פרשת ויצא
Last week’s Parsha ended with Yaakov tricking his brother Eisav out of the blessings, and his ensuing need to flee from his parental home to escape certain death at the hands of his vengeful brother. On the way, he stopped at the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever, and had a little 14 year hiatus during which he didn’t sleep much, before continuing on to Haran to seek his soul mate. On his way to Haran, the Torah tells us that Yaakov stopped in the place which would become the spot where the Holy Temple was constructed, and made camp for the night. During his sleep, the Torah relates that Yaakov had a very interesting dream. He dreamt that there was a ladder going from Beer Sheva, straight up to the Heavens, and the middle point of the incline of the ladder was right over Jerusalem. There were angels going up and down the ladder, and the Shechinah itself was somehow located on the top of the ladder. What is the meaning of this cryptic dream?
The Ramban explains that Yaakov was shown angels which were traveling up and down the ladder to symbolize that the world is normally run by angels which are in charge of the natural order of things around here. For example, there are angels in charge of the world’s finances, the state of health in the world, and so on. But Hashem was showing Yaakov that He would be dealing with him personally, and that all that would befall Yaakov was directly from God, and not through the hand of an agent. We find a similar concept expressed by the Sefer Hachinuch in Mitzvah 62. He cites the Gemorah in Sanhedrin (67b) which says that there was a certain witch who wanted to cast a spell on R’ Chanina which required her to harvest the dust from under his chair. He told her that she may gather as much as she desired because he trusted solely in Hashem and the Gemorah concludes that due to his incredible merits, R’ Chanina had nothing to fear. The Chinuch explains this Gemora by giving us a general understanding in how witchcraft works. Hashem created angels as we mentioned for every natural force on this earth. But witches know how to combine the forces of nature, thereby creating a new category of “nature” which is not governed by any angel. Once they have created this new category, they can then control it. It is, so to speak, a loophole in the creation that can be taken advantage of for illicit gain. Parenthetically, this explains why the Gemorah says that witches challenge the Heavenly courts. Notice it doesn’t say that they challenge Hashem, just His courts. This is because normally, Hashem set up angels to run the forces of nature, as we explained. But witches form an aberration which challenges this order which was set up for us, by taking advantage of these “loopholes”. Hashem, who set up these loopholes in the first place, was clearly aware of them, and therefore witchery certainly doesn’t present any challenge to Him per se. The Chinuch concludes by saying that somebody who is truly close to Hashem, like R’ Chanina, has nothing to worry about because since he has chosen to trust directly and completely in Hashem, he cannot be harmed by any environmental force, natural or unnatural because Hashem is obviously above all that.
The Sefas Emes focuses on a slightly different aspect of Yaakov’s dream. He says that the ladder in Yaakov’s vision symbolizes the human being, whose body is placed down on this earth, but whose soul reaches the highest place in the Heavens. We know that the physical body we see, is only a projection of the spiritual entity that we call a soul, whose roots exist in a place in Heaven even higher than the angels. Somehow the positive actions we do on this earth affect that soul and cause it to be elevated to unimaginable heights. For this reason Yaakov was shown angels ascending and descending the ladder so that he may understand the consequences of his actions in the next world, and be impressed by the implications of what it means to serve Hashem. The Sefas Emes continues by saying that with this understanding we can now have some insight into why Yaakov was so afraid when he woke up. Imagine the fright a person would feel if he truly knew how deep an effect his actions can have on his “spiritual side” that we call a soul and indeed, on the entire upper realms. The Sefas Emes concludes by saying that this is why Yaakov immediately took a vow to give a gift to Hashem on the condition that he be delivered safely. He wanted to make a proactive reminder for himself to always keep this idea of the potential of man at the forefront of his consciousness at all times and to ask Hashem for Heavenly aid in maintaining this difficult task. The human being is a frightfully powerful engine which is capable of achieving incalculable conquests in all the worlds, thereby constructing enormous edifices, and unfortunately, also capable of wreaking untold havoc and destruction. This knowledge should serve as a constant reminder to us how imperative it is that we do the right thing at all times, and the devastating consequences that may result in one single misstep in the service of Hashem.
The Chovos Halevavos in the last chapter on repentance expounds on how precious the gift of spirituality is. He says that a man should contemplate his exceptional lot in being given a soul which is far above anything found in this world and if he does not do this, he will be reprimanded severely. Because we live in a physical world, perhaps we don’t fully appreciate the significance of being the only creature in this universe capable of spirituality. Indeed the fact that Hashem bound spirituality with physicality in the human body is a mystery beyond human comprehension, but once it is done, we must attempt to take advantage of its beauty as much as possible.
R’ Elya Lopian, the renowned Mashgiach from Kfar Chassidim approaches this concept in a slightly more profound manner. He says that just as our bodies have five senses, our souls have senses too, but they are far more refined, and capable of perceiving information which is beyond the physical. The five senses are limited in that they cannot unite. One cannot “see” a sound, or “hear” light. But the soul is a refined instrument, capable of perceiving spirituality in each and every experience in this world. Furthermore, the soul can unite its senses to distinguish much higher levels of spirituality then physicality, and when a person reaches this level, this is called “Ruach Hakodesh”, because a person can identify the spiritual roots in himself and in everything that he sees. What a gift to be given the ability to see things in the world the way that Hashem Himself sees them, so to speak.
I would just like to relate an interesting incident which perhaps will help illustrate this point of how deep a human being’s roots truly run. A few years ago, there was a large convention for Israeli Baale Teshuva. The man running this convention was the son of a deeply irreligious immigrant from Russia, who resented the fact that his son was now adhering to the laws of the Torah. This son repeatedly requested that his father be present at this ceremony, and the father finally agreed. During the presentation, the father was so moved by his son’s sincerity, and his refined demeanor, that he broke down and began to cry. He requested from the Rabbis present that he be allowed to share a few words, and they nodded their heads. He began by saying that when he left Russia, he had a dream many times, but he did not understand its meaning until now. In his dream, he saw an upside down tree, whose roots were reaching toward the sky, and whose fruits were rotting on the floor. He explained that he finally understood the meaning. He went on to explain that when he was sentenced to Siberia for twenty years he became that bitter tree, whose fruits had rotted on the floor and was no longer interested in producing anything sweet, but his roots were still in the heavens showing that he was still capable of producing life. He said that as he sees what his son has become, he only now realizes what it means to produce life, because life devoid of spirituality is really not worth living, and in a teary gesture, he offered his heartfelt gratitude to the Rabbis at that function for helping his son, and so many others to “rediscover” their roots, and truly understand the power of each and every Jew.
May we all merit to utilize the incredible gift of spirituality to reach the greatest heights!