Money or Migration
When God told Jacob it was time to go home to Canaan, the patriarch called his wives Rachel and Leah to the field where they could talk unobserved, and they discussed the Divine command. Fair enough. And we would have expected that the husband would say, "This is what God wants," and the wives would reply, "We agree - you must fulfill the word of the Lord!" But this is not how the conversation developed.

Jacob said that he had served the wives' father Laban faithfully, but had been cheated by him time after time. The wives said that Laban had not treated them properly either and had not given them a dowry.

After this exchange, God got a mention, but the money side seems to have come first. Where was the idealism, the spirituality, the faith? How could pragmatic considerations come first, even before God? The whole episode appears really strange.

If there is an explanation it may be that people's motivations are generally mixed. When a great call presents
The Bible is not nearly as anti-women as some critics suggest.
itself, they want to be idealists, but they have to think of their family. In this case, there are no family considerations that stand in the way, so they have no problem with heeding the word from On High. Had there been a pull to stay behind, the discussion might have taken a different turn.

Women's Rights
The Bible is not nearly as anti-women as some critics suggest. Here in parashat Vayetzei we have a husband who does not impose his will on his wives or dictate to them. There is discussion and a joint decision. A week or so back, we find the Torah describing a matchmaker, Eliezer, who offers a marriage for Rebekah. Once again, a woman is not dictated to, but asked, "Will you go with this man?"

Abraham's wife Sarah is a person in her own right. Moses' wife Tzipporah is a woman to be reckoned with. Biblical women are not chattel or nobodies. Many other societies denied women the right to speak or think for themselves, but not Judaism.

As recently as the last few decades there were still husbands who ordered their wives around and fathers who were dictators to their daughters (and their sons too, but that's another story). By way of contrast, in situations in which Jewish women appeared to be in a disadvantaged position, the halachah tried to ameliorate their position. There are one or two areas, notably the agunah, where much still needs to be done, but the general sense of Judaism is that women cannot and must not be pushed around.

Finding Faith: Jacob and the Ladder
Jacob's famous dream was of a ladder linking Earth and Heaven. The angels of the Lord went up and down, connecting the Earthly and the Heavenly realms. How could Jacob be afraid, knowing that the Divine messengers were with him and God was aware of his situation? Jacob's faith said, "HaShem li v'lo iyra" - "The Lord is with me, I shall not fear."

The same faith sustained the patriarch's descendants throughout the centuries. "The Lord is with me, I shall not fear" was a Jacob's ladder for millions of Jews through millennia of time. That is, according to some critics, until our present age, when some have said that the Jew has become "Jacob without the ladder". This seems to suggest a person who has come adrift from God. Possibly it is God who has cast Man adrift and left him to suffer alone. Possibly it is Man who has cast God adrift and decided he can manage by himself.

After 11 September 2001 one well-known American religious leader used this terminology in relation to the Twin Towers disaster. She asked why any modern person could imagine that the tragedy showed that God did not care, when for so long Man had proclaimed his self-sufficiency and told God to keep out of human affairs.

Jews have a different problem. Until the Holocaust the vast majority of Jews were believers, certain there was a God and that God would protect His people. There was no thought that God had no place in history, no thought of Jacob abandoning his ladder. Then came the catastrophe. Many who had been religious now lost patience with God. What kind of God was He, they said, when He let His people down at precisely the moment when He was needed?

It was once the nations that said, "Where is your God?" (Psalm 19:10) Now the Jews themselves said, "God,
Jews argue with God, but somehow they keep talking to Him.
where are You?"

Decades of Holocaust theology have tried to find an answer. Some blame the Jews themselves for supposed sins that range from assimilation to anti-Zionism. Some say that God cannot grant free will without running the risk that evil nations and ideologies will misuse it. Some say it is God testing our faith as He tested our ancestor Abraham. The theories are innumerable and none seems to bring much comfort. Sixty years after the event there are still Jews who cannot say "The Lord is with me," who cannot believe in Jacob's ladder.

Some call this a holy loss of faith. Jews argue with God, but somehow they keep talking to Him. It's tempting to brush aside Jacob's ladder, but they are trying not to. They know that their ancestors were able to say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." (Job 13:15) As Rashi puts it, "Even though He slay me, I will not be separated from Him but will constantly hope in Him. There is no running away or rebellion in my words."