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This week we find Jacob (Yaakov) the 'Patriarch of Judaism' on his way to his Uncle, Lavan's house to face awesome difficulties in order to establish the Jewish people.

 

Jacob was aware of the challenges before him and the Torah tells us that before he reached his destination he put rocks around his head, lay down to sleep, got a vision of G-d, and upon awakening, declared that the rock will be "the House of G-d".

 

Rashi explains that Yaakov put these rocks around his head to protect him from wild animals and that the rocks united to become one rock which he called G-d's house.

 

What is going on here? Why did Yaakov surround just his head with rocks, why not his entire body? Why did the rocks unite? How can one rock be a house? And even more important; what does all this mean to us?

 

I would like to explain with a story.

 

December 1700. It was a cold winter in Poland and a blanket of snow covered the entire country. The city streets were bustling with rosy-cheeked people bundled up in fur coats and the countryside peasants were busy warming their homes with wood, and themselves with vodka. The holiday season was approaching, and everyone was in good spirits.

 

But in the Jewish Ghetto of Krakow gloom and fear filled the air and moaned from every corner; the children were dying of smallpox. The only thing that gave them a bit of joy was being taken from them.

 

It was the beginning of an epidemic. The doctors were helpless to stop it and the various home remedies did nothing. Every day the town was visited with more heartbreaking tragedies. The only one they could rely on, as usual, was their Father in Heaven, and He didn't seem to be helping much either.

 

The Rabbi of the community had declared a day of fasting and prayer, then another, then three days of prayer and self-examination. But nothing seemed to work. A week of supplication was announced, but before it began, the thirty elders of the community decided they had to make a "Shaalas Chalom" (a request from a dream).

 

It was a drastic move, but they had no other choice. They purified themselves, fasted, said Psalms non-stop, immersed in a Mikva, and then prayed to G-d according to ancient Kabbalistic formulas, that He send them some sort of sign that night in their sleep.

 

Early the next morning they met in the Shul (synagogue) and the results were frightening; The previous night they all had identical dreams!

 

An old man in a white robe appeared and said: "SHLOMO THE BUTCHER MUST PRAY BEFORE THE CONGREGATION!!".

 

It was clear what they had to do.

 

The thirty of them solemnly walked to Shlomo's home and knocked on the door. When his wife opened, she almost fainted at the sight of them.

 

"Ye..yes?" She stammered, pushing her loose hair under the kerchief on her head.

 

"We want to speak to your husband. Is he home?" said one of them as pleasantly as possible. "May we come in?" asked another.

 

She told them to wait and in a few moments Shlomo himself came to the door, shook everyone's hands and invited them in. He ran around for a few minutes looking for chairs and when he found a few and everyone was seated one of them began;

 

"Shlomo, we made a Dream request yesterday. We asked G-d to tell us what to do about the epidemic and last night we all had the same dream. We dreamed that you have to lead the prayers today."

 

Shlomo was dumbfounded. If it weren't such a serious matter he would think it was a joke.

 

"I...should lead the prayers?" stammered Shlomo " Why I....I can't even read properly. I can't…. I mean, what good will it possibly do?"

 

The elders looked at poor Shlomo, then at each other and then took turns trying to convince him. "Listen Shlomo, just come and do what you can. You don't have to really lead, just pray in front of everyone. Maybe there will be a miracle, maybe you will begin to read. We don't understand it either but…. just come and give it a try. Everyone is in the Shul (synagogue) waiting. Just come and say a few words. Anything is better than what we have now."

 

So Shlomo, with no other choice, left his house and accompanied them. But no sooner had they entered the crowded Synagogue that Shlomo suddenly broke away, ran back outside and by the time they realized what happened and ran outside after him he was nowhere to be seen.

 

What could they do? He disappeared. They didn't even know where to look. They had no choice other than to wait.

 

About half an hour later the door opened and in came Shlomo pushing a wheelbarrow covered with a cloth.

 

All eyes were on him as he went up to the podium, pulled off the cloth, and lifted an old set of scales out of the barrow. He brought his butchers scales into the Shul!

 

They were heavy but he lifted them over his head and although his face was red and contorted with the effort, it was obvious that he was crying.

 

"Here" he yelled out to the ceiling. "Here, G-d! Take them! Take the scales! That must be why you want me to lead the prayers, right? So take the scales and heal the children! Just heal the children. Okay?!!"

 

He was crying pretty loudly by then and so was most of the congregation. A few men rushed over to help him put the scales on a table on the podium and the congregation began praying.

 

The next day all the children got better.

 

You can imagine the joy and festivities that followed. They even made a nice glass case for the scales and left the whole thing there permanently for all to see.

 

But after a few days when the excitement died down, the elders had to admit that they couldn't figure it out. What was so special about Shomo's scales? After all, there were tens of shops in the Ghetto that had scales and all of them were owned by G-d fearing Jews. What could be so special about THESE scales?

 

The answer was soon in coming. When they went around checking all the other scales, they discovered that every one of them without exception was a bit off, certainly never enough to constitute bad business, but inaccurate nevertheless.

 

It seems that Shlomo would check his scales twice every day, "That's what G-d wants" he explained, "I just check and don't ask questions", while the others checked only occasionally.

 

The legend has it that these scales remained proudly displayed in that Shul for over two hundred years until the Germans destroyed everything in WWII.

 

That answers our questions.

 

Yaakov was founding the Jewish people. He knew that the essence of Judaism is Avoda; sanctifying the world through devotion to HaShem in even the most mundane matters and despite all obstacles.

 

But he also knew that crooked Lavan was a seasoned charlatan and master of worldly affairs that would try his best to make him compromise his goals.

 

Therefore he surrounded his head with rocks; he protected his thoughts and ideals with unquestioning service of G-d (like Shlomo the butcher in our story), and that was sufficient protection to enable him to unify all that he would do (all the rocks became one) to the Creator of the Universe.

 

But that isn't all. His real goal was to pave the way for the Jews in generations to come to reveal G-d down here, first of all on Mount Sinai, then in both Holy Temples, and finally in its most complete form, with the arrival of Moshiach.

 

Then the entire world will see the manifestation of what we Jews have been saying twice daily for over three thousand years "Listen Israel (referring also to Jacob our forefather whose name was also Israel) G-d is our G-d, G-d is ONE"

 

Namely that all this time G-d has only been 'our' G-d but in the future with the arrival of Moshiach the entire world will see and feel the goodness, nearness and unconditional love of the Creator of the Universe.  (See Rashi on Deut.6:4).  

 

What it means to us is of utmost importance: It all depends on us! Today, more than ever before, we need unquestioning and uncompromising faith that brings to action; just one more deed, word, or even thought, will fulfill Yaakov's dream, save the entire world and bring....          

Moshiach NOW!!

RYYH
ULYOP
In a Rush to bring Moshiach