Our Parsha this week is Va Yetzei. We see Yaakov flee Beersheba to escape Esav’s anger and sleeping one night, sees the stairway to heaven with angels going up and down the ladder. He names the place Beth El, the Home of Hashem, taking the stone that was his pillow, standing it up and anointing it with oil. Hashem promises him safety going forward.
Travelling on, he meets and falls in love with Rachel who goes back to tell Laban of his kinsman. After years of tending Laban’s flock, he is duped by Laban and marries Leah thinking she is Rachel, works years more and then marries Rachel. Between them and the maidservants Bilhah and Zilpah, they birth the 12 tribes of Israel. Finally, they feud as Yaakov and his family leave, ultimately agreeing to a non-aggression pact between them. They leave and once again, Yaakov sees angels and marks the location.
How interesting that this parsha begins with a dream of angels climbing and descending from the stairway to heaven, then ends when after leaving Laban, he sees angels again. In both, there is an awareness of Hashem when he stands alone in the dark, with his own insecurities. He in the absence of self, feels the presence of Hashem and reaches out in prayer. Prayer by its nature is moving from the egocentric I to a selfless cry. I’m reminded of the days following October 7, when we turned to Psalm 130: “Out of the depths I call You, O Lord.” Every one of us have those moments in this life, and it is not angels, or rather, we are called to be those angels. We are called to be those angels, those workers for Hashem to right wrong and to extend loving kindness to those in need.
If I could, I’d like to share a story of an angel in my life. Many, many years ago, long before I became a Jew, long before I had transitioned, my brother, daughter, and mother drove to Dallas from Houston to attend a family Christmas get together. On our way back, on a very desolate strip of the Interstate, we had a flat. We got out to fix the flat, and to our horror, my brother had not put his car jack back after he used it the last time in Houston. So here we are, on a desolate stretch of the road with my elderly mother and toddler daughter, stranded. My brother and I got out and started walking to find help, and about a mile down the road, we found a small country store on the feeder. We went to see about getting help, and they called for a wrecker, but advised us the only wrecker in the area was busy on a bad wreck so it might be a while. We walked back to the car. As we approached the car, there was a wrecker pulling up.
So he gets out and replaces the flat. We ask how much we owe him, and he smiles and replies, “Nothing.” He goes on and explains that every year at this time, he drives this highway to help as a way of giving back. We thanked him profusely and driving on, we pulled in to get gas at that small store. The counter person said he was sorry, but the wrecker was still busy. We explained how a wrecker had helped us already, and he scratched his head, saying there were no other wreckers in the area.
Whoever that guy was, on that night, he was our angel. He was there in our time of need. We in the caring community, and all of us period, are called to be those angels, to show up in someone’s depth of despair or to heal body and or soul. Back to our Torah parsha: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the House of G_d; this is the gate of heaven.” This is how each of us in our own way repair the world. It is our calling to be angels to our fellow human beings. Baruch Hashem!
