Vayetze: While Jacob Slept
Vayetze: While Jacob Slept

Stones Becoming One

If Shakespeare is right that there are sermons in stones, then Jacob narrative in this week's portion offers an example.

After leaving home, Jacob made a pillow out of stones and lay down to sleep. How many stones did he take to make up his pillow? The text doesn't specify, but merely informs us, "He took some of the stones of the place." (Genesis 28:11) But another verse uses the singular: "He took the stone." (verse 18) That is, one stone. Rabbinic ingenuity resolves the contradiction by means of a story.

What happened? There were a number of stones and they began to argue with each other. Each wanted Jacob to rest his head on it. "Let the tzaddik put his head on me," said one stone. "No, let him put his head on me," said another. In the end, God had to step in. He turned them all into one stone and that was the end of the quarrel. This is the way Rashi explains the situation, basing himself on an idea found in the Talmud.

Ibn Ezra and other commentators disagree and say that there was only one stone all the way through. When the verse says, translating it literally, "He took of the stones," it really means, "He took one of the stones."

The debate will probably never be finally resolved, but the Rashi approach enshrines a fascinating idea. When there is a quarrel between people and katuv sh'lishi yachri'a beineihem, "a third party is able to settle it," the parties often end up as such good friends that they wonder how they could have been so far apart for so long. Two stones are now one.

The moral of the story: we should never imagine that gaps cannot be narrowed; we should never lose hope that divergent viewpoints can be reconciled. Stones can really become one. Enemies can really become friends.

I Need a Sleep

Jacob needed a sleep. The day had been long and difficult. He couldn't keep going any longer. However, when he woke up he felt uneasy.

Because of his dream of the Divine angels ascending and descending the ladder to Heaven, he realised that he had inadvertently chosen to lie down in a holy place. According to the Talmud, God Himself had ordained that was where the young man should spend the night (Chullin 91b). Jacob himself did not know this and could only say, "Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not." (Genesis 28:16) The implication is that a holy spot is not the place to fall asleep. But why not? Don't we see people having a doze in shul? How many people say they like sermons because it gives them a chance for a snooze?

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein explains Jacob's predicament like this. In a holy place, one might think that the only way to serve God is by prayer and Torah study. Sleeping can hardly be considered a religious act. All very well, but human beings have physical, as well as spiritual and intellectual needs, and sleeping is one of them. The question is why a person goes to sleep. Is it just to serve the body - or can it serve the soul too?

If one has the determination to spend his or her life in the service of God, then sleep can help to make it possible. It enables us to fulfil the opening requirement of the Code of Jewish Law: to strengthen ourselves like a lion to rise in the morning to the service of the Creator.