In this week’s Parshat Vayetze, the seventh in Bereshit, Yakov leaves home to escape his brother’s anger, but more importantly to find his own way in the world. The Parsha begins “Yakov left Bersheva and went towards Haran. He encountered a place on the way and spent the night there”. The Torah then relates Yakov’s dream of the ladder to heaven. Rashi asks, why does the Torah tell us that he left Bersheva? and explains that when a righteous person leaves town, he is missed. In addition, the word used for encountered “Vayifga” means he prayed – Yakov inaugurated Ma’ariv – the evening prayer.
Interestingly at the end of last week’s Parsha, we were already told that Yitzchak told Yakov to go to his family in Haran and take a wife there and he left, so why repeat it. Our sages explain that possibly Yitchak lived in Hebron, as we are told much later when Yakov returns, he goes to Yitzchak in Hebron. So, he probably went to Bersheva on his way to Haran, as that is where he felt closest to his roots. We can note that many years later when Yakov took his family down to Egypt, he deliberately went through Bersheva and offered sacrifices and thanks to Hashem in the name of his father Yitzchak.
R Shalom Noach Berezovsky, the Slonimer Rebbe looks at this introduction more closely and asks – why Bersheva? why only now did he create the evening prayer? and why the use of the word “Vayifga” which really means to hit (and could be used in our current circumstances to describe a rocket hitting a target and causing damage). The Rebbe puts the whole story in perspective and explains that we are looking at the emergence of Yakov from his sheltered environment into the real world.
We begin with Bersheva, the town first received the name when Abraham and Avimelech signed a peace agreement over the well. Then we find it in last week’s Parsha that Yitzchak dug a well and found water and called the place Bersheva, but that is a bit odd if it was already called Bersheva. The Slonimer notes a very slight difference in the two names Abraham called the town Bershova (the well of the promise) and Yitzchak called it Bersheva (the seventh well). Yakov was leaving the holy protected environment in Bersheva where promises were kept and the seventh day of Shabbat was respected.
Yakov, we were told, was a simple person living in tents, and Rashi says that he went to study in the Yeshiva of Shem. Esav was a hunter and when he came home starving sold his birthright to Yakov, so Esav had an impulsive personality. Yakov was then persuaded by his mother to trick his father into giving him the firstborn blessing, so beginning to learn reality. He was now really coming out of his holy world, and needed to pray for protection. Leaving this holy environment was both a physical and spiritual challenge of darkness and now was the time to pray for help.
The ladder in the dream is Hashem’s message to Yakov. In the dream the Angels first ascend the ladder to heaven, not firstly descend, as one might expect, reality starts with your feet on the ground. Yakov’s response when he awakes is “how awesome is this place”, saying now he understands that Hashem expects us to live in the real world not hidden away in protected holiness.
A few years ago, I had the pleasure to teach in Bersheva University. The course was about innovation in computer science and the students were given projects to prepare and present on new ideas. Several groups decided on the Internet of Things (IOT) connecting real world devices to the Internet or to your phone. One group created an intelligent flower pot that would tell you when the plant needs watering. Another group created a great app to help sort out home Internet problems. Bersheva a place to learn to be part of the modern world.
Shabbat Shalom with prayers for all our soldiers, hostages and all Israel