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a joyous, deeply personal, spiritual experience. All Chassidic thought ££The Trials of Truth
£The Trials of TruthThe Trials of Truth
and custom follows the Ba’al Shem Tov’s approach to prayer.
The Ba’al Shem Tov’s disciples collected his various teachings
on prayer in a treatise called Amud Hatefilla (The Pillar of Prayer), A very perplexing question arises from this portion: Why did God
mentioned previously in the portion of Noah. Both pillars and ladders allow the circumstances to force Jacob into acting in a manner that
connote standing erect and the connection between earth and heaven. makes him out to be an opportunist in buying the birthright and
Judaism’s quintessential prayer is the Amidah. Coming from the dishonest in impersonating Esau and taking the blessing? Indeed,
same root as amud (pillar), amidah means “standing.” The bottom of this question is reinforced by the next portion, Vayeitzei, where
the ladder, firmly entrenched in the earth, symbolizes the humility Jacob is again portrayed in such a light in his relationship with
required to stand before God, while its top, reaching the heavens, Laban. Compounding this question, the straightforward peshat of
symbolizes humanity’s spiritual potential. The name of Judaism’s the text seems to treat Jacob’s nemeses, Esau and Laban as fairly
quintessential prayer and the image of the ladder drive home God’s unobjectionable characters, and in the matter of Esau’s blessing
message: prayer is the act of standing before God. Human beings who he even comes off as the good son, who was cruelly wronged by his
were created “in the image of God” were from the very beginning brother.
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endowed with the capacity to fulfill this role.
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While the oral tradition does depict both Esau and Laban in the
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worst possible light, the truth remains that circumstances force
Jacob – in not one, but two relationships – to act in ways that seem
dishonest. For millennia non-Jews have used these stories to defame
££Run and Return the collective Jewish character; therefore, resolving this question is
£Run and ReturnRun and Return
not merely an academic exercise. We must explain why God provided
the enemies of the Jewish people with such ready proofs for their
We have by no means exhausted the associations and symbolism damaging libel in the Torah itself.
inherent in Jacob’s dream, and it would, in fact, be impossible to do To begin with, we must unequivocally state that Jacob did not
so as the Torah is truly infinite in its archetypal and symbolic depths. steal the birthright. According to the peshat, the literal sense of the
Nonetheless, there is one more paradigm that we should not ignore, text, Jacob bought it fair and square. While some have claimed that
for in a sense, it encompasses all we have said so far, establishing Jacob coerced Esau into making the sale because he was at death’s
the ladder and the angels as the very symbols of life and existence door, starving of hunger, this is patently absurd. Had this been the
themselves. case, Esau, a powerful man and a great hunter could certainly have
A major Kabbalistic and Chassidic concept describing the dynamic used his last bits of strength to push Jacob, the docile scholar, aside
of all life is called “Run and Return,” a phrase taken from the and take the food by force. Indeed, the Torah confirms Esau’s real
prophet Ezekiel’s “Vision of the Chariot” (Ma’aseh Merkavah). The reason for parting with the birthright – he had only disdain for it:
following verses taken from this mystical vision form the basis for “Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate and drank, and
this concept: he rose and he left; and thus Esau despised the birthright” (Genesis
25:34).
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was
like coals of fire, burning like the appearance of torches; it flashed

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