Dear TBZ Community:
This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Vayetze, includes my favorite verse of the Torah (Genesis 28:16):
וַיִּיקַץ יַעֲקֹב מִשְּׁנָתוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר אָכֵן יֵשׁ יְהֹוָה בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה וְאָנֹכִי לֹא יָדָעְתִּי
Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,
“Surely Adonai is present in this place, and I did not know it!”
Jacob has run away from his brother and his home, and comes to rest, his head upon a stone for a pillow. As he sleeps, he dreams of angels going up and down on a stairway that reaches heaven. He wakes from his dream in awareness and in amazement.
The sweetness and power of that moment are conveyed in those few words: “Achen, yesh Adonai bamakon ha’ze, va-ani lo yedati” (“Surely, Adonai is present in this place, and I did not know it”).
There are two inspiring messages in this one short verse.
יֵשׁ יְהֹוָה בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה
Adonai is present in this place!
Here is the recognition that God is present in this place, now!
I like to think about this recognition within the framework of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s teaching. With encouragement to live a life in radical amazement, he writes: “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ….get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
Can we live our lives knowing that God is in it? In every place? In every moment of our lives? Practicing radical amazement is not an easy task, but is an invitation to recognize the presence of the Divine in all moments of our lives, in the simple moments as well as in the awe-inspiring ones.
The second part is:
וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּ
and I did not know it!
The moment that Jacob wakes up from the dream is surely an “a-ha” moment for him. It is his moment of recognition that God is there. It is the moment when everything changed for Jacob; when he became aware that God is present in his life and in the world before him.
Such moments can be very powerful, moments of profound realization. In his Varieties of Religious Experience, William James called them “conversion moments.” Something happens that changes us. Someone we meet, something we see, a new connection, or even a moment of silence or prayer. The trigger can be very small, and still change us profoundly. What makes that “a-ha” moment so striking is that just a second ago, lo yadati, I didn’t know – but now I know.
Our lives are so full – full of activities and information and worries – and too often we become numb from the overload. We become numb to tragedy and brokenness, because it is hard to hold it all. And consequently, we become numb to beauty and to amazement. We forget, we lose sight of, and we become numb to yesh Adonai bamakon ha’ze, God is in this place!
Yesterday, TBZ member Jordan Namerow shared a beautiful message on social media. In honor of her birthday she posted gorgeous pictures of small, beautiful, natural things (plants, leaves, tree trunks, light, mushrooms). With her permission, I quote her post:
My son taught me about T.O.A.S.T., which stands for “theory of all small things” (he learned about it in a book called Framed), so I’ve been making an effort to notice the small things in this big, brutal world … all while cherishing the people who make the small things feel big and the mundane things feel beautiful … all while listening to the Wicked soundtrack on repeat. Because we deserve each other.
As a friend reminded me today, “So many blessings, so little time.”
In this big and brutal world, can we open our hearts and minds to experiences that can radically transform us into an awareness of God’s presence, in this place, in every place, and in every moment of our lives?
I invite us to try. And to see how that can help us navigate the challenges ahead, by living a life of meaning and purpose.
May God bring blessing and comfort to all of us and our loved ones. May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity. May all those who are ill find healing.
May the hostages soon be returned to their families and friends; may peace prevail and may the leaders of the world know to prioritize life. May those who are working for peace be granted strength and courage to continue their sacred work, and may we soon see peace and dignity for all.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rav Claudia