Outline and Sources for Drasha, Shabbat Yerushalayim, Parshat Vayetze, 5768

Outline and Sources for Drasha, Shabbat Yerushalayim, Parshat Vayetze, 5768 I. This Shabbos has been designated by the Orthodox Union, and by a number of other organizations, as Shabbat Yerushalayim. Because of the political activities currently underway, which openly consider the division of Ir Hakodesh, our Holy City, it is important that we educate ourselves about the place of Yerushalayim in our tradition, and respond in any way we can to guarantee a united and safe Jerusalem. A bit over 40 years ago, the Ribono Shel Olam gave us a gift. That gift was the city of Jerusalem, in its entirety, under Jewish sovereignty but open to all religions and to all mankind, a gift of which we were deprived nearly 2,000 years ago but have prayed for intensely ever since. We often fail to appreciate G-d’s gifts, and the case of Yerushalayim is no different. We take it for granted that we can approach the Kotel Ma’aravi, the Western Wall, the single remnant of our Holy Temple, any time we wish, day or night, Shabbat, Chag, or ordinary weekday. We take for granted the fact that Jewish homes and major institutions of Jewish learning now exist within the walls of the city, in all directions of the city, and throughout the extended contemporary municipality of Jerusalem. We dare not be ungrateful for this astounding historic situation. We must be thankful to G-d for allowing us to live in a time when free access to Yerushalayim and to Jewish holy sites there is available to each and every Jew. Access to sites sacred to other faiths is also protected by the sensitivity of the state of Israel to “the strangers in our midst.” If there is one emotion that should be the outcome of this specially designated Shabbat, it is the emotion of gratitude, of hakarat hatov. We must be grateful to the Almighty that we have this gift, and it should not be cheap in our eyes. II. It is not difficult to find some trace of Yerushalayim in almost every parsha of the Torah. In this week’s parsha, Yerushalayim plays a central role and offers us the opportunity to consider and to appreciate the role of Yerushalayim in our lives. The opening image in this week’s parsha, surely one of the most well known images in the entire Tanach, is of Jacob’s dream of a ladder based firmly on earth but extending into the heavens, with the Almighty Himself at its apex and angels mounting and descending it. This image has been interpreted in many and diverse ways, but it is essentially understood as a vision of a relationship between heaven and earth, between the Divine and the Human. It is startling to consider that just a few short weeks ago we encountered another image of a structure based on earth and extending heavenward. And that of course was the Tower of Babel (Bavel). That symbolic connection between earth and heaven was manmade and had as its motive the confrontation between the human race and the Divine. Humans challenged the Divine, motivated by rebelliousness, fueled by hubris and chutzpah. The result was not only the lack of connection between earth and heaven, but an erosion of the connectedness between nations. In its ruins, the human race was splintered into diverse cultures and into languages that could not communicate with one another. The comparison and contrast between the sulam (ladder) in Parshat Vayetze and the migdal (tower) in Parshat Noach was first brought to my attention by Professor Yehuda Elizur in a book published by Bar Ilan University, entitled Yisrael V’hamikra , Israel and the Scripture, in a chapter entitled “Migdal Bavel V’sulam Yaakov,” the Tower of Bavel and the Ladder of Jacob. I recommend this chapter to all of you and will restrict myself to one insightful comparison between the two parshiot that Professor Elizur shares with us. He analyzes the very word Bavel into its component parts, "bav” and “el.” Many of us know enough Aramaic to comprehend that the meaning of the word “bav” is “gate,” as in “Bava Kama” or “Bava Basra,” the first or the last gate. “El” obviously refers to G-d. “Bav- El” therefore means “the gate to G-d.” Bavel in the story in Parshat Noach, and all of the historic cultures that can be compared to Bavel in their search for power and dominion, see Babylon as the gate to G-d. In our parsha, however, we learn that the place where Jacob dreamed, according to our sages, was the Mount of Moriya, the site of the Holy Temple, Jerusalem – that is the Gate to G-d: “Vizeh sha’ar hashomayim.” III. The “makom” where the dream took place is Yerushalayim. Rashi on pasuk 11 perek 28, on the words "vayifga bamakom,” identifies the makom as Har Hamoriya. Also, see Rashi’s comments on pasuk 17 and the usage of the phrases “beit Elokim” and “sha’ar hashamayim.” In the context of this sermon, we cannot study in detail Ramban’s attack on Rashi’s approach, but it is sufficient to say that Ramban, too, agrees that the place of the sulam is Yerushalayim. Ramban, toward the end of his commentary on pasuk 17, quotes the beautiful medrash (Pirkei D’rebbi Eliezer): “Mikan ata lomed shekol hamitpalel birushalayim ke’ilu mitpalel lifnei kisei hakavod, shesha’ar hashamayim hu patuach lishmoa tefilatan shel yisrael shene’emar ‘vizeh sha’ar hashamayim.’” Translation: “From here we learn that whoever prays in Jerusalem is likened to one who prays before G-d’s Throne of Glory, because the gate of heaven is open to hear the prayers of Israel, as it is written: ‘And this is the gateway to G-d.’” What a contrast between “Bav-El” and “sha’ar hashamayim,” a contrast between Jerusalem; the Holy City; the city of peace; the city of “shechubra lah yachdav”, which brings unity; with the city whose very name stands for chaos, disunity, and anarchy. IV. There is another theme in this week’s parsha which relates to Yerushalayim and is especially applicable to those of us who live “at the extremities of the West,” however much our “hearts are in the East.” The homiletic gem which I am about to share with you derives from a shiur on this week’s parsha from Rav Soloveitchek, zt”l. I originally saw this thought in the old Yiddish newspaper, Morgen Journal , in the weekly column on the parsha by Nissin Gordon, who would frequently quote the Rav. The Rav insisted that there are two dreams in this week’s parsha, both experienced by Yaakov. In the first, he dreams a dream of heavenly inspiration, of a ladder extending from earth to heaven. Much later in the parsha, in perek 31 pesukim 10–13, Yaakov has another dream. He says: “I lifted my eyes and I saw in a dream, and behold the he-goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled and mottled.” What a “come-down” there is between Yaakov’s first dream and his second. His first dream is supremely spiritual, sublime, a vision of a bond between man and G-d. In his second dream, on the other hand, after many years spent in exile, Yaakov’s dream is mundane and limited to the accumulation of material property: Goats which are streaked and speckled. The Rav darshans the astounding contrast between the two dreams but points out that in verse 11 and 12, the angel says to him: “Behold, note well what you are dreaming about, and see what Lavan has been doing to you, es asher Lavan oseh lach.” Laban has contaminated your dreams. He has sullied your vision. He has stripped you of your spiritual idealism and has replaced it with images of profit and gain, of goats and sheep and cattle. And in verse 13, the angel says to him: “In the name of the G-d of Beis El – in the name of He who stood at the top of the ladder in the first dream, leave this land and return to your birthplace.” Enough of the house of Laban and its cheap dreams. It’s time to return to the land of Israel and to far loftier thoughts and objectives. V. I call upon you to consider the two types of dreams that all of us have. The dreams which preoccupy us all the time, of accumulation of property, of material success, of the here and now “real world,” as well as dreams of something higher, nobler, and much more exalted. And consider, too, the fact that the mundane dreams are the product of the Diaspora whereas the spiritual dream is a product not only of the land of Israel but of the place called “the House of G-d” – Jerusalem. VI. At this point, I urge you to engage in a consideration of the plight of Jerusalem today and the importance of its remaining united in Jewish hands, if it is to continue to be the spiritual center for the Jewish people. Sadly and typically, we have not yet utilized it sufficiently as a spiritual center, but hope that if, with the aid of the Almighty, we are privileged to continue to have a united Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty, we will appreciate the gift and strive all the more to make Yerushalayim our spiritual center. Therefore we must do all we can through political advocacy, through letter writing, and through all of the other techniques and tactics suggested on oujerusalem.org in order to exert as much influence as possible toward the goal of a united Jerusalem, toward defending Jerusalem.

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