Thread by @GREENESJ333

Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote:
"SHABBAT SHALOM
Reuven Ben-Tzemakh Efraim

Parsha Vayetze
Genesis 28:10–32:3

Jacob leaves BeerSheva and travels to north Haran (SE Turkey today), the area his ancestors came from originally
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On the way, he rests, someplace near the location of Beit El today, and sleeps there. He has a dream, a dream of ladders connecting Earth with something above, and “melachim” (translated traditionally as “angels”) climbing up and down what appeared as ladders.
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And as part of the dream, HaShem promises Jacob all the land around him would be for his descendants forever. In the morning, Jacob builds a monument and promises it would be a special place for HaShem.
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Now, there are all sorts of commentaries written about this passage. What were the angels? What happens to that location? I’m not sure any of that matters as much as the promise that the land, all the land, not just one city purchased by Avraham,
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would be the inheritance for Am Yisrael forever. This was a change. Before that, rights came from purchasing. Now rights come from a promise and a promise specifically to Am Yisrael and not for all the descendants of Abraham. I think that is the core of the passage.
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But, this passage can lead to all sorts of speculation. Who were the angels, and what were the ladders? An old friend of mine in Israel who died several years ago, used to present an argument of aliens and spacecraft from the description of the dream,
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noting the linguistic similarity in Hebrew between the term for “angels” and the term for “sailers” on ships at sea possibly meaning travelers on ships through space.
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And if Beit El was the location dedicated by Jacob to HaShem should that not be the location of the Temple and the center of spiritual devotion for Jews, rather than Jerusalem which David chose 700 or more years later for political purposes? Something to think about.
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The remainder of the Parsha is the story of Jacob and Laban and Laban’s daughters and the growth of Jacob’s family and wealth and finally his departure, after 20 years in Haran, to return home with wives and children from his own ancestral area and culture.
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There are two specific lessons here. Two very important lessons.

First, to Jacob, it was important to carry his own culture and its values rather than to blend in and assimilate in the culture of many residents of Cana’an and he made an enormous effort to do so.
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Imagine what would be had Jacob not made that effort. One thing, there would have been no slavery in Egypt, no exodus, no Torah, and no Jewish nation, and we never would have heard of him. So, this parsha’s story has a lesson that is generally ignored when telling the story.
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It is a lesson about the lengths that sometimes must be taken to preserve cultural integrity and prevent assimilation and disappearance of identity.

Second, this is the first time in human history, where a specific territory became associated with a specific nation.
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It is, possibly, the first mention in history of a nation-state concept. Eretz Yisrael promised to Yisrael. This is the beginnings of Zionism. Not in the 19th century, but 3700 years ago at Beit El.

Think about that."
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