VAYETZE 1984

In the Torah portion Vayetze we learn how Jacob fled from his brother to Mesopotamia.
This Torah portion begins telling how the angels descended and ascended when he left
the Land of Israel, and how when he once again entered the Land of Israel at the end
of the Torah portion he was again met by angels.  The Jew outside of the Land of Israel
acts differently than the Jew inside the Land of Israel.  There are different problems
that have to be faced.  It is difficult when you are a minority rather than a majority.
It is difficult when you are powerless than when you are powerful.  It is different
than when you are subjected to persecution and you are not subjected to persecution.
The Jew, though, remains committed to the basic Jewish position of excellence in life,
and especially excellence in morality.  Not all peoples are interested in excellence,
and not all are interested in making sure everything you do is moral and just and right.
It is hard to be a Jew.  It is not easy, and many Jews would just as soon meld into
the majority.  Some can no longer be Jews because they no longer have a commitment to
excellence in life and excellence in moral values.  It takes a clear head.  That's why
we learn that when Jacob came to the place where he had the vision of the ladder going
up to heaven he took the stones and put them around his head.  The rabbis said, why
did he put them around his head? Why not his whole body if they are meant to protect
him?  The answer is that in exile all parts of the Jewish body can be subjected to discrimination
and persecution except the head.  The head must always see clearly.  If it does not
then the Jew cannot survive.  A Jew who falls for the traps of the world soon ceases
being a Jew.  A Jew who rationalizes his own immorality or lack of courage and integrity
will soon cease being a Jew.  That's why the word "Israel," itself, can be said to be
composed of the two Hebrew words "Lee Rosh," "to me there is a head." A head has to
think clearly.  That's why the angels first had to go up before they came down on the
ladder.  A Jew must send up thoughts and ideals and goals of excellence in all aspects
of life, especially in morality if he is to receive the blessings of the angels, the
true blessings of life.  If he is insincere and compromises Jewish life he will not
receive these blessings.  The Torah portion starts telling us about Jacob "Vayifka Hamokum."
This is usually translated "there is a light in the place" but it can also mean "he
was wounded."  Jacob was wounded.  He had cheated his brother.  He did an act which
 
was not according to the highest standards of our faith.  He was in danger of losing his Jewishness.  The means must also be moral as well as the ends.  Other peoples are many times committed to excellence but not excellence in all areas.  For example, there are certain groups that stress the family, as we do, but then they refuse to let their children go to school because they feel that would destroy the family.  In fact, that's why truant officers had to be invented in America at the turn of the century because certain immigrant groups in America did not want their children to go to school.  They felt it would destroy the family.  We are committed to excellence in means as well as goals.  Jacob was about to leave the Land of Israel wounded.  This explains, too, the strange vow he took after he had the dream of the ladder with the angels going up and down.  He took a vow saying, "If G-d will be with me and watch me in this way that I will go and will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear and I return In peace to the house of my father then He will be for me as a G-d." What is Jacob doing here, bargaining, saying that if G-d will do this and this for him He will be His G-d, otherwise He will not?  Is he looking for bids?  This is completely against Judaism, but that is not what this vow means.  This vow means "and if G-d will also be for me a G-d."  Jacob was not sure that he would stay a Jew.  He realized now that life is difficult and it is easy to stray.  He was going to visit Mesopotamia, and who knows how things would turn out? In fact, we learn that Jacob almost lost his Judaism at least on three different occasion. When he left to go to Mesopotamia he had dreams of angels going up.  At the end all he had dreams of was one sheep mounting another.  All he dreamed about was money.  He had to leave the house of Laban because he was becoming like Laban.  He was becoming more shrewd and more of a shyster than Laban.  A Jew who is only interested in money will not stay a Jew very long and most certainly his children will not stay Jews.  Another time in this Sedra Rachel, who was barren while her sister, Leah, had many children, cries out to Jacob, "Give me children or else I die," at which time Jacob gets very angry and says, "Am I in place of G-d that I have withheld from you the fruit of the womb? After all, it is not my fault.  I have had children." Jacob, instead of being compassionate, becomes hard and cruel.  A Jew cannot remain a Jew unless he is also
 
compassionate.  Finally, we learn how Jacob runs away when he knows he has to leave
Laban.  Instead of confronting Laban and telling him he was leaving, he sneaked away
in the middle of the night.  If it was not for G-d intervening he would have been lost.
A Jew must stand for something, for integrity.  He cannot run away.  Jacob, here, too,
almost lost his Jewishness.  At the end of this Torah portion we again learn about this
same theme of remaining Jewish.  Laban overtakes Jacob and they make a treaty between
them.  They heap up a pile of stones to mark their treaty.  Laban calls this heap of
stones "Yigar Sahadusa," which in Arabic means "a gathering of witnesses."  Jacob calls
it "the heap of stones which witness.11 Laban then takes an oath by the G-d of Abraham
and the god of Nochom, but Jacob will only take an oath by the fear of his father, Isaac.
Laban is telling Jacob, "You are as big a crook as I am.  You are just like me.  There
is no difference between you and me, therefore, this heap of stones is just a gathering
of witnesses." Jacob, on the other hand, sees this pile of stones as symbolizing the
difference between him and Laban.  Laban says that this is the G-d of Abraham and the
god of Nochor.  There is no difference between them.  All religions are the same.  Jacob
refuses to concede that there is not a difference about being Jewish and not being Jewish.
If there was not, then it makes no sense to remain Jewish.  Today there are many young
people who feel the same way as Laban did.  It does not make any difference.  If so
it is silly to remain Jewish.  Why take the highest road to G-d unless there is something
the world still needs to learn from Judaism?  It is not by any accident that many people
considered Zionism to be a form of orthodoxy, and we all know how anti-orthodox some
Zionists were, but it was no accident because these observers noticed that the Zionists,
like the orthodox, believed that Judaism had yet much to give to the world, that we
had to be a light unto the nations.  It makes a difference if you are committed to excellence
in all fields or not where we can show this throughout life.  We today still believe
that the world needs Judaism.  I am reminded of the story they tell about the three
boys:  one a son of a dentist, one a son of a doctor, and one a son of a rabbi.  The
son of the doctor said, "I can get sick for nothing.  My daddy is a doctor."  The dentist's
son said, "I can get cavities for nothing.  My daddy is a dentist."  The third boy said,
 
I can be good for nothing.  My daddy is a rabbi." Unfortunately, there are many Jews who feel the same way today.  For sure if Jews are only interested in money and do not have compassion and do not stand for something they cannot remain Jews.