The Movement for Reform Judaism

Rabbinic Induction D'var Torah

Written by Rabbi Miriam Bayfield

Thursday, 30 November 2006

Parashat Vayetze D'var Torah given by Rabbi Miriam Bayfield during her Induction to Finchley Reform Synagogue.

Rabbi Miriam Bayfield

This week's Torah portion is Parashat Vayetze and we begin with chapter 28, verse 10, as you will find in your service booklet. Today we are going to read about 3 specific dramatic episodes. Firstly the portion starts with Jacob leaving Beer-sheva to go to Haran. We know that the significant moment of this journey is when Jacob stops for the night and has his dream about the ladder. Now this should be a lesson to all of us, we all work and work and keep going, keep moving but actually Jacob should teach us that sometimes we need to stop in order to understand the significance of the journey. We need to get off of the treadmill before we can process the day. But our medieval biblical commentators each had different interpretations of this ladder and midrash Genesis Rabbah explains that the ladder was our indicator for our future Jewish history. That the ladder represented the fact the our path, our journey as Jews was not to be a straight one but that we would always have ups and downs, different periods in our time under the power of different leaders, some who allow us to ascend the ladder and some who kept us firmly at the bottom. However other commentators retort that this ladder did not depict our people but rather each of us as individuals. "The Holy One Blessed Be He sits and makes ladders, raising one person and casting another one down". The commentaries of the great Hassidic leader Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady and Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin, a disciple of the Vilna Gaon note that the ladder symbolized the stages by which a person ascends in spirituality. The entire universe ascends and descends along the rungs and we find ourselves at different points on the ladder at different times in our lives. Our relationship with God and our spiritual lives have periods where it falters and needs more time, we never stay on the same rung all our lives.

Community allows us to support each other during life's difficult times as well as being able to celebrate with each other. God may make the ladders but we determine how we deal with being on each rung and make a commitment to worrying about how we help others ascend their ladders.

Secondly we will read about a vow that Jacob makes with God. Jacob realises that he cannot make this journey alone and that he needs support on the way. This service feels like that vow. Jacob asks God for the very practical things he needs; food, clothing and security, in return for faithful worship and belief. This community is set to make that commitment as well. We are putting things in place for the practical; a rabbinic team, a different office structure, a wonderful professional and lay team working together to make the practical grounding for all we can achieve. With that in place, this synagogue can truly strive to become all that Jacob dreams about, a place where God is, even if we don't recognise it, and a strong and vibrant spiritual place which will be passed on for many generations. Jacob knew that the spiritual needs a practical base, now we have the strong foundations we will continue to build.

The third significant moment of this reading is the kiss. Well every romantic epic needs to have one. The moment where Jacob meets Rachel, falls for her and kisses her. I was worried about all the wedding imagery in my ordination service last summer. We walked into the bride's song Hariyu and the ordination infers that the Rabbi-to-be is in fact marrying the Torah. However it feels like this service is a whole different wedding, the rabbis to their congregation, and what more terrifying a week to be inducted than the story of Jacob taking two wives - we don't need to go down the route of determining who is the older, unattractive sister like Leah!! But the marriage analogy, though I must stress we really shouldn't take it too far, is a useful one today. Like any good marriage we need to trust each other, we need to keep the lines of communication open and we need to be allowed to get things wrong. Like Rachel we need to understand that the fruits of their labour don't emerge immediately but it takes years of work and communication - we can't expect miracles and change over night.

I am incredibly relieved and pleased that we are only reading up to here, because we don't need to think at this time or continue to draw any analogies with the 14 years ahead of Jacob of back breaking work, the dysfunctional family issues or the terrible jealousy. Let us keep our community in that moment of sheer bliss when Jacob finds his perfect match.

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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 December 2006 )

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