TorahParsha

Vision (for Parshat VaYetzeih)

i

Jacob sleeps in a place.

 

Suddenly, God appears to him in a dream.

 

Jacob says: HaShem is in this place, and I did not know.

 

*

Jacob is to marry Rachel.

 

But on the evening of their wedding, Lavan—Rachel’s father—switches Rachel with her sister, Leah.

 

And it came to pass that in the morning, behold: it was Leah.

 

*

Jacob is a man who does not see.

 

He does not recognize the place of God.

 

Even in the morning, the text never says: Jacob saw Leah.

 

 

ii

Later Jacob grows wealthy. And Lavan grows to mistrust him.

 

And Jacob saw the face of Lavan; and behold: it was not towards him as before.

 

*

Jacob saw the face of Lavan.

 

Jacob has learned to see another person.

 

 

iii

It is then that God, who has not spoken to Jacob for twenty years, says to Jacob: Return to the land of your fathers.

 

And Jacob journeys away.

 

And angels met Jacob.

 

And Jacob saw the angels.

 

And Jacob said: This is God’s camp.

 

*

Jacob sees the face of another person.

 

In this he becomes able to see God’s world.

 

________

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

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Blessing (for Parshat Toldot)

I

i

Esau is a hunter.

 

Esau came from the field and he was weary.

 

And Jacob, his brother, cooked pottage.

 

A hunter relies on his catch; he has no easy pottage to rely upon.

 

ii

Isaac is blind, and is old, and loved Esau.

 

Isaac says to Esau: Go…and catch me some venison…that my soul may bless you before I die.

 

iii

At his mother’s word, Jacob tricks Isaac.

 

Jacob dresses in animal pelts, and brings meat from the flocks; and Isaac feels hairy skin, and eats meat, and blesses Jacob—thinking that Jacob is Esau, who is a hairy man.

 

II

i

Isaac does not know his own sons.

 

Esau does not know when his next meal will come.

 

Father and son live with no certainty.

 

ii

Isaac asks Jacob how he has found his catch; and Jacob says: God has granted me good fortune.

 

iii

To receive blessing, Jacob enters the world of Esau, of Isaac: he enters the world of no certainty.

 

And Jacob says: God has granted me good fortune.

 

Jacob says: In this world there is no certainty; God is my certainty.

 

*

This is how Jacob receives blessing.

 

________

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

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Interdependence (For Parshat Chayei Sarah)

i

Abraham hopes for a wife for his son.

 

He sends his servant out to seek this wife.

 

We do not know the servant’s name.

 

He is only: the eldest servant of Abraham’s house.

 

*

The servant journeys to Abraham’s homeland and meets Rebecca and she is the one whom he hopes to bring back for Abraham’s son, for Isaac.

 

When the servant does not know if Rebecca is the right woman, or if her family will let her come with him—if HaShem had made his journey prosperous or not—he is only the man. His name servant is taken away.

 

ii

Here is a man whose very name (servant) arises from his mission for others.

 

The presence of his name is contingent upon what he will achieve through other people.

 

*

He is the one who brings a wife to Abraham’s son.

 

He is the one who shifts Abraham’s group, from a father-and-son to the beginning of many generations: the beginning of a nation.

 

iii

At the root of this nation is the man who needs others utterly—even simply to bear a name, simply to be.

 

________

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

 

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Trees and Wood (For Parshat VaYeireh)

i

God promises Abraham that he will father many children within the Land; and Abraham dwelt by the terebinth-trees of Mamreh.

Abraham invites angels to partake of his plenty. And he stood them under a tree, and they ate.

Abraham forms a pact with the nation of Gerar; and he planted a tamarisk tree.

The tree is Abraham’s sign of security, plenty, of having.

*

Then God asks Abraham to give up all that he has: God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, Isaac, up on a mountain.

And Abraham… broke up wood for the offering.

And Abraham built an altar…and laid the wood

and Abraham laid Isaac on the altar upon the wood.

Abraham now deals in broken trees, in dead trees.

ii

Much later, God will say: the priest shall burn wood on the altar every morning.

Every morning: here is security, here is regularity, here is promise.

This very promise will come through broken trees, through wood.

iii

You give up the security of your life for God, by which you gain the security of life with God.

The near-sacrifice of Isaac brings this possibility to the world.

________

Shabbat Shalom, Abe
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