Genesis 28:10-32:3 | Hosea 12:13-14:10 (Ashkenazim) | Hosea 11:7-12:12 (Sephardim) | Mark 1:14-28

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Vayyetze
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Vayyetze

1. What is the significance of the sulam Ya‘aqov, the ladder in Jacob's dream?

Joshua Brumbach

Parashat Vayyetze begins with one of the most mysterious passages in the Torah. While Ya‘aqov was fleeing from his brother Esav, he stopped at a certain place to spend the night. After laying his head down on a rock and falling asleep, he had a dream. In Ya‘aqov's dream, he saw a vision of a ladder that reached from the ground into heaven, and angels were ascending and descending upon it.  Additionally, God spoke to him and relayed the promise of giving the land of Israel to him and his descendants, that he would multiply Ya‘aqov's offspring, and that through Ya‘aqov's descendants, all the peoples of the earth would be blessed. God concluded by reassuring Ya‘aqov that he would not abandon him, for God had made a promise to him.

Throughout Jewish history, commentators have argued over the exact meaning of Ya‘aqov's vision. Interestingly, the vagueness of the Hebrew does not help in understanding it any better. For instance, the phrase, "and the angels of the LORD were ascending and descending upon it" could also be rendered as "the angels of the LORD ascended and descended upon him."

Based on this reading of the text, Ya‘aqov represents the medium in which God's blessings are imparted into the world, and whose descendant's (the twelve tribes who also are birthed in this parasha) further embody God's blessings in the earth. The story of the sulam Ya‘aqov, of Jacob's ladder, is a reminder of God's direct interaction into the affairs of humanity.

The first mention is almost a "changing of the guard," if you will. The description is that the angels first ascend, and then descend. This is the seemingly opposite of what we would expect. This leads us to believe that there were angelic escorts with Ya‘aqov as he fled his home. In the dream, Ya‘aqov was given the ability to see those angels who were with him ascend back into heaven, as a new host of heaven descend to meet him for the next stage of his journey. For the journey ahead would be full of trials as he is tricked and taken advantage of repeatedly by Lavan. The new angelic escorts would be with Ya‘aqov to teach him what he needed to be a Patriarch of Israel and to turn what Lavan meant for evil into blessings for Ya‘aqov and his family.

As a patriarch of the Jewish people, Ya‘aqov served as an embodiment, and vehicle, through which God's blessings would be imparted into the earth. This interpretation is further related and clarified in the Brit Chadasha. In the besora of John, Yeshua speaks to a man named Natanel, and says to him, "Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened up and the angels of God going up and going down on the Son of Man (John 1:51)." In this interpretation Yeshua clarifies that now he would be the embodiment and vehicle of God's work in the earth. Now through him is access to the heavenly realms. 

Lastly, the parasha also begins and ends with the mentioning of angels. At the beginning of the portion, we read about the angels who ascend and descend upon the ladder in the dream and at the very end of the portion, of the angels who come to meet Ya‘aqov after he left his father-in-law, Lavan (Genesis 32:2-3). It is interesting to note this specific mentioning of angels both at the beginning and the end of this parasha. For it additionally shows God's involvement in the trials that are attested to in-between these angelic encounters. 

2. What does this week's parasha teach us about the practice of giving?

Rabbi Jason Sobel

Genesis 28:22 recounts Jacob's promise to God after hearing God's promise of fidelity to him, ". . .  and of all that you give to me, I will surely give a tenth to you." Commenting upon this verse the Chametz HaMincha said,

Jacob said to the Lord: "Only that which I am willing to give one tenth to charity will remain truly mine, entrusted by you to me by virtue of my pledge to tithe it. Untithed wealth is not mine at all and I will not be able to keep it."

One important lesson that we learn from this verse is that only thing we really have in life is that which we give away. Let me share a story with to illustrate.

A rabbi once asked his students, "If I have four hundred dollars in my pocket and I give one hundred and twenty away.  How many dollars do I have left?" Simultaneously, his students yelled out, "Two hundred seventy five." "No!" the rabbi responded, "I only have one hundred and twenty." Seeing the bewildered expressions on his students' faces he began to explain, "Whatever I have in my pocket is here today but will be gone tomorrow. But whenever I give a tithe or tzedeqa, that amount is recorded in heaven above, and it will be returned to me many times over in the world to come. For in truth the only thing that we can ultimately hold onto is that which we give away to do God's work."

Giving is one of the most God-like acts in the world. Nothing pleases God more then when we give sacrificially. If we want the Lord to bless us with wealth, we must not hoard it but be willing to give it away on behalf of God. If we want God to bless us and our family with a true taste of Shabbat, which is a taste of the world to come, we must be willing to give it away by sharing it with others. If we want to experience a revelation of God like Jacob did at Beth El, then we must be willing to pour ourselves out in the prayer for the sake of others. When we do so, we reap the spiritual and material rewards in this world and also in the world to come. 

It is for this reason that observant Jews traditionally set aside tzedaqa, charity, before prayer. By attuning our hearts to the needs of others, God in his grace, becomes more attuned to ours. When all is said and done, the more we learn to give the more in turn we will receive from the Lord. As Messiah said, "Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full" (Luke 6:38). Therefore let us emulate Messiah who gave himself freely for our benefit. 

Mark 1:14-28 - The Nature of the Besora

David Nichol

The writer of Mark's Besora does not waste much time in describing what appear to be Yeshua's first steps into public life. Indeed, he or she does not seem even the slightest bit tempted to describe or delve into Yeshua's pathos or motivations. No inner monologue here! Yeshua is revealed to us primarily by his actions. 

Not only is Mark's account somewhat taciturn when it comes to Yeshua's thoughts and inner life, but it also records relatively little of his teaching. When the synagogue-goers in Kfar-Nachum are exclaiming, "A new teaching!" (v. 27), we the readers have seen little more than a single sentence of teaching: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news" (v. 15). While Yeshua always has something to say, it is easy to feel as if we are missing the core of this "new teaching." Would it have been so hard to transcribe a sermon or two? How are we supposed to believe in this "good news," if you do not tell us what it is?

The writer of Mark, however, has good reasons for so weaving his narrative. We are, in fact, told what this "good news" is: that the time is fulfilled and the malkhut hashamayim is near. More profoundly, Yeshua himself is the embodiment of the besora, the good news. 

It is notable that when the synagogue-goers in Kfar-Nachum react to Yeshua's teaching, they fail to mention his excellent speaking voice, inspiring ideas, or brilliant exegesis. What they exclaim instead is, "A new teaching, one with authority behind it! He gives orders even to the unclean spirits, and they obey him!" (v. 27). What made his teaching unique, as is mentioned twice and perhaps alluded to even more in our short passage is the authority with which he teaches. It is not so much his teaching, but the authority he has over the spiritual forces of evil that captures one's attention.

This ties in to what we have already noticed that few of the actual words of his teaching are captured in Mark. As many have noticed, there are many parallels between his teachings and the teachings of Jewish tradition. Even Confucius has teachings that echo Yeshua's words. But it is not these words in themselves that are proclaimed as besora, but the very person of Yeshua. He is the embodiment of Torah, not just a teacher of it. When he says, "the kingdom of heaven has come near" (v. 15), he is not simply its herald; he is himself the kingdom drawing near, the divine word invested in humanity.  Thus our hope is not rooted in a teaching, an esoteric truth, or a secret knowledge, but in the powerful and authoritative person of Yeshua.

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS - PARASHAT VAYYISHLACH

Genesis 32:4-36:43
Hosea 11:7-12:12 (Ashkenazim)
Obadiah 1:1-21 (Sephardim)
Mark 1:29-45