Prayer in the Parashah תְּפִלָּה
In our parashah, Yaakov has a dream about angels going up and down a ladder to heaven. When he wakes up, he is startled and he says, “Wow, I had no idea that God was in this place!”
וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַעֲקֹב֮ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יהוה בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי׃
Yaakov awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely God is present in this place, and I did not know it!”
Yaakov’s dream helps him realize how special his place was. One midrash explains what his state of mind had been before:
וְאָנֹכִי לֹא יָדַעְתִּי - וְהָיִיתִי חָפֵץ לַעֲבֹר לוּלֵא כִּי בָא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְאִחַרְתִּי.
“I had no idea” - and I wanted to pass it by, if not for the sun setting right then and delaying me.
Have you ever felt like you were in such a rush, that you weren’t able to notice the place you were in? Sometimes when we stop for a moment to look around, it’s possible to see more in our surroundings. Then we can find beauty, or even holiness, where we are.
Tefillah can help us do this. When we take time to pray, we slow our pace, and we transform the place where we are into a place of prayer. That can make us more able to recognize God where we are.
- Can you think of ways to slow down and better appreciate the space you are in?
- Are some places holier than others? If God is everywhere, why do some places feel more holy?
- Can you think of ways to add holiness to places that don’t stand out or seem so special all on their own?
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