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In this week's Torah portion, Parashat Vayetzei, we encounter the vivid image of Jacob's ladder. Genesis, 28:10, states the following, "He dreamt, and behold! A ladder in the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold! Angel's of God ascending and descending on it."
This concept of a ladder connecting earth to the heavens teaches us an important lesson. We should know that wherever we are on this earth, there is always the potential to find a ladder which can connect us to a holier place. We may discover a portal to a different dimension, where holiness emanates and Godliness abounds.
This Divine location need not seem so very far away. Though we can sometimes get caught up in the mundane and repetitive patterns of our lives, inspiration and sanctity are only a ladder away. We simply need to remember to watch for it, and recognize the angels who are available to us, either to bring us up or to take us back down.
We, human beings, may straddle a place somewhere in between. We are physical beings, like all of the other life forms we share our planet with. And yet we have the potential to be aware of so much which is beyond ourselves and our own bodies. We can recognize the ladders around us, the opportunities to make more of ourselves. Truly we can live up to how we are described in the Torah, humans who have been created in the image of God.
Surely we have a lot to learn and much room for growth. However, we see in this Torah portion that even the great and esteemed Jacob was unaware of the sacredness of his surroundings. As he says in chapter 10, verse 16, "God is truly in this place and I did not know it."
If Jacob can be ignorant of the holiness which is before him, then certainly we can forgive ourselves for our frequent spiritual shortcomings. Yet with that self forgiveness, we should not lose the desire and the drive to elevate ourselves. Even if we are not always aware of the presence of God, we can strive to remember that the realm of the Divine is not far off. It is constantly attainable, if only we can discover the ladder which will lead us there.
Shabbat Shalom and happy Thanksgiving!
Cantor Zachary Konigsberg
cantorzkonigsberg@gmail.com
917-696-0749
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