Friday, November 23, 2012

Watcher Angels



By Rabbi Ariel bar Tzadok

This week's Torah portion is called Vayetzei [Genesis 28:10-32:3]

In this week's Torah portion we read about the building of the family of Jacob. Because of the recent episode where Jacob tricked his brother Esau out of his patriarchal blessing, Jacob is forced to leave his family and to seek a wife from his wife's brother Laban.

In travel, Jacob settles down for the night and has a fantastic dream. He not only sees God, who makes promises to Jacob, he also sees angels ascending and descending on what Jacob describes as a ladder going up to Heaven. Although dream language is archetypal in nature and is thus never literal, nevertheless Jacob saw a spiritual reality which is most revelatory. While many thinkers wish to interpret angels as being only symbolic representations, Jacob's dream reveals that indeed, these are actual entities, and apparently they have regular purpose for being here on Earth.

Continue reading at Kosher Torah

3 comments:

AmericanKnitter said...

Thank you Devorah… you reminded me that it was here that I found Kosher Torah first. Have been studying with the Rav ever since.

Eved HaShem said...

Awesome shiur. I love learning from Rav Bar Tzadok. I have learned a great deal.

Dov Bar-Leib said...

If you are in the US, join Rav Bar Tzadok in his growing Jewish community in Eastern Tennessee. It is the second best thing to Aliyah at this time. Live more securely amongst decent and rigteous gentile neighbors, not the neighbors who hate your guts in the Obamanable and abominable blue states and blue cities. In addition to everything else, Rav Bar Tzadok has keenly set up his community very close to Athens, Tennessee, the first bona fide Noachide community in the United States.