Partners
Thoughts on VaYesse 2018
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The essence of
Judaism is the awareness of the reciprocity of God and man, of man’s
togetherness with Him who abides in eternal otherness. (R. Abraham J. Heschel)[1]
The opening passage
of Parashat VaYesse describes Yaakov’s first direct encounter with God.
Stopping to sleep upon his journey from home, Yaakov dreamt of a ramp that was
set against the ground and stretched up to the heavens. And as God then spoke
to him, Yaakov noticed a host of God’s angels who rose and descended upon the ramp.
This vivid imagery sent him a message regarding the fundamental connection
between heaven and earth – between God and man.
Indeed, Yaakov’s
instinctive reaction to the dream was to exclaim, “This can be but the house of
God and this is the gate of the heavens” (28:17). But his actions went beyond
mere observation. He set a stone into the ground as a pillar, poured oil over
its top and vowed that upon his safe return to that location, “This stone that
I set as a pillar will be a house of God” (22). Rather than passively accepting
the sanctified nature of this metaphysical “house of God” which he had just
discovered, Yaakov pledged to build the physical structure of a “house of God”
at that location, as well.
The heaven-reaching
ramp, coupled with the transitional angels taught Yaakov about the inherent
link between “God’s heavens” and “man’s earth.” The images furthermore inspired
him to strengthen that bond by vowing the future construction of a physical
“house of God.”
The Hakhamim
hinted at this concept regarding our “partnership with God” in several
different contexts. They pointed to an apparent contradiction in two verses
from Tehilim. Whereas one pasuk says that “The earth and all it contains
is God’s” (24:1) another one states “The heavens are God’s and the earth He has
given over to mankind” (115:16). R. Levi explained that while “the earth and
all it contains is God’s,” once making a berakhah on the food of the
earth “He gives it over to mankind.”[2]
His statement reinforces the mandate for us to partner with God in completing
this world.
Rava’s statement
that “Initially the Torah is called by the name of God, but ultimately it is
called by the name of the one who studies it” imparts a similar lesson.[3]
It teaches that by studying “God’s Torah” and revealing its multifaceted
messages, we enter into a partnership with Him in the very “ownership” of the
Torah.
God’s message to
Yaakov at that time, then, touched upon the very essence of our mission in life.
Indeed, the kabbalists point to the Torah’s cryptic description of man’s
creation “in the image of God” (1:27) as evidence of this fact. They explain
that since the most basic attribute of God in the story of Creation is that of
“Creator,” our existence “in His image” must then imply our mission to couple
with Him as creators.[4]
R. Joseph B.
Soloveitchik z”l similarly wrote that “the dream of creation is the
central idea in the halakhic consciousness – the idea of the importance of man
as a partner of the Almighty in the act of creation, man as creator of worlds.”
If at times we raise the question of the ultimate aim of Judaism, R.
Soloveitchik continued, “we must not disregard the fact that this wondrous
spectacle of the creation of worlds is the Jewish people’s eschatological
vision, the realization of all its hopes.”[5]
The vivid imagery
of Yaakov’s dream during his initial encounter with God reminded him about his
continued mission in this world. Stretching beyond a simple one-time message, however,
his dream must inspire every decision that we make and every action that
we take. Searching for and discovering the spiritual “house of God” is only
one facet of our lifelong mission. Setting out to build the material one is the
other.