Two Minute Torah Podcast

Vayatzei 5768 by Rabbi Charles Savenor

Parshat Vayatzei opens with Jacob as a refugee and fugitive. Running away from Esau and his past, he runs until he is fatigued and must rest on Mount Moriah. This place should be familiar to us because it is where Abraham brought Isaac for the Akeida and one day be the site of the Temple.

When he sleeps, he has an amazing dream of a ladder with angels going up and down. Waking up from this prophetic experience, Jacob makes the following statement: ‘Surely [behold!], God is in this place, and I did not know [it].’"

While most commentators focus on the spatial aspects of this verse, I would like to suggest that Jacob’s amazement about God’s presence is not limited to the space, but also the time of day, the night.

What’s the big deal about Jacob having this prophetic experience at night? Ancient society was afraid of the night time. Imagine what it was like to live thousands of years ago without ambient light at night. It was a frightening.

Along comes Jacob and he tells us that God has control over the night as much as during the day. It is important to add that this is the first time in the Bible that we hear of anyone praying at night. This is actually the biblical source for the evening prayer, Ma’ariv. Interestingly enough, Ma’ariv includes a special prayer, Hashkeyvaynu¸ in which we pray at night for extra protection.

This week we see that Jacob realizes that God’s protection extends to all times, even the night. This is also a lesson our ancestors learned as they left Egypt at night, at midnight. This is one aspect of what it means to have one God who controls all times. I conclude with an Asian proverb that proclaims, "whoever can see through all fear will always be safe."

May it be so for all of us, all of Israel, and all of humanity. Amen