is right in our worlds. This month at school, we are lifting up the midah, the virtue, of hakarat hatov, gratitude.
If Jacob can stop, pray, sleep and realize, God is here and I didn’t even know, let us be inspired to do the same. There may be a lot out there, threatening to bring us down, but there is much that we can raise up, that can help us to forge ahead. Let us remember to acknowledge all that brings us joy, all that we have, all that we can do, and let us use that awareness to continue the good work we have to do in this world.
Shabbat Shalom!