Articles with the tag: vayeitzei

The Kaballah of Violence

Classic: Yeshiva student drafted into army become top shot.
Goal: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares…”Laws of carrying ornamental weapons on Shabbos.
However: Joel declared, “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears.”
Torah mandates cruelty. We have to wipe out Amalek, the Canaanites. We advocate capital punishment.
Some argue that religion is the cause of most wars.
The wisest of all men, King Solomon:
Everything has an appointed season…A time to kill and a time to heal…A time for war and a time for peace.

Without religion we would find other things to fight about, like parking spots and noise from the neighbors. Fighting is natural. It existed long before religion. Indeed, society has always…

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From Jacob to Yacov (28:10)

Torah is succinct. Each and every word is precise. Indeed if this was the Torah, rather than someone’s thoughts on Torah, the second sentence in today’s TIMELESS TORAH would be deemed unnecessary.

With that in mind, we raise the following question, why does the Torah tell us that, “Jacob left Be’er Sheva and went to Charan?” At first glance, this is Biblical writing at its worst; sloppy and repetitive. If the narrative merely informed us that Jacob went to Charan, we would ourselves know that he left his previous location which we already know is Be’er Sheva.

Rashi, ever ready to explain every nuance of the text, explains that the Torah is telling us that the departure of a holy…

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Only an Angel (28:12)

Seen any angels lately? I don’t mean the ones that appear on your sentimental Hallmark card. I refer to the real, full blown, three-D, larger than life, celestial beings kind of angels. The ones that hung around Jacob, that go up and down ladders, and are sent to warn off fellows like Eisav and his band of cutthroat mercenaries. You know, the ones from this week’s Biblical reading.

But where do such creatures come from anyway? In this instance, even Rashi was bothered by this question, as seen from his commentary on the verse, “Behold, a ladder stood on the earth, and its top reached to the heavens, and behold, angels of the L-rd were ascending and descending on it.”...

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Between Heaven and Earth (28:12)

Jacob has his first prophetic vision when he is alone. Not when he is in his father and mother’s house, but in the dark of night in a lonely field. There on the road, with wild beasts about, he is forced to use a rock as a pillow upon which he rests his head. He prays the evening service, falls asleep, dreams and, “Behold! A ladder was standing on the ground and its top reached the heavens. And G-d’s angels were going up and down upon it.”

At first glance the dream is optimistic and obvious. G-d promises Jacob that the land upon which he lies will belong to him and his progeny forever. The pledge, not a new one,...

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I Forgot the I (28:12)

Jacob, alone and far from home, lay down with only stones for a pillow. Isolated and vulnerable, he dreamt of a ladder set on earth but reaching heaven, with angels ascending and descending. What did this vision mean? Tradition provides many answers, but the simplest has to do with the encounter between the human soul and G-d, the encounter we now call prayer.

That very night, Jacob established the evening service. He himself described this moving experience thus: “Surely the L-rd is in this place, and I did not know it…How awesome! This is none other than the house of G-d; this is the gate of heaven.”

Only in hindsight do we understand the significance. A synagogue is a “House…

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Anchored Above (28:20)

Today’s Fax of Life comes to you just weeks prior to the holiday of Yud-Tes Kislev, popularly known as the Rosh Hashana of Chassidus. This auspicious date commemorates the liberation of the first Chabad Lubavitch leader from Czarist incarceration which vindicated the movement.

The Bible of Chassidic philosophy, so to speak, is the Tanya which begins by informing us of an oath that is administered to each and every soul before it descends to earth. This vow, which states that “you shall be righteous,” parallels a similar promise made by our patriarch Jacob when our forefather swore to be one with G-d just before he left for his personal exile.

Concerning this event, the Midrash comments that Jacob swore with…

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One More Try (29:10)

In this week’s Torah portion, Jacob, who has run away from Eisav in order to escape his brother’s animosity, arrives in Charan seeking refuge. His first stop in the new land is the local watering hole where several shepherds are lounging around.

Jacob is puzzled at their lack of industriousness. His exact words to them are, “It’s still the middle of the day. It’s not yet time to bring the livestock together. Why not water the sheep and go on grazing?” They are quick to answer, “We can’t, until all the flocks have come together. Then all of us will roll the stone from the well’s mouth.”

While this conversation is going on, Jacob’s cousin and soon to be first…

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Jewish Sheep (30:43)

Jacob arrives in Charan, and the first sight to greet him is that of several flocks of sheep. Soon Jacob is a shepherd himself, caring for sheep, receiving his wages in sheep, breeding sheep, dreaming of sheep, amassing a fortune in sheep, and finally leading his flocks back to the Holy Land where he will present his brother Esau with a huge gift comprised largely of…you guessed it…sheep.

Between flocks, we also read of Jacob’s marriages and the birth of his sons, the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. What are we to learn from the fact that the nation of Israel was founded in such sheepish surroundings?

In King Solomon’s Song of Songs, he states, “I am my…

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