Jacob has left home to fulfill his destiny as heir to his parents and grandparents. We begin with his specific points of departure and destination--Beersheba and Haran-but quickly zoom into an unnamed place in between. The Hebrew word bamakom,"upon a [certain] place" (Genesis 28:11), is vocalized to indicate that is a particular site. The word makom, "place," is repeated three times in this single verse. Before lying down to sleep, Jacob prepares deliberately; details in the text indicate that something significant is coming. One midrash enhances the drama by explaining that "the sun set suddenly for him, not at its regular time, so that he would spend the night there."
-Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller

This place is the most revered site in all of Jewish tradition! More importantly, like the humble bush through which God speaks to Moses, Jacob has discovered that an unnamed place can become a portal of revelation, and therefore perhaps every place on earth has this sacred potential...
-Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller

Contemporary Bible scholar Aviva Zornberg calls Jacob's sleep in this scene a paradox, pointing out that other Jewish sources admonish against sleeping in a holy place. Zornberg also notes that Rashi speaks of Jacob's lacking sleep before he leaves home and that Jacob himself describes the years following this scene as a time when "sleep fled from my eyes" (Genesis 31:40). Zornberg contrasts this sleeplessness with the surprising fact that "all God wants of Jacob is that he sleep there...'Shall he get off without a night's sleep there?' God asks, as though such sleep is the ultimate religious duty." For us, who spend our nights looking at screens that deny darkness and find it hard to prioritize stillness and rest, making time for sleep may be exactly that, a vital mitzvah. Rashi imagines that upon awakening, Jacob is afraid that he has done something wrong by sleeping: "If I had known (that God was here], I would not have slept." "But," Zornberg continues, "the paradox is clear: if Jacob had not slept, he would not have dreamed of God and angels, would not have received his first message from God, and would not know that this is a holy place."
-Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller

While Jacob sleeps, God comes to him in a dream with a twofold message. First is the promise of blessing and success that entails a thorough transformation of Jacob, from the "homespun man, keeping to the tents" (Genesis 25:27) to the father of a people who will spread out in all directions. Second is the promise that God will accompany Jacob throughout the trials this transformation will entail. What about us? As frightening climate events unfold, we cannot claim to know that blessing and success await us. Can we keep faith in the second part of the promise, that God is with Jacob and therefore with us? "Truly, the Eternal is in this place, and I did not know it!" (Genesis 28:16). Upon awakening, Jacob knows something that he did not know the night before, and not merely a newfound fact about God.
-Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller

Jacob is changed by his dream, and the change will lift him into action. We too seek this kind of transformation. Can we learn from Jacob how to prepare ourselves?
-Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller

Discussion Questions by Ariel Tovlev

1. How does Rabbi Saxe-Taller connect Jacob’s realization after his dream to the
   ongoing climate crisis?
   
2. What is the paradox outlined by Aviva Zornberg? Why is this paradox important?
   What are some other paradoxes within Jewish tradition?
   
3. How might sleep reconnect us with God and nature? What are our own paradox-
   es relating to sleep and rest? How might we overcome our paradoxes?