Vayetze: Finding God in Human Fallibility

Translations my own. Hyperlinks are to the referenced texts on Sefaria.

וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַעֲקֹב֮ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ ה’ בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי׃

Jacob awoke from his dream and said “Indeed, there is God In this place and I didn’t know!”

Genesis 28:17

As startled as Jacob was at his vision, I am equally startled by his response.  Let’s set the stage.  On the heels of stealing his brother Esav’s blessing, Jacob flees from Esav’s potential revenge, making his way toward Haran.  On the way, as it gets dark, he lays his head on a rock and turns in for the night.  He has a dream featuring the iconic “Jacob’s ladder,” including God’s promise of protection.  Startled, Jacob wakes up and declares “Indeed, there is God In this place and I didn’t know!”

Apparently, I am not the only person to be startled by Jacob’s response.  Commenting on the verse, Professor Nahum Sarna in the JPS Torah Commentary describes the “reaction of amazement” as “unprecedented in the patriarchal stories,” noting that “[n]either Abraham nor Isaac exhibit any surprise at their initial experience of God’s sudden self-revelation.”[1]

Professor Sarna provides a compelling, at least partial, explanation of this moment:

Jacob’s exceptional emotional response requires explanation.  Undoubtedly, it lies, at least partially, in his realization of the baseness of his behavior toward his father and brother.  Having fallen prey to guilt and solitary despair, he is surprised that God is still concerned for him.

Professor Sarna’s read of this moment is reflective of one of the most important themes of the TaNa”Kh (the Jewish Bible) – God’s overwhelming concern for humans even – and perhaps particularly – when they fail morally and spiritually.  A great deal of the prophetic opus is God’s calling out to those who have failed.  In fact, Rabbi Yohanan says in the Talmud that “כׇּל הַנְּבִיאִים כּוּלָּן לֹא נִתְנַבְּאוּ אֶלָּא לְבַעֲלֵי תְשׁוּבָה the prophets only prophesied for the penitent.” (BT Berakhot 34b).

The implications of this are striking when it comes to our own failures.  When we fall short, we should not see those failures as distancing us from God.  Rather, we should imagine, as it were, God rushing toward us in God’s desire for repentance, and we should treat the moment as an opportunity to reconnect with the divine.  We should be aware that those moments are moments of God’s presence and immanence.  We should remind ourselves, so to speak “יֵ֣שׁ ה’ בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה” – God is here in this moment.

The implications for how we respond to the failure of others is even more striking.  Often we look at the wrongdoings of others as an opportunity to punish, ostracize, and denigrate.  Suffice it to say that in our world of punitive reprisals, ranging from cancel culture to draconian law enforcement, indignities perpetrated on wrongdoers are often treated as a feature, not as a bug, and systems designed to protect the rights of the accused are often ignored.  We need to reject this attitude and speak out against those  who would treat their perceived enemies this way.  Since God embraces the sinner, we ought to as well. Rather than pushing away someone we think has done wrong, we should be reaching out a helping hand.  Perhaps we can learn the facts and circumstances that led the person to where they are and consider how we may be able to address any issues lying in the background.  We might even find that we have misunderstood the situation altogether.

This is not to say that there isn’t a place for punishment or justice, but  rather to say that care and compassion for the wrongdoer – including, where relevant, a hope for rehabilitation – must always be a part of that calculus.  We should remember that God’s preference is always for repentance to override or at least mitigate the need for punishment, as stated by Yehezkel:  “כִּ֣י לֹ֤א אֶחְפֹּץ֙ בְּמ֣וֹת הַמֵּ֔ת נְאֻ֖ם אֲ-דֹנָ֣י ה’ וְהָשִׁ֖יבוּ וִֽחְיֽוּ For I do not desire when the dead person dies, declares the LORD God – repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32).  Even when punishment is required, God remains concerned for the dignity of the wrongdoer, warning, for instance, that excessive lashes not be meted out “וְנִקְלָ֥ה אָחִ֖יךָ לְעֵינֶֽיךָ lest your fellow be debased in your eyes.” (Deut. 25:3)  Even when capital punishment is called for, the Torah limits the postmortem display of the body “כִּי קִלְלַת אֱ-לֹהִים תָּלוּי because a hanged body is an affront to God” (Deut. 21:23), reminding us that even in the most drastic of circumstances human dignity is still an essential consideration.

“אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ ה’ בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי – Indeed, there is God In this place and I didn’t know!.”  Rather than separating us or others from God, human failure emphasizes our need and opportunity to enhance our connection to God.  When we fail, may we always find our way back toward greater heights.  And let us find the same sense of grace for those who have wronged us or have wronged others, hoping always to be a constructive force in guiding them to a better path.  May we be privileged to play our part in making our world a place where God’s presence is recognized by all humankind.

[1] Here are some bonus thoughts that I wrote up before deciding on another path into my main point for this d’var Torah:

I also wonder about the theology behind Jacob’s statement, suggesting, as it does, that God can be more or less present at a given location, which suffice it to say, does not sit well with most modern theology.  To be certain, Jacob’s dream occurs at Bethal, an area that would later become the site of an important Israelite temple (See JPS Torah Commentary Excursus 22), but the Torah here seems to indicate that the location is quite unremarkable and, lest we forget, the idea of creating a fixed, physical location to connect with the divine has always been at best, questionable – seemingly an innovation of King David to which God only begrudgingly acquiesces (see II Samuel 7) and as God asks at Isaiah 66:1:

כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר ה’ הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם כִּסְאִ֔י וְהָאָ֖רֶץ הֲדֹ֣ם רַגְלָ֑י אֵי־זֶ֥ה בַ֙יִת֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּבְנוּ־לִ֔י וְאֵי־זֶ֥ה מָק֖וֹם מְנוּחָתִֽי׃

Thus said the LORD: “The heavens are my throne and the earth my footstool, what is the house that you would build for me and where is the place of my abode?”

It seems to me that the idea that any particular place which is imbued with more or less of God’s presence or can be more or less holy is just as theologically problematic as the idea that particular objects can represent or channel God’s presence, a concept that is utterly rejected throughout Torah.