In order to comprehend the actions of Jacob in this week’s parasha, Vayeitzei, we have to reflect on Esau’s choices in last week’s parasha, Toledot. Regardless if Esau could have been helped by a better supportive family at the end of the day he alone was responsible for the choices he made, and as we shall see, the same is so with Jacob.
This week’s parasha begins with a dream, a dream that most of us learned as kids, either in religious school or by playing the game "Chutes and Ladders" (Gen. 28:12-15). In the dream there are ladders going from earth to the heavens, with Angels going up and down on them, and God also descended to the physical earth and stood right beside Jacob as they spoke. In this dream Jacob was told by God, “I am the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac,” and according to the same promise made to them, “Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth [and] all the families” of the earth will be blessed by “your descendants,” God also reminding Jacob that “I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
It is how Jacob responds that is of interest. Jacob does not dissect his
dream to question if it was real or not, but in using the words of Martin
Buber, Jacob describes the mystery of his dream by “creating language” understood by the masses
to convey its mystical nature. The meaning
for Jacob is what it means to him which is; If God remains with Jacob, providing him with necessities like food and clothing then Jacob will return home to carry on the promises
made to his father and his father’s father. But let’s stop here and take just a
moment to reflect on Esau in this same light. While not a dream, Esau was given
a birthright (Gen. 25:31), which held the same purpose. In this case this birthright meant that as
the oldest he would one day be “filling the father’s position of head of the family once the father
passed away” (Rabbi David Kimhi), a position that was about the “sacrificial service [of the things of God
that] were then carried out by the first-born sons,” in fact it was like being
a Kohen, or a Priest (Rashi). Firstly, for both
Esau and Jacob whatever would happen would be in the future and not in the now,
which is why Esau said I am hungry today so what good is a birthright tomorrow.
Secondly, Esau rejected his father’s concerns about marriage partners because he
did not get what he wanted in the immediate whereas Jacob agreed to return to
his homestead sometime in the future with the condition that God took care of
him in the now. And thirdly, in light of
life’s disappointments Esau and Jacob choose to each responded differently. Esau chose to be angry and seek revenge over
Jacob’s exploits, but Jacob after years of subjection to Laban’s unfair treatment choose the higher path over not letting his anger own him.
In fact, it is how Jacob responds to Laban that we want to
take note of. After getting his opportunity
to respectfully tell his uncle what he thought after 20 years of labor (even if
Jacob benefited he was deceived by Laban), when all is said in done he
responds, “לוּלֵ֡י (lulay), which means “had it not been,” or “unless” the “God of my father’s - the God of Abraham and
the Fear of Isaac—had been with me, you (Laban) would have sent me
away empty-handed ...” For Jacob the
blessings of family and riches he had after 20 years with Laban have foundation
in how he responded to his dream all those years earlier, believing that despite
all that had happened God had been with him (lulay) so he triumphed. Esau was angry and chose a path that lead to
a people who were wicked. There is a Midrash
that teaches how both Esau and Jacob started out
on the right path, but later Esau would “ruin himself with his deeds.” Esau and Jacob despite
the unfairness of life elected different directions: for Jacob it was the way of the divine image that aspired him to seek higher values in life whereas for Esau he could not conquer
his Yetzer haRah, or evil inclination,
so he fell victim to it.
A Lesson we learn from this parasha is the power of our encounters to provoke positive change in our humanity and discover and/or awaken the divine within. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes that a sense of God, which he calls the ineffable, “inhabits the magnificent and the common,” just like a dream vis-à-vis a birthright! According to tradition evening prayer (Maariv) was instituted by Jacob who had his encounters with God at night (see both Gen. 28:12-15 and 32:25-32), and when we encounter prayers they invoke a change within the human spirit. Herschel also wrote “we do not create the ineffable, we encounter it,” and the rest was a matter of choice for Esau and Jacob how that would impact them. We also will encounter moments in our day, most overtly ordinary and some personally spiritual, but then like with Esau and Jacob how we respond is a matter of choice.
Shabbat
Shalom,
Rabbi Adam
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