We Will Be Like Dreamers – Awakening from a bad dream to find the evil gone and the Goodness of Earth Redeemed [as we read this week’s Parsha, we should find a Remez to what is going on in our world this week, as the Torah bids us]
"And he dreamed, and behold!"
(Genesis 28:12)
Kislev 11, 5781/November 27, 2020
"And he dreamed, and behold!" (Genesis 28:12) There is nothing more ephemeral, more ethereal than a dream. Like dew in the morning sun, dreams fade from our memory almost instantly upon awakening. Where do they come from? Where do they go to? Dreams are elusive, impossible to latch onto or hold in our hand. Yet, nevertheless, dreams persist, in our mind's eye, in our hearts, in our visions and aspirations.
Yaakov, upon leaving his home and setting foot in a place he would call Beit El - the House of G-d, had a dream that would change the world's waking reality forever. He dreamed of a ladder, firmly place on earth, that led to the heavens.
Standing atop of the ladder and its ascending and descending angels, was a vision of G-d, speaking to Yaakov:
"I am HaShem, the G-d of Avraham your father, and the G-d of Yitzchak; the land upon which you are lying to you I will give it and to your seed. And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall gain strength westward and eastward and northward and southward; and through you shall be blessed all the families of the earth and through your seed. And behold, I am with you, and I will guard you wherever you go, and I will restore you to this land, for I will not forsake you until I have done what I have spoken concerning you." (ibid 28:13-15)
Yaakov awoke, startled and terrified. But just as Yaakov grasped and held tight to the heel of his brother Esau while still in his mother's womb, Yaakov grasped immediately the enormity of his dream, and just as he purchased his brother's birthright, Yaakov took possession of his dream by immediately upon wakening, committing to it:
"If G-d will be with me, and He will guard me on this way, upon which I am going, and He will give me bread to eat and a garment to wear; And if I return in peace to my father's house, and HaShem will be my G-d; Then this stone, which I have placed as a monument, shall be a house of G-d, and everything that You give me, I will surely tithe to You." (ibid 28:20-22)
Yaakov, from his very conception, knew that the future belonged to him and his children. This is why he grabbed his brother's ankle, this is why he purchased the birthright, and this is why he deceived his father to receive his blessing. The physical reality of being born second and growing up in the shadow of his older brother was not going to hold him back. And this is why he was able to grasp both the meaning and the potential of his dream so quickly. G-d was committing to his future well-being, and Yaaakov, in order to lock into G-d's promise, committed his future to G-d. Yaakov made a covenant based on a dream.
What could be more frivolous? Making a covenant and basing your future on a dream? It is like grasping the wind. "Vanity of vanities!" Yaakov understood at once that his dream was a direct and very real message from G-d, and he realized at once that it was the location of where he slept, the stones upon which he placed his head, which facilitated his dream: "Indeed, HaShem is in this place, and I did not know it." (ibid 28:16) So Yaakov, upon wakening, tethered his dream covenant with G-d to the hard reality of the rock upon which he slept, by setting it as a monument and anointing it with oil, thereby sealing the deal for all time. This was Yaakov's genius, tethering vision to reality, G-d's world to our world.
What Yaakov gathered intuitively was that the stone upon which he slept was no ordinary stone. In fact, it was the Foundation Stone, the mythical, but very real stone upon which creation was founded in time and in space. The Foundation Stone, set in place by by G-d is the portal through which creation emanated and it is the portal through which G-d nourishes and sustains creation each new day, day after day. The Foundation Stone is where, if all time and all space could be rolled up into one single point of created reality, it would be right there, the place where Yaakov laid his head, the right place and the right time, because in reality, it is the only place and the only time.
Yaakov tied a dream, the dream of G-d to bless creation with His presence, ("Build Me a sanctuary and I will dwell amongst you" Exodus 25:8) with his own dream, ("Then this stone, which I have placed as a monument, shall be a house of G-d.") The dream would become a reality when Yaakov's great great grandson, King Solomon would build the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Despite being twice destroyed, the shared dream of G-d and Yaakov remains alive to this day, expressed by the prophet Isaiah, "for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." (Isaiah 56:7) The dream lives, awaiting upon us to awaken and build G-d's Holy Temple, fixing G-d's awesome dream to the rock of our reality.
https://templeinstitute.org
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Tehillim - Psalms - Chapter 126
| 1A song of ascents. When the Lord returns the returnees to Zion, we shall be like dreamers. | אשִׁ֗יר הַֽמַּֽ֫עֲל֥וֹת בְּשׁ֣וּב יְ֖הֹוָה אֶת־שִׁיבַ֣ת צִיּ֑וֹן הָ֜יִ֗ינוּ כְּחֹֽלְמִֽים: | |
| 2Then our mouths will be filled with laughter and our tongues with songs of praise; then they will say among the nations, "The Lord has done great things with these." | באָ֚ז יִמָּלֵ֪א שְׂחֹ֡ק פִּינוּ֘ וּלְשׁוֹנֵ֪נוּ רִ֫נָּ֥ה אָ֖ז יֹֽאמְר֣וּ בַגּוֹיִ֑ם הִגְדִּ֥יל יְ֜הֹוָ֗ה לַֽעֲשׂ֥וֹת עִם־אֵֽלֶּה: | |
| 3"The Lord has done great things with us; we were happy." | גהִגְדִּ֣יל יְ֖הֹוָה לַֽעֲשׂ֣וֹת עִמָּ֑נוּ הָ֜יִ֗ינוּ שְׂמֵחִֽים: | |
| 4Return, O Lord, our captivity like rivulets in arid land. | דשׁוּבָ֣ה יְ֖הֹוָה אֶת־שְׁבִיתֵ֑נוּ (כתיב שְׁבִותֵ֑נוּ) כַּֽאֲפִיקִ֥ים בַּנֶּֽגֶב: | |
| 5Those who sow with tears will reap with song. | ההַזֹּֽרְעִ֥ים בְּדִמְעָ֗ה בְּרִנָּ֥ה יִקְצֹֽרוּ: | |
| 6He will go along weeping, carrying the valuable seeds; he will come back with song, carrying his sheaves. | והָ֘ל֚וֹךְ יֵלֵ֨ךְ | וּבָכֹה֘ נֹשֵׂ֪א מֶֽשֶׁךְ־הַ֫זָּ֥רַע בֹּֽא־יָבֹ֥א בְרִנָּ֑ה נֹ֜שֵׂ֗א אֲלֻמֹּתָֽיו: |
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