Mitzvah d'var

Thank you so much for spending some time with me this Saturday morning. I know some of you are still enjoying turkey and stuffing. For my part, I’ve had enough mashed potatoes to last two quarantines. Thank you to Cantor Paul and Saul in Florida and Ayelet and Rabbi David here for all the help and support throughout this chaos. Although my Bat Mitzvah was originally scheduled to be on Thanksgiving day in Jerusalem, I was lucky enough to keep the parsha Vayetze, with which I have really connected. 

Vayetze [from the book of Genesis] is the story of our founding father Jacob, who is traveling to find a wife. On his way to a city called Haran, which is located in modern-day Turkey, Jacob stops to rest his head, for he has had a long day of traveling. Jacob falls into a dream. He dreams of a ladder with angels of G-d ascending and descending upon it. G-d appears right beside Jacob and explains that the land where he finds himself is Jacob’s land and that G-d will look over Jacob while he builds a settlement. G-d tells Jacob that he may continue on his journey, and that he (G-d) will protect Jacob until he returns. Awestruck, Jacob awakens from his sleep. He decides to name the land Beth El, or House of G-d in English. Jacob places a stone on the ground and vows that he will return to this land and build a civilization. 

The main question I’d like to pose is “what is the connection between the ladder in Jacob’s dream and God’s gift of land?” In the prefatory remarks of his “Guide for the Perplexed”, Maimonides suggests that the ladder is used as a gateway to heaven. “The word ‘ladder’ refers to one idea: ‘set up on the earth’ to another: ‘and the top of it reached to heaven.’” This is a traditional interpretation of Jacob’s dream. 

But let’s examine what Jacob was doing when he had this dream. [pause] He was traveling to find a wife and he immigrated to a new land. In this context, the ladder from the dream could be used as a bridge provided by G-d to help us leave where we are and go to a new place. When G-d presents himself to Jacob, this is his way of communicating the importance of immigration. G-d sends a ladder to Jacob to help him ascend from where he was to the land to which he is immigrating. The Hebrew word la-alot means to go up or ascend. To make aliyah, which word comes from the same root as la-alot, means to immigrate to Israel. Maybe all we need to make aliyah is G-d’s ladder. G-d providing Jacob the tool to make aliyah signifies the importance of immigration in Jewish culture.  

This isn’t the first time G-d has promoted immigration. In the first verse of Genesis chapter twelve, G-d says to Abram: לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃. In this passage, G-d is telling Avram to leave the place of his birth and go to a new land G-d will show him. Now, in parshat Vayetze, G-d is showing Avram’s grandson, Jacob, this new land that was promised. This is the promised land! [PAUSE] In this way, Jacob’s ladder could also be seen as a bridge for Avraham’s descendents.  G-d is again providing a means for the Jewish people to make aliyah across the generations. 

On the flip side, G-d also wants the Jewish people to welcome immigrants. As this passage from Leviticus shows, “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong them. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt… (Leviticus 19:33-34).” 

In our modern society, immigration is a controversial topic. Because of nationalism, labor force stability, national security, and other economic and social factors, we have lost our natural ability to immigrate. Particularly in the United States, immigration is a politically charged issue. Regardless of politics, however, many people around the world struggle to find the resources they need to survive. Immigration can play an important societal role in providing safety and security for immigrants and new workers to build economic prosperity. 

Organizations like The American Immigration Council educate the public on how the immigration system works and the positive role immigration can play in society. The AIC also provides attorneys with tools to practice immigration laws and goes to court to challenge unfair immigration policies. The AIC sheds light on government practices to ensure accountability. 

The work that the American Immigration Council does helps to fulfil the values that are described in parshat Vayetze. Their work is an evolution of the principle that immigration is beneficial for both the recipient country and the immigrant. For the immigrant, just like Jacob in search of a wife, he or she is seeking a better life and a safer home environment. The home country gains a more diverse labor pool and a more robust gene pool. The AIC might not be a whole ladder, but it could certainly represent a rung or two. 

On a personal note, immigration has been an important part of my family history, too. My first relatives immigrated to the Colonies around 400 years ago.  More recently, my Sabba immigrated to this country from Israel. Had he not had that opportunity, he wouldn’t have been able to study at Juilliard and music would not have become such a central component of our family’s life. In fact, had he not been able to immigrate, he wouldn’t have met my grandmother and I wouldn’t be here today. You all would be Zooming with an empty bimah! [PAUSE]  But even before then, my Sabba’s parents immigrated to Israel (before it was called Israel). Had they not been free to do so, they likely would have been killed by the Nazis along with their families. So in a sense, immigration saved my family’s life. Like Jacob, my family’s dreams have been fulfilled by the promise of the ladder. 

Shabbat Shalom.