Just Imagine!

This week’s Torah portion (Vayetze) clearly shows us the power of imagination. Jacob has just fled his parents' home. He is on his way to Uncle Laban, his future shrouded by uncertainty and doubt. He is exhausted after his travels and uses a stone as a pillow, falling fast asleep under the stars. Jacob dreams he sees angels mounting a ladder to heaven, and other angels descending another ladder toward earth. Then God speaks to Jacob, renewing the covenant between God and Abraham, between God and Isaac and extends that covenant to our third patriarch, and through Jacob to the future Jewish people as well.  When Jacob awakes, he says that "surely the Lord is present in this place and I did not know it."

 

The Torah never clarifies whether Jacob's dream was the product of his own imagination, or whether that imaginative facility provided him with a deeper insight into reality. We never know for sure, but Jacob acts on his dream as a new understanding of truth. For Jacob, his dream was a vital step in recognising God's presence in his life.

 

For us, through mitzvot - deeds of holiness in time — we can train our imagination to view our world as a place where Jewish behaviour, whether lighting Shabbat candles, caring for a sick person or sending parcels of surplus children’s books to schools in Africa, can help to transform the world. Just as with our patriarch Jacob, our imagination provides the necessary first step toward transforming ourselves and our world.  Surely, we can all relate to that.