This week in Parshat Vayeitzei, we read about an incredible experience.
Jacob is travelling to Haran, and stops to make camp for the night. He lays his head down on a rock, and goes to sleep. As he sleeps, he dreams:
וַֽיַּחֲלֹ֗ם וְהִנֵּ֤ה סֻלָּם֙ מֻצָּ֣ב אַ֔רְצָה וְרֹאשׁ֖וֹ מַגִּ֣יעַ הַשָּׁמָ֑יְמָה וְהִנֵּה֙ מַלְאֲכֵ֣י אֱלֹהִ֔ים עֹלִ֥ים וְיֹרְדִ֖ים בּֽוֹ׃
[Jacob] had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it.
In this dream, God appears to Jacob and extends the covenantal promise that was made to his grandfather, Abraham: that Jacob's children will be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and that his family will become a blessing. When he wakes up, Jacob is awe-struck:
וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַעֲקֹב֮ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ ה' בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי׃ וַיִּירָא֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר
מַה־נּוֹרָ֖א הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה אֵ֣ין זֶ֗ה כִּ֚י אִם־בֵּ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְזֶ֖ה שַׁ֥עַר הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃
Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Adonai is in this place, and I , I did not know it!” Shaken, he said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.”
"Surely, God is in this place, and I, I did not know it," Jacob exclaims, "Mah norah haMakom ha-zeh?!?! - How awesome is this place?!?!" When he went to sleep, the land around him was just another camp site. The rock he placed under its head was just another rock. But as he slept, as he dreamed, something changed.
Or did it?
When did the rock stop being a rock, and become the base of a ladder (stairway?) to heaven? To this I answer, maybe it always had been but Jacob wasn't able or ready to see it. Perhaps the only transformation was the one in Jacob's mind when he opened himself up to seeing the rock differently; when he was able to be present, and notice the holiness in the place.
Each of us have moments in our lives when we, like Jacob, discover ourselves in a moment or a space that seemed mundane in one moment and sacred in the next. What do we do when we find ourselves there? How do we mark these moments of Mah norah haMakom ha-zeh?!?! For Jacob, the answer was to anoint his rock/ pillow/ stairway to heaven with oil and rename the place Beit El (House of God). What do we do in our day? What is our contemporary analog?
As we read Parshat Vayeitzei, we are given the challenge (or maybe the gift) to envision our own present-day rituals for pausing, noticing, and holding (even for a moment) fleeting moments of holiness in our own lives. And as we do, to hear ourselves cry, in our own authentic voices, "Mah norah haMakom ha-zeh?!?!"