Torah Portion
Look Around, Feel The Awe
As When Jacob Said, Ahar
our attention. Yet, when we disregard
the holiness of our ordinary road,
when we forget that we, too, are in
God's presence, we miss the awe and
ron der that surrounds us. The
potential "Aha!" moments pass us by
because we are too preoccupied to
notice them.
Chasidic master once said to
A Chasidic story illustrates this
his student, "I'll give you a
dilemma. A child playing hide and
ducat if you tell me where
seek became upset when, after hiding
God is." The student
for some time, he finally realized that
replied, "I'll give you a thousand if
no one was searching for him. In
you can tell me where God isn't!"
tears, the child ran to his grandfather
This is the lesson our patriarch
seeking comfort. The
Jacob learned in this week's
grandfather gently
portion. After tricking his
explained, "God says the
father and stealing his broth-
same thing ... I am hiding,
er's blessing, Jacob fled his
but no one is looking for
home and began a new jour-
Me!"
ney. As evening set in, he
Abraham Joshua Heschel
stopped to rest for the night
described the awareness of
at an unnamed, nondescript
God's presence as awe:
place. With only a rock to
"Awe is a sense for the tran-
serve as his pillow, the patri-
scendence, for the reference
arch fell asleep and had a
everywhere to mystery
RABBI MARLA
magnificent dream in which
beyond all things. It enables
J. FEL DMAN
angels were ascending and
us to perceive in the world
Specia 1 to the
descending a ladder that
intimations of the divine ...
Jewis h News
reached to the heavens.
To sense the ultimate in the
In his dreamlike vision,
common and the simple; to
Jacob received God's
feel in the rush of the passing the
promise that the land on which he
stillness of the eternal. What we can-
slept would one day belong to his
not comprehend by analysis, we
descendants. Upon waking, Jacob
become aware of in awe."
realized that the place he had stum-
After Jacob experienced his "Aha!"
bled upon along his journey was, in
awareness of God's presence in that
fact, a holy place, a gateway to the
humble, insignificant place, he imme-
divine realm. In awe and wonder
diately built an altar to mark the spot.
Jacob exclaimed, "Surely God is in
Jacob's altar would serve as a reminder
this place, yet I did not know it!"
that God was, indeed, in that place
That seemingly insignificant, corn-
which was so easy to overlook.
mon ground was none other than
When we experience our all-too-
God's domain, the wellspring of
rare moments of awe, we, too, should
Jacob's inspiration.
mark the moment. We should take
Inspiration, in theological terms
note of it, remember it and seek to
means divine guidance or influence
return to it whenever our personal
exerted directly upon the mind and
journey begins to feel ordinary. God
soul of a person. We've all experi-
is in this place — may we always
enced "Aha!" moments, when a cer-
know it!
tain realization hits us, when we gain
an awareness that previously eluded
us. Such moments of wonder can
occur anywhere, at any time.
Unfortunately, like the road-weary
Jacob, too often we fail to recognize
Have you ever experienced a
such moments in the midst our own
moment of awe and inspiration
life journeys.
in an unexpected place or situa-
As we travel along our daily, mun-
tion? How do we seek out such
dane path, we focus only on the task
moments in our daily lives, in
in front of us, struggling to accom-
order to turn our mundane
plish the routine chores that occupy
moments into moments of won-
der? Would our lives or our
Marla J. Feldman is the assistant direc-
actions be different if we felt that
tor of the Jewish Community Council of
we are always in God's presence?
Metropolitan Detroit and executive direc-
tor of the Michigan Board of Rabbis.
Shabbat Vayetze:
Genesis 28:10-32:3;
Hosea 12: 13- 14: 10.
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