Vayetzei – Genesis 28:10-32:3

Nov 22 to 28, 2020 | 12 Kislev 5781

Photograph by Glenn Sackett

The Traveler: Bringing Spirit into Physicality

The first word of this parsha and it’s name, Vayetzei, means “And he left.” Telling the story of Yaakov’s travel and sojourn to Harran, this parsha explores the struggle between chaos and order. It reveals the outcome of Yaakov having received Yitzhak’s two blessings as material master and Avrahamic lineage holder.

In Bereshit, Torah tells of the separation of the spiritual and physical worlds. In the Garden, after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the spiritual and physical worlds were divided. It is through the actions of Yaakov that the spiritual again enters the physical.

Reflection: Before we delve into the telling of the saga of Yaakov and Esav in this parsha, pause for a moment to take stock of how the physical and spiritual worlds intertwine within you. How do you live your life? What is primary? What choices do you make? In what ways does the spiritual world enter into your being? How does it direct your pursuit and use of the physical world?

Let’s return for a moment to the first two lines of Torah:

“At the beginning of G’d creating the heavens and the earth,
when the earth was wild and waste…”

 – Gen 1:1-2

“When the earth was wild and waste” describes the chaos that existed before G’d brought order to heaven and earth. The Hebrew for “wild and waste” is tohu va-vohu. This primordial world is named Tohu. It is a world of much light and scant vessels. You may have heard of this as the “shattering of the vessels”.

The opposite of Tohu, a world of scant light and many vessels is our world of Tikun. It is the orderly world of duality and embodiment: sun and moon, night and day, land and sea, and all the plants and animals we see today – an orderliness and embodiment that Tohu could not sustain.

The many vessels of this world, the world of creation, of Tikun, can contain the light, thus repairing the shattered world of Tohu. The more we strengthen our vessels with mitzvot, the more light this material world can contain.

Realization vs. Transcendence

The worlds of Tohu (Realization) and Tikun (Transcendence) are neither good nor bad; it’s the application that matters. Tohu is the world of passion, ideas and creative energy. Consider Mozart and Mussolini. It’s the application that matters. Similarly, the orderliness of Tikun can be used to heal or to harm. The vessel of technology is a good example, which heals or harms depending on how it is applied.

In the Yaakov / Esav saga, Esav represents Tohu and Yaakov embodies Tikun. Hairy Esav was a “wild ass of a man who loved the hunt and the field.” Because Esav is undisciplined and willful, the Tohu of Esav gets expressed in ways that are destructive. In contrast, mild mannered, smooth skinned Yaakov spends his time in the tents – in study. Yaakov had the discipline to study, to sublimate the immediate needs of the self and act with wisdom and harmony. This is Tikun.

Reflection: And you? How much order have you brought to your wild self? A person is considered to be mature when they live responsibly and consider the impact of their actions on others. First, think of a recent example where you acted kindly. And now an example where your instinct for self over others took hold.

And yet, wildness – passion, creativity, innovation – is not a negative. Where does your light shine through? As adults, we must build our vessels through repetition, study and practice in order to express our innate Tohu in positive ways. Of what is your vessel comprised? What actions do you take regularly to strenthen your innate abilities and passions?

Repairing the World

In the previous parsha, we witness Yaakov receiving both the material and spiritual blessings from his father. Because Yaakov receives the material blessing, he is able to uplift the material world, to repair it with mitzot. Without the blessing of the first born (material wealth and mastery over his brother) the world of Torah would have remained spiritual only. It would not have had the power to enter the physical world.

Established in the Garden as a consequence of human beings awakening to Good and Bad, the separation of the physical and the spiritual would have remained. Had Esav received the blessing of the first born, the physical would have maintained primacy over the spiritual, creating chaos, continually shattering the vessels meant to contain light.

To Harran and Back

With that foundation, let’s review the story of Yaakov and Esav. When Esav realized his brother has stolen not only his birthright, but also his father’s blessing of material dominion, Rivka knows that Yaakov’s life is in danger. Before sending him to the land of Harran to choose a wife, Yitzhak gives Yaakov the blessing as holder of the covenant to carry on the legacy of Avraham.

From this we can see that Yitzhak always intended this blessing for the spiritual, G’d awakened Yaakov. Yaakov leaves for Harran, where he meets and falls in love with Rachel, the daughter of his father’s brother, Lavan.

Lavan is a man of trickery and deceit. He presents Lea instead Rachel for the marriage ceremony. And 10 times he changes Yaakov’s wages. And yet Yaakov prevails. Examples abound of Yaakov’s ability to “raise the sparks” — to repair and uplift. For example, Yaakov protected and multiplied Lavan’s herd:

Lavan said to him:
Pray, if I have found favor in your eyes…
I have become wealthy,
And YHWY has blessed me on account of you.

– Gen 30:27-28

And Yaakov’s response:

You yourself know
How well I have served you,
And how it has gone with your livestock in my charge.
For you had but few before me,
And they have since burst out into a multitude.
Thus has YHWH blessed you at my every step!

– Gen 30:29-30

After 20 years of hard work and attentiveness, on G’d command Yaakov gathers all that is rightfully his and leaves Lavan’s land to return home. When Lavan pursues him, Yaakov speaks of his fruitful service to Lavan:

It is twenty years now that I have been under you:
Your ewes and your she-goats have never miscarried,
The rams from your flock I never have eaten,
None torn-by-beasts have I ever brought you…

– Gen 31:38

Stones Mark a New Reality

Other examples of Yaakov’s ability to bring the spiritual into the physical involve stones. Nearing Harran, when he saw the beautiful shepherdess Rachel, Yaakov alone rolled the stone from the well so her camels could drink, a feat that usually required the strength of several men. This has the visual of opening oneself to the deep well of love, and life-supporting water.

Two other events involve stones as a physical marker of spirit. On the night when Yaakov dreams of the ladder he put his head on a stone pillow. With messengers going up and down the ladder, he received the promise of the covenant of Avraham through his line. Awestruck, he marks the spot with his stone pillow as a standing-pillar, vowing to make this place a house of G’d:

… he took the stone that he had set at his head

and set it up as a standing-pillar

and poured oil on tip of it.

– Gen 28:18

This became the site of the First and Second Temples. The ladder itself symbolizes the connection of the physical and spiritual worlds.

After serving his uncle for 20 years, Yaakov leaves with his family. Lavan pursues him, filled with ill intent. G’d again intervenes through a dream, warning Lavan not to harm Yaakov, his family and his flock. Yaakov prevails against this foe, marking with stones the line of truce between Lavan the trickster and Yaakov – holder of the covenant of Avraham:

Yaakov took a stone and erected it as a standing-pillar.

– Gen 31:45

Having diverted trouble with Lavan, more dangers await Yaakov and his family. At the end of Vayetzei, to return home he must pass through Esav’s land. Just before he reaches the border, he again encounters messengers of G’d, a promising portent for what is to come:

As Yaakov went on his way,
messagers of G’d encountered him.

– Gen 32:2

Chaos and Order

For this week’s practices, we will seek to bring into the spiritual world of divine Light into our lives. To continue our progression from the external to the internal, and ultimately, to bring the two together, in the marriage of heaven and earth. This is how we can be in tune with the Infinite and the rhythm of life. This beautiful, chaotic, ever changing life. This life right now, as we seek to apply our personal will to a deeper calling, and by so doing, allow for divine grace to guide our life.

WEEKLY PRACTICES: Spirit into Physicality

With the Soul Manifestation Process, we listen for divine guidance before setting our intention toward fulfillment.  The door opens through breath, light and sound.

Suggestion: Do one practice a day, or do all 6 consecutively. Remember… have your Journal nearby to jot down any insights that may arise.

Audio Recording – Coming Soon

Breath:

Sitting comfortably with an upright spine, breathe in and out through your nose. Inhale deeply. Exhale completely, eliminating all of the spent air in your lungs. Inhale deeply and focus on your abdomen. Exhale completely. Inhale and focus on your chest, then exhale completely. Once more, inhale and focus on your crown, and then exhale completely.

Breathing comfortably, bring to mind a sorrow that you hold. It could be a loss or a frustration… something that holds sadness for you. Breath it in, as if you are breathing in gray smoke. Breath in this sorrow. Right now, it is yours to feel. On the exhale, breath out pure, clear light. You are transmuting this sorrow into light.

After a while, consider others you know who have felt this or similar sorrows. Inhale this sorrow as the part of the human experience. Inhale gray smoke, exhale clear light. When you no longer feel the weight of this sorrow, when it has been spun into pure light, inhale pure light, exhale pure light. Sit with this peace, breathing in and out pure light. When you are ready, open your eyes and move slowly to awaken to normal reality.

Write about this experience in your journal. You are using the discipline of Tikun to repair the vessels broken by the chaotic power of Tohu. G’d bless you.

Contemplation:

Following your breath, mentally recite these contemplations drawn from the words of this week’s parsha and from the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Light:

With eyes closed, breathe in and out through the nose. Let your breath be gentle and refined. Imagine that you are standing in an open field at night. The night is perfectly dark. The moon and stars are not visible in this black landscape. Breath in and out this darkness. 

Begin to feel the pregnancy of the dark. Although you can’t see it, sense the manifested world all round you. Breath peacefully in this knowledge.

Now a sliver of light appears on the horzon. The earth has been turning toward the sun all the while. Dawn is breaking. Allow the morning light to fill the sky. When the sun peaks over the horzon, open your eyes. See with new awareness. What does your heart feel? What does the widsom of your heart say to you in this moment?

Sound:

Similar to mantra, to practice Wazifa is to repeat a Name (quality) of G’d. The meaning of the Name, which is encoded in the sound vibration, will be revealed to you through repetition and focus. This week’s Sufi practice with sound vibration will focus on bringing the spiritual world into the physical world around you: Ya Nur and Ya Munawwir. 

As a starting point, we can say that Ya Nur (yaa NOOR) is the essence of light, luminosity itself. Ya Munawwir (yaa mu-NOW-wir) is a form of the same root and means the one who illuminates.

Inhale: Ya Nur

Exhale: Ya Munawwir

As you rhythmically inhale and exhale, softly repeat each Name out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the sound vibration on your being.

Zikr:

Meaning “remembrance”, Zikr is the repetition of a sacred phrase with the intention of returning to the essence of Unity. Continuing from last week, we will repeat the central Jewish prayer known as the Sh’ma.

In Hebrew:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד

Shema Yisrael YHWH Eloheinu YHWH Echad

The Sh’ma can be translated as: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one”. LORD is the unpronounceable four letter word יְהוָה – YHWH, the Name of G’d that can’t be named. Instead, we’ll use the word “Adonai“, meaning Lord, or “HaShem“, meaning The Name.

When practicing Zikr, it’s best to use the original language in which the prayer was revealed. As you inhale and exhale, softly repeat out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the vibration on your being.

Nature:

Excellent! Now it’s time to return to the every day world, refreshed, renewed and reconnected. During the week pay attention to the play of light. How does light reveal color, shape and form in this ever-changing world?

Shabbat Shalom!

After 6 days of practice, when Shabbat arrives, observe how this week’s practices shape your Shabbat experience. Be sure to check in Sunday morning for next week’s parsha.

You are invited to comment on how the contemplations and practices for this week have shaped your experience of daily life… any big Ah-ha’s? Please share your thoughts and feelings below.

חַיִּים
L’Hayyim…. To Life!