How wonderful the coincidental relationship of Thanksgiving with this Torah portion! Vayetze is the perfect non-Thanksgiving sedra one can find for in it we come to appreciate that two-letter word that can make or break a relationship, Divine or otherwise. Jacob wakes up after sleeping on a rock, having dreamed of a ladder from earth to heaven. He gets all excited; God communicates with him; he consecrates the “pillow,” and then…. oops, his true colors come out. While next week (in the Torah of course) Jacob finally realizes the folly of his youth, seeking a more mature future, this week he is still the spoiled, rotten kid we came to know, and love (?).
Jacob says, “If God will be with me, and (if) God will guard me on this way…and (if) God gives me bread to eat and (if) God gives me a garment to wear; and if I return in peace, (then) the Eternal will be my God, then…”
That conditional “IF” comes into play! Not appreciating one thing he already has been given, the blessing he never should have received, the love of a mother at the expense of his brother, Jacob continues his entitled attitude. Right at the moment when he should have had his “Ahah!” moment, appreciating the meaning of the heavenward ladder (that he will have a connection with the Divine as did his ancestors), he blows the moment with “IF,” “IF,” “IF”!
As I mentioned in our liturgy class last Shabbat morning, traditional prayerbooks as well as Mishkan Tefilah have the Baruch shem… in somewhat smaller print than the Sh’ma which precedes it. The rabbis say that when we read Sh’ma Yisrael, “Hear, O Israel,” we should understand “Israel” to mean Jacob whose name was changed to Israel (that’s next week’s portion which I shall read and speak about on December 4).
The proclamation should be understood as the children of Jacob (read the Children of Israel) comforting him on his deathbed that they will continue the faith established by their great-grandfather Abraham, their grandfather Isaac, and now their father Jacob/Israel…”Listen up, dad, the Eternal is our God, the Eternal alone.” They have the strength and determination to voice it loudly. But Jacob/Israel is dying, and so in a whisper, satisfied of their pledge, his dying words are, “Blessed is God’s glorious sovereignty forever and ever,” and the curtain falls. That’s why it’s printed smaller.
Now this is only a midrash, a rabbinic legend, but it says a great deal. Among other things it tells us not to be so smug about our tradition, so entitled to receive the bounties that are daily blessings, to not be conditional in our relationships. We see the pre-Israel Jacob never appreciating anything, and that is what yesterday’s holiday “preached” against!