Early in the morning, Laban kissed his sons and daughters and bade them good-by; then Laban left on his journey homeward. Jacob went on his way…
Breysheet / Genesis 32:1
The author of Meshech Chokhmah (1) reads these verses from the Torah using the most literal translation of the verbs used to describe the actions of Laban and Jacob. Regarding Laban, the text literally says, “Laban returned to his place” whereas Jacob goes forward as hinted at in the translation above. Our teacher sees in the differentiated verb use an important lesson. Laban, despite his encounter with God described a few verses earlier, “returns to his place”, specifically that he returns to his previous state of being, unmoved and unchanged by his counter with the Holy Blessed One. By contrast, he writes, that the Torah says that Jacob “went forward” and by doing so encounters additional manifestations of God’s Presence, reflected here by angels of the Almighty.
The Meshech Chokhmah opines that each of us determines how we will respond to moments of encounter with the sacred, times in our lives when we feel God’s Presence more palpably. They can simply be powerful unique moments in the landscape of our lives, or they can become springboards, an impetus to seeking additional encounters, rungs on a ladder bringing us closer to the Divine.
Shabbat Shalom –
Rabbi David M. Eligberg
1 Meshech Chokhmah is a commentary on the Torah written by Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen Dvinsk (1843-1926). Rabbi Meir Simcha incorporates a wide variety of sources into his commentary, such as the Talmud, Shulchan Arukh, Zohar, and philosophical works.
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