Yaakov Avinu
Lit out in a hurry,
His father and mother
Had good cause for worry;
Incense smoke burned their eyes,
Embittered their lives,
By Eisav’s Canaani
Idol-worshiping wives.
Yaakov’s life plan, diametric
To these daughters of the land;
So, he was sent to seek a wife
From his mother Rivkah’s clan.
Rivkah’s prophecy also
Led her to discover
Eisav’s scheming
To ambush and murder his brother.
Yaakov learned in yeshivah
For a 14-year span,
Then went on to Rivkah’s family.
But, when reaching Charan,
Yaakov realized that he’d passed
The place of his father’s prayer.
He turned back so that
He could also pray there.
Without a moment’s hesitation
Back Yaakov strove;
Har HaMoriyah went to meet him –
The mountain traveled towards Yaakov!
After praying, he was ready
To resume his journey.
But night had fallen, suddenly
Hashem had the sun set
Before its time
To show the tzadik a ladder.
There, he watched angels climb;
Bavel, Media, the mighty Yavan
Reached their peaks,
Then descended,
Their empires gone;
But Edom’s sar kept climbing
Higher into the heights;
Yaakov could see no end
To exile’s dark, dangerous nights.
In Pri Etz Chaim,
Rabbi Isaac Luria,
The Arizal,
Saw Jewish prayer
As a portal
Comprised of four parts.
Each section
Corresponds, in ascending progression.
The first: What we’re made of,
Our personal fabric.
The second:
Motives driving us,
What makes us tick.
The third: Surrender of all
We claimed to possess,
To the Divine vision of life
We pray to express.
The fourth phase,
Our identity realigned,
To confer
A transparent conduit
Like the angel’s ladder.
We keep going, like Yaakov,
Endure difficulties,
Build our ladder of faith
In daily degrees.
Edom’s sar may reach the stars,
But his reign will not stand,
He’ll be taken down
In time,
By HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s
Own Hand.
On the heels of this,
G’ulah –
What a world it will be!
Connected to Heaven,
Filled with G-d’s mercy.
By Sharon Marcus
