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