lo
DREAM
JACOB'S
73
John D. Rayner
Although today‘s Sidra
is full
the story of Jacob's
fascinating
is
ladder has
many rungs,
of interesting stories, the
most
dream about a ladder. And just as a
many levels on which the dream
so there are
can be interpreted.
To begin with
the
the
famous ladder
for
it,
most down-to—earth,
isn't really
aw, comes from
if
a ladder at
a root, 5'10,
you
all!
will excuse the
For the
which means
'to
pun,
Hebrew word
heap up' and
therefore suggests a solid stairway, or a ramp. In fact, just such a
stairway
leading
was
all
a major feature of the ancient
Mesopotamian temples,
way from ground level to the
top of the temple tower,
the
Now
or ziggurat.
would
certainly
indeed
among
was on
his
among his
have heard about these ziggurats, which were
the
way
to
relatives
wonders
mind
of the ancient world.
Furthermore he
Mesopotamia, where he hoped
from the vengeance
entirely natural that, as
his
came from Mesopotamia; so he
Jacob's family
to find shelter
of his brother Esau.
So
it is
down to sleep, he should conjure up in
the sights he was likely to see when he
he lay
in anticipation
reached his destination. Indeed,
it
would not be surprising if, instead
of counting sheep, he commtéd ziggurats!
But
now
let
us step up to Level Two, and remind ourselves that
mind waa not only one of eager anticipation, but also
one of apprehension. For he was leaving his home for the first time
in his life, and had no means of knowing for how long. And not only
Jacob's state of
his
home, but
his country, the land
peculiarly holy.
he had been taught
to
regard as
How could he be sure that in leaving it he was not
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leaving the
domain
God,
of his
an astronaut travelling beyond
like
the gravitational pull of the earth,
and venturing
unknown
into
hazards? 'The thought must have
territory full of unforeseeable
worried him greatly, and the dream, undegtoiod on
this level,
gave
him the reassurance he needed.
Partly because, whatever
exact meaning,
its
it
was
clearly a
and therefore God's way of allaying
religious experience,
his
And it was all the more reassuring because it was so
mifnexpected. And here we must dwell a littie on the phrase 01pm: mm,
anxiety.
‘He
came upon
meanings
into that
Mount Sinai, or
The Rabbis read
a certain place.'
word makom. They saw
to the
such implication.
Temple, or
On
to
in
it
all sorts
of
an allusion
to
God. But the biblical
the contrary,
it
implies that
was
it
has no
text
a very
ordinary, nondescript sort of place. Therelwas nothing there except
a.few stones lying around
have seemed
to Jacob.
If
-
a God-forsakén place, as
God
it
might well
nevertheless appeared to
him
there,
then God must indeed be accompanying him on his journey.
An ancient Midrash makes the same point by referring to the angels
who are said to be 0‘111‘1 W519, ‘going up and down' on the stairway,
where
the order
logically
is
odd, for since angels liVe in heaven they should
come down before they go up!
Midrash, the reference
is to
two
different
But, says this
charming
cbmpanies of angels: those
who have been escorting Jacob up to this point, and who, their duty
done, are now returning to heavenL and thése who are coming down
to take over
from them (Gen.R.
68:12): a
kind of changing of ther
guard.
If
God
is
sending angels
feel reassured.
But
how
to escort Jacob
onwards, he
can that be? Only
if
may
indeed
God's sovereignty
3
extends beyond Jacob's land of birth.
only reassures
the nature of
him about his safety:
God, which
is
And
it>also
therefore his
dream not
him a lesson about
teaches
Level Three. Jacob learns in a flash that,
as the prophet Malachi
was
borders of
universal and omnipresent God. For only a
Israel‘ (1:5): a
later to say,
'God
is
great
beyond
the
God can be orrmipresent, and an omnipresent God is bound
to be universal. That is the truth which dawned on Jacob that night
universal
at Bethel.
""‘Of
I
God. is ofnnipresefit doesh't
course, the fact
mean that there
are not places where, because of their associations, the sense of
God's presence comes
to
am
us more readily than elswhere.
We have all
when we have entered a house of
worship, that because so many good people have prayed here so
devoutly, therefore God's presence lingers in it almost tangibly. And
this idea, too, can perhaps be found in our story. For when Jacob
wakes up and says, *nw Rb mm mm mm: 'n 133, Surely God is in this
there is perhaps an implication, not only
place, and I did not know
that God can be encountered anywhere, but that this particular place
has a particular association with the worship of God of which Jacob
was previously unaware; for, as we know from earlier chapteré of
had
the feeling,
I
sure,
{LP
it,‘
the Patriarchal narrative (Gen. 12:8, 13:4), Bethel
where, long ago, Jacob's grandfather
altar.
We
passage of
was
the very place
Abraham had once
built
an
must imagine therefore that subsequently, with the
time, Abraham's altar had crumbled and disappeared in
the sands of the desert, so that there
Jacob stumbled on
it;
lingering presence
and helped
was nothing
left of it
when
yet his unconscious sensed something of God's
Four of our interpretation of
to
it.
induce his dream.
And that is Level
_
But now
let
us
move on to
to sleep at Bethel,
yet another level.
When Jacob lay down
he was not only thinking of the Mesopotamian
temples, or worried about his safety, or pondering whether God's
sovereignty extended to foreign regions, or wondering whether
there
was something
special about the
as his resting place: there
was ambitious, and
a
symbol of
was also something
else
the ladder or stairway was,
We,
his ambition.
too,
Esau
his elder twin brother
on his mind. Jacob
among
other things,
speak of climbing the ladder of
success. But Jacob's idea of success
was
heap of stones he had chosen
was not
who
a materialistic one.
It
was- apparently interested in
nothing but food. Jacob's ambition was to become his father's heir in
the spiritual sense
and so
the Vital link
why, long ago, he had
and why he had just cheated him out
That
the Jewish people of later times.
relieved Esau of the birthright
between the Patriarchs and
is
of the paternal blessing, incurring his mortal
enmity and
V
necessitating his flight.
Now it is obvious that Jacob's behaviour in these two instances was
unconscionable, and even the excuse that he was acting on his
mother's instructions carries
him
is
lot of
that
he was
growing up
still
immature.
weight. The best
He was not
we
can say for
yet Israel.
He had
a
And the dream at Bethel was for him a
Until now he had no doubt thought of the role
still
growing experience.
little
to do.
of leader of his people as a privilege, an honour, a status symbol.
And we
can easily imagine
fled from Esau,
still
come
how
worried he must have been, as he
that that ambition,
to nothing.
even
There were so
aftér all his
many
scheming, might
uncertainties.
He might
be killed on the way; he might not find a wife; she might not bear any
children;
it
might never be
safe for hifn to return to the land
where
his ambition
on
to
be
fulfilled. All
mind. But on that score,
his
God says
and
was
to
to
these thoughts
too, the
must have preyed
dream reassures him, when
him: 'The land on which you are lying I will give
your descendants...‘
you
to
'
But at the same time the dream changes his ideas about his future
role.
For
if
the
God
of the Patriarchs is ifideed the universal
God,
who holds sway everywhere on earth, then what can it mean to be a
people in a special relationship. or Covenant, with such a God?
'
'cah
to
only
mean
that tliédCbVenémt people is required, in
render service to
all
hears God say to him:
humanity. That
1:71:21
is
nmxn WHBWD'53
through your descendants
all
why,
in his
"I: 131231,
It
God's name,
dream, Jacob
Through you and
the familfies of the earth shall be
What Jacob realises at this point that the birthright he has
always craved is, after all, not so much a privilege as a responsibility.
blessed},
It is
is‘
a responsibility that devolves
'Heaven help
on all of us, Heaven help
us' because, like Jacob,
we
are
all
I
say
we
all
us.
imperfect,
we renounce our birthright, or sell it for
the glitterting prizes of our materialistic, consumerist society, we are
stuck with it. If we share Jacob's Vision, what else can we do but try,
as best we can, to bring the world into closer harmony with
God's will? If we consider ourselves Children of Israel, what other
ambition can we have?
have our
faults.
But unless
North London Progressive Synagogue, Shabbat Va-yetze, 23rd November, 1996
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