Vayeitze
What is the meaning of leaving our home?
Reflection by Ariel Dominique Hendelman, the Or HaLev Team:
"The title of this week’s parsha tells us a lot about its themes, and indicates something of the journey that our patriarch Yaakov was on. Yaakov leaves, which is the meaning of the word: Vayeitze, while his grandfather Avraham, simply goes, as per the title of parshat Lech Lecha, `go`. Yaakov leaves the home of his parents to forge a life for himself with the aftermath of the usurping of his older brother Esav’s birthright blessing as the fuel that drives him away.
It seems that if Yaakov is going to begin a new chapter, and meet the love of his life, he needs to separate himself from his family. He needs to leave. And as soon as he does, he has the Torah’s primordial dream – of a ladder with angels ascending and descending. It is upon waking from this dream that Yaakov rediscovers the Divine. And what does he name that place? Beth El – the house of the creator. He leaves his familial home only to encounter and enter, through the dream world, the home of the Infinite One; the home that will continue to guard him wherever he goes.
Then he meets Rachel, whom the Torah tells us he loves at first sight. They kiss, and he weeps. Even when he accidentally marries her older sister Leah, Yaakov continues to work for Rachel for seven years. The number seven always represents a sacred cycle. And here we have Yaakov, the younger son who “stole” his older brother’s blessing, wanting to marry the younger daughter but ending up with the older daughter first. There is certainly some kind of tikkun there, or what could also be called Karma.
That’s the thing; we can leave our families, but our families never leave us. They live within us – our ancestors who have passed away and the ones who are still alive. Yaakov shows us this so clearly. He carries Esav inside of him, along with Yitzchak and Rivkah. We are all constellations of our families of origin. We carry the bones of our ancestors in our bones and we either rectify what’s been broken or we keep repeating it until someone else down the line does.
So let it be us. Let us wake up to our calling as healers, and, in this month of dreams, let us build a Divine house where all parts of us can find refuge."