By Rabbi Alan Iser
This week’s Torah portion is Vayetze: Genesis 28:10 – 32:3
The D’var Torah for Parshat Vayetze inadvertently appeared in our Nov. 20 issue, and we are reprinting it here in conjunction with this week’s Torah portion. We sincerely regret the error.
There is a story in the Talmud about a rabbi who had a dream and went to 24 different dream interpreters. Each offered a different interpretation, and he felt each one to be valid. This week’s Torah portion begins with Jacob’s famous dream of a ladder to heaven. It, too, has been subject to multiple explanations.
Jacob’s dream has both visual and verbal content. In the dream, Jacob sees a ladder (sulam, in Hebrew) extending from the ground on which he sleeps to the sky. Angels are going up and down on the ladder.
God is “standing” beside Jacob and introduces Himself as the God of his ancestors. He proceeds to promise to Jacob and his descendants the land of Canaan, many progeny and God’s protection. Furthermore, God promises to never abandon him.
On a psychological level, one can see this dream as a calming message of self-assurance to the dreamer. Jacob has fled his home after deceiving his father and obtaining the blessing intended for his brother, Esau.
He knows his brother, Esau, wants to kill him. He is running for his life to his family’s ancestral home in Haran, and to an uncertain future. What could be better than to be vouchsafed God’s love and protection? Jacob, seemingly alone in the world, is not really alone.
However, our sages interpret the dream in a symbolic, spiritual manner. The angels and the ladder represent Jacob’s connection to the Divine. They point out that the gematria (numerical value of the letters) of the word sulam, 130, is the same as that for Sinai.
Hence, the ladder is a symbol of Sinai and God’s revelation of the Torah to the Jewish people, part of the connection between heaven and Earth.
A shaken Jacob awakens from his dream and proclaims the place to be the abode of God and the gateway to heaven. He promises to build a sanctuary for God on that location. So is this to be the future site of the Holy Temple?
Although he names the place Beth El, house of God, the actual site of Beth El is geographically north of Jerusalem. The Midrash says a miracle occurred and Mount Moriah, the future spot of the Holy Temple, had been transported to the place where Jacob slept.
This again emphasizes another connection between Earth and the supernal, which Jacob is making.
What do these two different interpretations mean for us? First, even when we are in crisis and feeling anxious and isolated, we are never alone because we always should be aware of God’s protecting presence.
As for the second interpretation, the mission of every Jew is to connect heaven and Earth, by living a life which actualizes the mitzvot and Jewish values. As the Aleinu prayer proclaims, our task is to perfect the world under the kingship of the Almighty. May that dream come true.
Rabbi Alan Iser is a senior adjunct professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Joseph’s University.