This week’s Torah portion is Vayetzei. Parashat Vayetzei tells of Jacob's travels to, life in, and return from Haran. The parashah recounts Jacob's dream of a ladder to heaven, Jacob's meeting of Rachel at the well, Jacob's time working for Laban and living with Rachel and Leah, the birth of Jacob's children, and the departure of Jacob's family from Laban.
Perhaps more than all the other patriarchs, Jacob is the one who struggles the most with the invisible. He dreams, envisions and wrestles with the unnamed. He sees. He looks into the eyes of his nemesis, his enemy, and sees the face of God. His journey is a spiritual wandering towards discovery and self-awareness. He sees into the future and ultimately is a uniting force that actualizes that future. We can use his dream so vividly described in this week's Torah portion as an example. “He had a dream in which he saw a ladder resting upon the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it…. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely God is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:12-17).”
As you read this article I will have just arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona at the National Association of Temple Administration conference. How appropriate that this year’s conference is “Together Again – Reimaging the Future”. The past eighteen months have certainly been like a dream, but we are now looking forward at what the new “normal” of synagogue life might be. I look forward to bringing back many ideas and tools to help us build our beloved TBE into an even stronger, healthier and more progressive home for our congregants. That is my dream!
Shabbat Shalom, Judy
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