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November 27, 1998/ 8 Kislev 5759, Vol. 51, No. 10
On the road with Jacob
Torah Study
RABBI ELIEZER DIAMOND
Vayetze/Genesis 28:10 - 32:3
In this week's Torah portion, we find that many major events in Jacob's life are connected with travel: his marriages; his final confrontation with his father-in-law, Laban; his reconciliation with his brother, Esau; the rape of his daughter, Dinah; the sale of his beloved Joseph into slavery; his reunion with Joseph in Egypt. Jacob even has to travel after he is dead in order to be buried in the cave of Machpelah.
At the outset of his journeys, Jacob, on the run from the murderous intentions of his brother, stops to sleep at Bethel. In his sleep, God appears to him saying, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac: The ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and your offspring. ... Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you" (Genesis 28:13,15).
God promises Jacob two things: no matter where Jacob travels, the land he is about to leave will always belong to him and to his children; and despite any difficulties that Jacob may face in his travels, God will be with him. God does not promise Jacob, as God had promised Abraham, that he will be blessed with wealth and reputation. What God promises is safe passage until Jacob can return to the place where blessing awaits him.
Jacob has different ideas. "If God remains with me, if he protects me on this journey that I am making, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safe to my house - the Lord shall be my God. And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar shall be God's abode; and of all that you give me, I will set aside as a tithe for you" (Genesis 28:20-22).
Jacob would like a taste of the good life while he is on the road. Divine protection is a good thing, Jacob is saying, but some fine food and a handsome suit of clothes also would be nice.
What begins as a visit to his family in search of a wife to bring home with him to Canaan becomes a sojourn of some 20 years in the house of Laban. Jacob matches wits with his wily father-in-law in an attempt to accumulate wealth for himself. Essentially, Jacob has forgotten that his home lies elsewhere. He has "gone native," sharing Laban's world of greed and deception.
Eventually, Jacob decides it's time to leave Laban's house, after he has a dream in which an angel appears to him saying, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now arise and leave this land and return to your native land" (Genesis 31:13).
God is telling Jacob: You have lost your way; you have mistaken a way-station on your journey for your destination. It is time to end this sojourn and return to your true and proper place.
One of the major challenges facing the traveler is understanding the purpose of one's journey. Nowhere is this challenge greater than in the journey of life itself.
A story is told of a rather wealthy Jew who comes to visit Rabbi Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen, the author of Hafetz Haim, and is surprised that there is hardly any furniture in his house. The rabbi replies, "You must have very well-made and attractive furnishings. Why haven't you brought them with you?" The visitor responds, "But I'm on a journey! Think how difficult and impractical it would be for me to take it with me. I make do with what is available in the inns." The rabbi answers, "Well, I'm on a journey, too, with little time to concern myself about furnishings. I make do with what I have."
Our most precious resource is time, and our most difficult decision how to allot it. Part of that decision depends on how we define the objectives of our journey. If "bread to eat and clothing to wear" become ends in themselves, then we spend our lives in an endless cycle of getting and spending, leaving little time or energy to encounter the God of Bethel. But if we view these as secondary in importance, we can focus on studying and fulfilling God's Torah within our own homes and within our communities, living not in the house of Laban, but in God's abode.
Rabbi Eliezer Diamond is assistant professor of rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
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