Vayetzei
What other option do we have in a moment of overwhelm?
Reflection by Carrie Watkins, US Community Manager
"This week, we meet our ancestor Jacob in a moment of overwhelm. He’s fled his home and is alone in the desert when he:
`Came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, as the sun had gone` (Gen. 28:11)
The Hebrew word for ‘came upon,’ va’yifga, from the root פגע, as the Zohar and other mystical commentaries point out, can mean something more like, ‘and he slammed into’ the place. A midrash (Breishit Rabbah 68:10) shares that the language for ‘the sun had gone’ suggested that God caused the sun to set early in order to stop Jacob in his tracks. Jacob slammed into the place, and it was very dark, and he could go no further.
He thus did what many of us do when we feel as though we’ve run out of options. He falls asleep. In his sleep, he dreams of angels moving up and down a ladder, and of God speaking to him.
When he wakes up he exclaims `Surely Hashem is in this place, and I did not know it!` (28:16). Rashi adds, because if he knew, he wouldn’t have fallen asleep. Jacob wishes he hadn’t fallen asleep, that he hadn’t fallen into overwhelm and despair.
The next time Jacob finds himself alone in the dark in the desert, he shows us that he learned from his past experience. He stays awake this time, and he wrestles an angel, and from that encounter he receives his new name, Yisrael, God wrestler, a name the Jewish people all share.
When we face moments of overwhelm, if we remember that ‘God is in this place,’ we won’t need to fall asleep. We will see that there is another option, the option to wrestle, the option to demand blessing from the moment. This knowing is our birthright. As Rebbe Nachman shares, ain yeush klal, there is no place for despair. May these words be comforting to you in dark places."