PARASHAT
VAYETZE
GENESIS 28:10 – 32:3
IT
IS NO DREAM
DR.
RONALD A. BRAUNER
The
Torah reading for this week presents us with a very fine
example of what we call inclusio,
a literary structure which serves as a kind of set of
bookends, a beginning and an end which mean to
include
everything in
between. The inclusio
here, based on
the word "angels," begins with Genesis 28:12 – "He
dreamed and behold, a ladder standing on the ground and
reaching heavenward and angels
of
God ascending and descending upon it." The
inclusio
ends with
Genesis 32:2 – "Then Jacob went on his way and
angels
of
God met him."
Jacob leaves home at the urging of his mother and with the
blessing of his father. Jacob must avoid the wrath of his
brother Esau and he must leave his birthplace for alien
territory. Although he is fleeing to take up residence with
family (his father-in-law Laban), he is concerned, as he
might well be, about what will become of him. He has no
idea what he will encounter, he does not know whether he
will even live to see his parents again. He runs from all
that is familiar and dependable into a great unknown and
uncertainty. In this state of mind and spirit, Jacob needs
God's reassurance that all will go well with him (even
though the reassurance was already given, he was too upset
to really hear it [28:13-15]) and he makes a vow "...if God
will be with me...and if I return safely...and if the Lord
will be my God...then I will designate this place as The
House of God..." (28:20-22).
From that point, Jacob enters Aram and spends the next
twenty years making a life for himself. He is deceived and
taken advantage of by Laban. He marries Leah and Rachel
and, through them and their concubines Bilhah and Zilpah,
he becomes the father of many children. Despite the
trickery and underhandedness of Laban, Jacob prospers and
accumulates much wealth. Jacob must continually argue for
what is justly his and he must maintain a steady awareness
in his dealings with Laban lest he be exploited. Finally,
Jacob prepares to leave Aram and return home despite the
reluctance and interference of a possessive and conniving
Laban. But Jacob is equal to the task. He perseveres and he
succeeds. Once having fled for fear of Esau, Jacob is now
ready to pick up where he left off. Once having left home
with not much more than the clothes on his back, Jacob now
returns with wives, children, servants and wealth. After
having grown up in a protected environment, as his mother's
favorite, Jacob now knows the real world. This is the Jacob
who is ready to become the next Patriarch.
And the inclusio
places it
before our eyes. The vision of the ladder was only a vision
– he saw angels and heard God only in a
dream, in potential.
But now, as he returns safely after many arduous years, he
knows for a
certainty that God has
been with him – the angels he now meets are not
figments of his imagination, they are not figures in a
dream – they are the manifest emblem of God's ongoing
protective care. Jacob's life has been the proof of what he
now
sees and
knows. Jacob will be
called Israel and we, his latter-day odffspring are called
Israel and our ancestral home is called Israel and we,
Jacob's sons and daughters know for a
certainty that God's
promises are true and real – "...and you shall spread
west and east and north and south and all the families of
the world will be blessed through you and your descendants.
Indeed, I am with you and I will protect you and I will
return you to this land and I will not leave you... ."
(28:14-15)
Ronald A. Brauner is Profesor of Judaic Studies at Siegal
College, Cleveland, OH
