Parshat Vayeitzei

On his way to Charan, Yaakov sleeps near Mt. Moriah. There he has a dream about a ladder reaching from the earth to heaven. Angels are constantly moving up and down the ladder. Hashem promises Yaakov in a vision that the land he is sleeping on will be given to his descendants. Yaakov should have no fears and that Hashem is always with him.

When he awakens, Yaakov consecrates the stone he slept on and dedicates it as an altar to Hashem. He makes a vow that if Hashem guides him safely and returns him home, he would return to this place and worship there.

Yaakov arrives in Charan and is acquainted with Lavan and his family. He meets Lavan’s younger daughter Rochel and falls in love with her. Lavan insists that before Yaakov could marry her, he must work seven years. After seven years, Yaakov is ready to marry Rochel, but duringt he ceremony, Lavan switches Rochel with her older sister Leah. Yaakov has been tricked, but agrees to work another seven years, this time to actually marry Rochel.

During their marriage Rochel remained childless while Leah had children first. Yaakov’s first four son’s form Leah were Reuven, Shimon, Levi, and Yehudah. Rochel offers her handmaid, Bilhoh to Yaakov and she bears him two sons Dan and Naftali. Rochel still cannot have children, and so she offers Yaakov her other handmaid Zilpoh and she bears him two sons Gad and Asher. Leah again gives birth to two more sons Yissocher and Zevulun. She also gives birth to a daughter named Dinah. Rochel finally conceives and has a son named Yosef. A final son Benyamin is born later to Rochel. These twelve sons eventually become the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Yaakov now decides it is time to return home with his family. He has become very wealthy and Lavan is not too happy about his son in law growing in power and there is jealousy between Yaakov and the sons of Lavan. Lavan pursues Yaakov but Hashem warns him not to interfere with Yaakov’s move. Yaakov and Lavan conclude a peace treaty and Yaakov now begins to worry about what will happen when he meets Esav after all these years.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reaching to heaven; and behold the angels of G-d ascending and descending on it.

What is the significance of Yaakov’s dream? The word used for ladder is “sulam” ( ) and has an important lesson for us. First of all, notice that there is a firm connection between heaven and earth. This indicates a communication of activity. When Hashem divided the waters in Bereishit, there was still a spiritual connection between them. What happens on earth affects what happens in heaven.

The ladder symbolizes spiritual advancement. Each rung of a ladder represents a different level of spiritual connectivity to Hashem. When G-d asks Adam, “Where are you?, he isn’t asking for his physical location, but his spiritual one. When Hashem calls to Avraham, he used his name twice; once for the physical and second for the spiritual. The angels in motion indicate that one strives up and down the ladder of observance and spirituality. It is a cord with strands connecting us to our spiritual roots. The lesson for us is that the angels were in constant motion up and down. As we strive to better ourselves, we must keep moving if we occasionally fall back down. This leads to even greater heights than before.

If we divide up the word “sulam” we get . The word means “basket”. A basket is a receptacle for easily obtainable items. A basket is woven from materials that were grown from the ground. Thus a basket is connected to the ground. In our case, the basket is a receptacle for divine energy. The letter mem represents the number forty. The final letter mem is closed on all four sides like a box. It represents, teach our sages, the hidden aspects of Torah (nistar).

The number forty plays an important role in the Torah and Jewish History. It rained “forty days and nights” during the Flood. Moshe stayed on the mountain forty days and nights to receive both tablets of the Law. The gestation period for a baby is forty weeks. Rabbi Akiva first learned to read at the age forty and then spent the next forty years mastering Torah. The Mishnah, in Pirke Avot(5:25)states that “forty is the age of understanding”. The gemara states that one does not come to understand his teacher’s lessons until the age of forty. The study of kabbalah may not begin until the age of forty. Yitzchak was forty when Yaakov was born. When Hashem says “kadesh li” (“sanctify to Me, the first born…”), the word li is spelled , which has a numerical value of forty. Finally, let us not forget that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years.

The word mayim (water) is spelled with an “open” mem in the front and a “closed” mem at the end ( ). This symbolizes the open waters of our world and the closed waters in the upper realms. The sages state that the first exile was in Egypt ( ) symbolized by the open mem in front (the society was initially open and welcoming to the Israelites) and the closed mem at the end (the Egyptians enslaved us, thus closing the society).

A strange item occurs in the manuscript of the Book of Isaiah. In chapter nine verse six, there appears a final mem in the middle of a word! The word l’marbeh is written ( ). The sages say that this verse, which refers to King Hezekiah, who so meritorious in his efforts to restore the ways of Torah and observance to Israel that he deserved to be the Messiah. When G-d slew the army of Sennacherib, Hezekiah failed to offer a song of praise and thanks to Hashem. Because of this, the Messiah’s coming was “blocked” and this is symbolized by the final mem in the middle of the word.

Another example comes from the Book of Nehemiah(2:13) in which an “open” mem appears at the end of a word. The verse says that when the Jews returned from Babylon they found the walls of Jerusalem which were breached. The word “hem” is spelled ( ) indicating that the rebuilt walls would last only temporarily ( when the Second Temple is destroyed ).

The sages state that the Mishnah begins with an open mem (in Berachot) and ends with a closed mem in Uktzin to symbolize the apparent openness of learning in the beginning but realizing at the end that one has not learned all there is to know. For this reason a page of Talmud always begins with a (page 2), so that nobody could ever claim to have mastered it all since he never learned page one! The Talmud in Taanit (8a) states that Resh Lakish repeated his studies forty times corresponding to the time Moshe spent on Mt. Sinai. Similarly, the Talmud states in Pesachim (72a): “If one reviews a subject forty times, it becomes embedded in one’s memory as if placed in a utensil.”

This brings us back to our original point: ; the basket (utensil or vessel) for the forty. The mem reminds us of Chochmah, wisdom which Yaakov possessed. When Yaakov is described as “dwelling in tents”, it refers to houses of study. In the phrase “Mah tovu, o’halecha Yaakov…” (How goodly are your tents O Jacob…), the sages state that this is referring to the Israelites tents of Torah study. The mem also reminds us of “mah” ( ), which means “how”. Mah implies asking questions, learning, probing, and investigating. Asking questions is what it means to be Jewish. We get this trait from our patriarchs; especially from our ancestor, Yaakov.

	Oceanside Jewish Center Weekly Parsha By Jonathan Wolf
	Parshat Vayeitzei On his way to Charan, Yaakov sleeps near Mt. Moriah. There he has a dream about a ladder reaching from the earth to heaven. Angels are constantly moving up and down the ladder. Hashem promises Yaakov in a vision that the land he is sleeping on will be given to his descendants. Yaakov should have no fears and that Hashem is always with him. When he awakens, Yaakov consecrates the stone he slept on and dedicates it as an altar to Hashem. He makes a vow that if Hashem guides him safely and returns him home, he would return to this place and worship there. Yaakov arrives in Charan and is acquainted with Lavan and his family. He meets Lavan’s younger daughter Rochel and falls in love with her. Lavan insists that before Yaakov could marry her, he must work seven years. After seven years, Yaakov is ready to marry Rochel, but duringt he ceremony, Lavan switches Rochel with her older sister Leah. Yaakov has been tricked, but agrees to work another seven years, this time to actually marry Rochel. During their marriage Rochel remained childless while Leah had children first. Yaakov’s first four son’s form Leah were Reuven, Shimon, Levi, and Yehudah. Rochel offers her handmaid, Bilhoh to Yaakov and she bears him two sons Dan and Naftali. Rochel still cannot have children, and so she offers Yaakov her other handmaid Zilpoh and she bears him two sons Gad and Asher. Leah again gives birth to two more sons Yissocher and Zevulun. She also gives birth to a daughter named Dinah. Rochel finally conceives and has a son named Yosef. A final son Benyamin is born later to Rochel. These twelve sons eventually become the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. Yaakov now decides it is time to return home with his family. He has become very wealthy and Lavan is not too happy about his son in law growing in power and there is jealousy between Yaakov and the sons of Lavan. Lavan pursues Yaakov but Hashem warns him not to interfere with Yaakov’s move. Yaakov and Lavan conclude a peace treaty and Yaakov now begins to worry about what will happen when he meets Esav after all these years. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reaching to heaven; and behold the angels of G-d ascending and descending on it. What is the significance of Yaakov’s dream? The word used for ladder is “sulam” ( ) and has an important lesson for us. First of all, notice that there is a firm connection between heaven and earth. This indicates a communication of activity. When Hashem divided the waters in Bereishit, there was still a spiritual connection between them. What happens on earth affects what happens in heaven. The ladder symbolizes spiritual advancement. Each rung of a ladder represents a different level of spiritual connectivity to Hashem. When G-d asks Adam, “Where are you?, he isn’t asking for his physical location, but his spiritual one. When Hashem calls to Avraham, he used his name twice; once for the physical and second for the spiritual. The angels in motion indicate that one strives up and down the ladder of observance and spirituality. It is a cord with strands connecting us to our spiritual roots. The lesson for us is that the angels were in constant motion up and down. As we strive to better ourselves, we must keep moving if we occasionally fall back down. This leads to even greater heights than before. If we divide up the word “sulam” we get . The word means “basket”. A basket is a receptacle for easily obtainable items. A basket is woven from materials that were grown from the ground. Thus a basket is connected to the ground. In our case, the basket is a receptacle for divine energy. The letter mem represents the number forty. The final letter mem is closed on all four sides like a box. It represents, teach our sages, the hidden aspects of Torah (nistar). The number forty plays an important role in the Torah and Jewish History. It rained “forty days and nights” during the Flood. Moshe stayed on the mountain forty days and nights to receive both tablets of the Law. The gestation period for a baby is forty weeks. Rabbi Akiva first learned to read at the age forty and then spent the next forty years mastering Torah. The Mishnah, in Pirke Avot(5:25)states that “forty is the age of understanding”. The gemara states that one does not come to understand his teacher’s lessons until the age of forty. The study of kabbalah may not begin until the age of forty. Yitzchak was forty when Yaakov was born. When Hashem says “kadesh li” (“sanctify to Me, the first born…”), the word li is spelled , which has a numerical value of forty. Finally, let us not forget that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years. The word mayim (water) is spelled with an “open” mem in the front and a “closed” mem at the end ( ). This symbolizes the open waters of our world and the closed waters in the upper realms. The sages state that the first exile was in Egypt ( ) symbolized by the open mem in front (the society was initially open and welcoming to the Israelites) and the closed mem at the end (the Egyptians enslaved us, thus closing the society). A strange item occurs in the manuscript of the Book of Isaiah. In chapter nine verse six, there appears a final mem in the middle of a word! The word l’marbeh is written ( ). The sages say that this verse, which refers to King Hezekiah, who so meritorious in his efforts to restore the ways of Torah and observance to Israel that he deserved to be the Messiah. When G-d slew the army of Sennacherib, Hezekiah failed to offer a song of praise and thanks to Hashem. Because of this, the Messiah’s coming was “blocked” and this is symbolized by the final mem in the middle of the word. Another example comes from the Book of Nehemiah(2:13) in which an “open” mem appears at the end of a word. The verse says that when the Jews returned from Babylon they found the walls of Jerusalem which were breached. The word “hem” is spelled ( ) indicating that the rebuilt walls would last only temporarily ( when the Second Temple is destroyed ). The sages state that the Mishnah begins with an open mem (in Berachot) and ends with a closed mem in Uktzin to symbolize the apparent openness of learning in the beginning but realizing at the end that one has not learned all there is to know. For this reason a page of Talmud always begins with a (page 2), so that nobody could ever claim to have mastered it all since he never learned page one! The Talmud in Taanit (8a) states that Resh Lakish repeated his studies forty times corresponding to the time Moshe spent on Mt. Sinai. Similarly, the Talmud states in Pesachim (72a): “If one reviews a subject forty times, it becomes embedded in one’s memory as if placed in a utensil.” This brings us back to our original point: ; the basket (utensil or vessel) for the forty. The mem reminds us of Chochmah, wisdom which Yaakov possessed. When Yaakov is described as “dwelling in tents”, it refers to houses of study. In the phrase “Mah tovu, o’halecha Yaakov…” (How goodly are your tents O Jacob…), the sages state that this is referring to the Israelites tents of Torah study. The mem also reminds us of “mah” ( ), which means “how”. Mah implies asking questions, learning, probing, and investigating. Asking questions is what it means to be Jewish. We get this trait from our patriarchs; especially from our ancestor, Yaakov.