Parashat Vayetze 5768/2007

Vayetze ויצא

Thoughts on going up and down...
When Yaakov leaves his father’s home fleeing from his brother Esav who was determined to kill him, the Torah tells us he slept and he had a dream. In his dream he saw a SULAM, a ladder, the foot of which was on the ground but the top was reaching into the heavens. One of the famous commentators on the Torah, the Baal Haturim points out that the Gematria or numerical value of the word SULAM is the same as the Hebrew and Aramaic word MAMON which means money. The numerical value of both words is 136 (both written with a Vav). The Baal Haturim explains that money can elevate a person or bring him down. The Baal Shem Tov elaborates on the same theme and says that money is similar to a ladder. People can go up with it or can come down with it. Money is a very essential aspect in life but what we do with it is what matters. If we spend it wisely, if we use it for necessities, if it helps us do charity, then it elevates our existence and meaning in life. If, however, we use it for pleasures only, if we squander it, if we fail to share it with the less fortunate, then it only helps to demean us and lower the meaning of our life. [http://torahportion.wordpress.com]

Walk into any department store this time of year and you will be overwhelmed by the latest technological gizmo that is meant as a teaching tool for your children: toddlers to teens. Despite the fact that there are yearly lists of the hottest toys and games, there is nothing new under the sun. We didn't know it at the time, but the games we played as children were also meant to be instructional. Many of us spent hours playing Chutes and Ladders. It was meant to help us learn to count from one to one hundred. What we didn't realize at the time was that it was also meant to teach us how to be decent human beings. If you landed on a square with a ladder, there was a picture of a child doing something good, and so you were rewarded by climbing up a few rows. Land on a square with a chute, illustrated with a child behaving inappropriately, and you slid down several rows. Some of you might be more familiar with this game by a slightly different name: Snakes and Ladders. This is what the game was called when it was first introduced in Victorian England. The British brought it home from India. There it was a game to educate young Hindus. If you behaved well, you ascended to a higher level of life; inappropriate behavior resulted in reincarnation on a lower level. The ladder leading you to a higher state is found in many cultures, in which the ladder oftentimes symbolizes the path between our world and God's world. At first glance, this seems to be the case in Parashat VaYetze. After tricking his father into giving him the birthright, Jacob has run off, to escape his elder brother Esau's wrath. Jacob left Beer-sheba, and set out for Haran. He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. (Genesis 28:10-12). Ever since Jacob had this dream, his first vision, we have been trying to understand what it means. The sulam that leads to heaven is most often translated as ladder. Sulam could also mean a ramp or a series of steps. Of greater interest is the movement of the angels, who were going up and down on it. Why up and down, ask the commentators, why not down and up? Midrash Genesis Rabbah explains that the angels who were to accompany Jacob on his journey were descending while those who were remaining in the Promised Land were ascending. Another midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 8:1) views God as being involved in construction. A Roman woman asks what God been up to since the six days of creation, Rabbi Jose ben Halafta answers that God has been building ladders for some people to ascend and others to descend. A Hassidic. interpretation takes a different view entirely, focusing on the end of the verse ascending and descending on it (bo). Bo can also be taken to mean within it or within him. In this interpretation, the ascending and descending is dependent on humanity's prayers and actions. If a person behaves in a certain way, then the entire world is elevated, if not, the world is degraded. [http://www.kolel.org/blog/parasha.html]

Who's Who...
Baal Haturim: Jacob ben Asher, in Hebrew Ya'akov ben Asher, (1270-ca 1340) was an influential Medieval rabbinic authority. He is often referred to as the Baal ha-Turim ("Master of the Turim (Pillars)"), after his main work in halakha (Jewish law), the Arba'ah Turim. He was the third son of the Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel (known as the "Rosh"), a German-born Rabbi who moved to Spain.