Climbing Jacob’s Ladder
Shmuel Herzfeld
It is told about Reb Yisrael, the rebbe of Rizhyn that he often used to wait a long time before saying his morning prayers. When people would come over to him and ask him when he was planning on davening, he would respond with the following story:
A king had set an hour at which every one of his subjects was to have a free hearing. One day a beggar came to the palace at another hour and asked to be taken to the king. The guards snapped at him, and demanded whether he was not acquainted with the ruling. The beggar said: “I know all about it, but it only holds for those who want to talk to the king about the things they have need of; but I want to talk to the king about what the heavenly realm has need of.” The beggar was instantly admitted.
And so the rebbe of Rizhyn ended his story, “how am I to know when I shall pray?” (From Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim)
This story speaks to inner tensions present in our prayers to God. On the one hand we want to express our deepest desires and needs; on the other hand we want to develop a close relationship to God. On the one hand we yearn for our own personal, private connection to God; on the other hand we feel a responsibility to pray within a communal setting.
Some of the most spiritual people I know often tell me that they don’t enjoy praying in a communal setting. They find that the public setting offers too many distractions. On their own, they think that they could achieve an even greater spiritual connection with God.
Jacob’s first encounter with God speaks to this very tension: the struggle between individual spirituality versus communal spirituality.
Vayetze yaakov mibeer shevah vayelekh charanah, vayifgah ba-makom. Jacob left Ber Shevah and came to Haran, and he encountered the place. Our rabbis teach us, ein pegiah elah tefillah; the word pegiah, encounter, describes a prayer experience. Jacob is encountering God at that moment through prayer.
Why does the Torah use the word pegiah, instead of the more obvious word for prayer, tefillah? Rashi explains that the word pegiah means, kafatz alav ha-derekh. Jacob traveled supernaturally fast; the journey was very quick.
The Sfas Emes wonders about this Rashi. What is the connection between a quick journey (kefitzat haderekh) and prayer? The Sfas Emes explains: Kefi ratzon ha-adam yakhol le-orer kedushat ha-adam be-khol makom, ve-zeh she-katuv ne-ekar har hamoriah u-vah lekan. Man through his own will is able to bring the holiness of God into anyplace at all. Indeed, our rabbis teach that Mount Moriah itself was uprooted and moved to the very spot where Jacob slept. The secret of Jacob’s ability to travel is that he didn’t need to physically go to Mount Moriah; he was able to get there mystically.
Understand the implications of what the Sfas Emes is teaching. Jacob’s encounter with God was so deep that he uprooted the holiest spot of all, Mount Moriah, and moved it to where he was praying. Translated into modern day parlance this means: Jacob did not need to go to Synagogue, rather the Synagogue came to him.
If Jacob was able to uproot the mountain where the Temple stood and bring it to him, why do we need to pray in a Synagogue? Why don’t we all just stay home and try to have as spiritual an experience as possible?
When you look closely at the text, you will notice that Jacob actually recognizes the greater power of communal prayer. While individual prayer can be powerful, the potential for the highest greatness exists only within communal prayer.
Before he begins to pray, Jacob’s actions point to the power of individual prayer. He travels alone and the Midrash tells us of the mountain uprooting itself to meet him. It is an existential journey.
Contrast this to the way Jacob acts after waking from his prophetic/prayer trance. He builds an altar and says, ein zeh ki im beit elokim, this is the house of God. Many rabbis explain that this altar was the corner stone of the future beit ha-mikdash. Jacob awakes from his personal, individual trance and recognizes the need for a beit elokim, a house of God; he lays the foundation stone for the future Temple. He awakes from a personal prayer with a sense of urgency to build a home for communal prayers.
If Jacob’s individual prayer was so powerful, why did he feel the need to build a home where many could gather? What changed in Jacob while he was sleeping?
Another Midrash tells us that Jacob lay down to sleep on a group of stones. While he slept, the stones which represented the different tribes of Israel all fought to be the one which Jacob’s head rested on. Miraculously all of the stones united into a single large stone--nivlau kulan keachat. It was that stone that Jacob took as the foundation for the altar—va-yikach et ha-even.
This was the lesson that Jacob internalized during his prophetic trance. As great as he was individually, his future only lay in the unity of all his descendants. The power of their prayers, while great individually, could reach even higher heights when joined communally. Jacob awakes with this realization; he understands that individual prayer can be mystical and spiritual, but the future and destiny of his family lay in communal prayer. He understands that the greatest strength for everyone is only through communal prayer.
There are great, individual spiritual moments; but the greatest, spiritual moments of all can only be achieved in a communal setting. A communal setting gives the opportunity to recreate the Sinai experience; it allows for an even greater force of energy and power.
The sad reality is that most congregations today take the power of communal prayer for granted. We don’t realize the ability we have to soar together as a community.
We shouldn’t take this for granted. This past Shabbat all of the Synagogues in Turkey (in response to the recent terror attack upon Neve Shalom) were closed out of fear of future attacks! Jews were denied the ability to gather in this deeply powerful way. Jews were denied the ability to combine energy together in prayer.
Jacob didn’t take this for granted. On his lonely journey, despite his powerful spiritual moment, he felt an enormous void. When he woke, he realized that if he could connect to God in this way on his own, imagine what we could all do together. Imagine how we could influence God; make demands and requests from God; the more mass, the stronger our prayers can be. For the first time in his life, Jacob realized with great urgency the need to build a community around prayer.
Jacob realized this because he understood that prayer is not about getting answers from God. Its not about asking God to heal us or help us win the lotto. Instead, it is about trying to connect to God, to develop a close, intimate relationship with God. While this relationship can be achieved through individual prayer, the potential for the greatest relationship is only through communal prayer. Praying in a community allows us to focus less on our own personal needs and more on the common goals of the community. It frees us to have bolder dreams and loftier sights.
There was once a Chasid who used to wander for many years by himself with only a knapsack on his back in search of God. He once came to a small town where the elderly rebbe was renowned for leading the community in the deepest tefillot. The Chasid asked the rebbe what was the secret of his powerful tefillot. The rebbe didn’t say a word. He simply went to the back of the Chasid, unsnapped the pack off his back, and placed it on the ground. Together they hugged.
As a community, we have the ability to take the burdens off each other’s backs. Unburdened, together, we can fly to heaven.