(RNS) — You have, of course, heard many times the story of Jacob’s dream from this week’s Torah portion in the book of Genesis — the famous story of Jacob’s ladder.
Jacob has fled from the murderous anger of his brother, Esau. He comes to a certain place, and he falls asleep. As he sleeps, he dreams of a ladder that stretches from the earth to the heavens — with angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder.
Questions: What was the meaning of Jacob’s dream? What are those angels doing on the ladder? Why are the angels going up the ladder, and coming down the ladder?
My favorite answer to this question comes from the Zohar, the most important Jewish mystical text of all time. It emerges out of Spain, at the end of the 1200s. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah and on other books of the Jewish Bible.
The Zohar teaches that God sits on a throne in the heavens. On that throne, there is a portrait of Jacob. God sits on the throne, and God gazes at the portrait of Jacob. The angels descend on a ladder, because they want to see whether the earthly Jacob — the one who lies there sleeping and dreaming — has the same face as the heavenly Jacob.
And then, they ascend the ladder. They report to God. They tell God what the earthly Jacob looks like. Then, they look at the portrait of Jacob on the divine throne, and they compare the earthly Jacob to the heavenly Jacob.
The earthly Jacob. The one that is.
The heavenly Jacob. The one that could be.
Jacob represents all of us. Perhaps that is why the great Hasidic master, Rabbi Zadok of Lublin, says that in every generation, it is not just the image of Jacob that is on the divine throne.
Our faces are on the divine throne as well.
The angels have already seen God’s portrait of us — God’s ideal portrait of us.
They are going up and down upon the ladder, because they want to see who we are — who we really are.
They want to see our faces, and they will bring their reports to God.
Or: perhaps it is not that the angels will bring the reports of how we look on earth back to God.
God has a portrait of every person — and surely, every Jew — on the divine throne.
On that throne, there is also a portrait of the Jewish people.
God also has a portrait of the Jewish state on the divine throne. Ever since Oct. 7 — long before that, to be honest — we have asked ourselves some very difficult, existential questions: What is a Jewish state? What is a democratic state? What does it mean for both of those to be tied together? How do we save the identity of Israel as a liberal democracy and the classical Zionist definition of Israel as a Jewish state?
I shall go one step further. Without invoking any fantasies of a theocracy, or a God-centered America (this is a larger conversation), I daresay God has a portrait of America on the divine throne.
There is the America that seems to be unfolding before our eyes, and the America of the Founders’ ideals — the America that could be. That is what Israel and America have in common: the reality and the aspirational ideal.
America, no less than Israel, now faces a sobering crisis of meaning. What will our country look like? What will it become? What will be the role of the individual citizen, and local and national organizations, in determining the portrait that we show ourselves, the world — and yes, God?
Finally, what do America and Israel have in common?
A song — written for Israel, but pertaining to America, as well — “Ain Li Eretz Acheret” – “I Have No Other Country”:
I have no other country
even if my land is aflame
Just a word in Hebrew
pierces my veins and my soul –
With a painful body, with a hungry heart,
Here is my home.I will not stay silent
because my country changed her faceI will not give up reminding her
And sing in her ears
until she will open her eyes.
I cannot hear that song without shedding tears. Originally, I shed tears for the state of Israel — “just a word in Hebrew pierces my veins and my soul.”
But now I believe the song equally pertains to America: “I will not stay silent because my country changed her face. I will not give up reminding her, and sing in her ears, until she will open her eyes.”
Oh, do I sing that song to America now.
The you that is; the you that could be.
The Israel that is; the Israel that could be.
The America that is; the America that could be.
There is a ladder. Perhaps we should all climb it.
