The parasha opens this week with Jacob on the road at night,
fleeing from his brother, headed towards his uncle Lavan. He lays down to sleep
and has a vision of angels going up and down a staircase. When he awakes, what
stays with him is an awareness that God is with him. During the dream, God
announces to him: “Remember, I am with you.” And after the dream Jacob vows
that “If God remains with me. . . then the Lord shall be my God.”
After twenty years of serving his uncle Lavan in order to
marry his two daughters, Rachel and Leah, twenty years in which Jacob was mistreated
and deceived by his uncle, Jacob is still aware that God is with him. As Jacob
secretly plans with his wives to leave Lavan’s camp, Jacob mentions God’s
presence in his life twice. And so, the phrase “God is with him” appears four
times in this parasha.
The word “to steal” also appears four times in this parasha.
As they are leaving Lavan’s house, Rachel steals his household idols, and Jacob’s
stealthy departure is described as “stealing Lavan’s heart.”
God is with Jacob, a sign of connection and wholeness and
safety. And yet, there is deep conflict, deception, and stealing, which all
create a sense of disconnection, fragmentation and danger. So – what is Jacobs’
experience of these twenty years? What does it mean to him that God is and has
been with him this whole time? Do we sometimes have to separate from another
person, or another people – in order to truly experience safety and connection
in our lives as a whole? Is it possible to feel that God is with us in the
midst of conflict, deception and darkness?
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