Reflections on Parashat Vayetze
Next to them another group was standing on a long log and trying to arrange themselves by height without stepping off the log. A camper crouched down so another boy could step over him. A third boy held out his hand. This element required patience and cooperation as well. It took a while, but they too accomplished the task.
Time and time again the low ropes course experience helps campers open up to others and expand their trust. Even more so in this case – these boys were campers in the Tikvah Program together with the Machon campers in the connecting cabin. The care, respect and understanding that these boys showed for each other was deeply moving.
I continued deeper into the woods to see what was happening at the high ropes course. Two Bogrim campers were on the element called “Jacob’s Ladder.” They were climbing a 30-foot apparatus with their backs to me, so they had no idea that anyone other than their cabin mates and staff were watching.
The rungs of Jacob’s Ladder are nearly 5 feet apart, so it can only be scaled with the help of another person. One camper makes his knee into a step for his friend and when the friend gets to the higher rung he puts his hand out to help the first camper.
The climbing partner was right. They worked together and made it all the way to the top of the ladder. They radiated a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Parashat Vayetze describes Jacob’s dream of a ladder ascending to heaven. A commentary in the Hertz Humash notes that the angels on that ladder are “ascending and descending.” The angels do not start in heaven and come down the ladder to Jacob, rather they are with him from the start.
That was my sense on that day at the ropes course. Angels are around us all the time – we just need to be open to their presence.
In Jacob’s dream, God is standing beside him, promising him a blessed future. Jacob awakes and says, “Surely the Lord is present in this place, and 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.”