izhod

VAJETZE 28:10 - 32:3 And he went out

Jakob zapusti svoje domače mesto Beršebo in potuje proti Haranu. Na poti najde kraj in tam prenoči. Sanja o lestvi, vpeti med zemljo in nebom, po kateri se spuščajo in vzpenjajo angeli. Prikaže se mu kreator in mu obljubi, da bo dal zemljo, na kateri leži, njegovim potomcem. Zjutraj Jakob postavi spomenik kreatorju iz kamna, katerega si je ponoči dal kot vzglavnik. Obljubi, da bo to »kreatorjeva hiša«.

V Haranu se Jakob nastani pri svojemu stricu Labanu in čuva njegove ovce. Laban mu obljubi svojo hčer Rahelo, ki jo Jakob ljubi, v zakon – če le mu bo Jakob služil sedem let zanjo. Vendar, na poročno noč ga Laban prevara in mu da svojo starejšo hčer Leo, kar Jakob odkrije šel zjutraj. Jakob se strinja, da bo za Jakoba delal še nadaljnih sedem let in obdržel obe ženi.

Lea rodi Jakobu sinove, Rahela pa je neplodna, zato da Jakobu svojo služkinjo, ki jima rodi dva sinova, tudi Lea mu da svojo služkinjo in tudi po njej dobi Jakob dva sinova. Končno Rahela rodi Jožefa.

Po štirinajstih letih bivanja v Haranu se Jakob želi vrniti domov. Vendar ga Laban prepriča, naj ostane; za delo mu sedaj obljubi ovce. Jakobu uspeva kljub Labanovim stalnim prevaram. Po šestih letih Jakob pobegne iz Harana. Laban mu sledi, a se mu v sanjah pokaže kreator, ki ga svari, naj ne stori zla Jakobu.

Jakob in Laban skleneta premirje. Jakob nadaljuje v Sveto deželo, kjer se sreča z angeli.  

Spiritual progression is, of course, a gradual process. This means, first of all, that there are stages and also that we reach these stages gradually over time. Graduality, however, does not represent a calm linearity, quite the opposite. Because each stage is the exact opposite of the previous one, spiritual progression is quite turbulent until we get used to the process.

In this pashara we are dealing with Jacob, in fact it is a natural continuation of the previous Toledot. It is a conflict between the desires of the body (Esau) and the desires of the soul (Jacob). The desires of the body escalate from our basic needs all the way to knowledge or. knowledge, with which we secure power, and with power, possession, and with possession, the satisfaction of our needs. That is why we say that knowledge is the pinnacle of egoism, because it originates from man's false self-image, which is limited only to the body and which necessarily belongs to the healthy. However, it neglects the dimension where we are all closely and inseparably connected into a single being – the collective soul.

If we want a state of "vajetza" to happen to us, if we want to "get out" of the current situation, if we want a miracle to happen to us, which can be a synonym for "get out", then we must understand that it is necessary to put "trust before knowledge", which is the basic rule for spiritual progress, which is personified by Jacob, who on his path unites the left and right pillars of the tree of life.

The Parashot of Jacob is read in the dark month of Kislev, which in itself has little daylight, and this is a beautiful opportunity to let ourselves work, even if we don't see the immediate result that our ego, which constantly convinces us that it knows what is right and how things should be arranged, would otherwise expect.

“Trust before knowing” is an effective approach, because it means that we start giving. Knowing is always the result of receiving, and trust is giving. How do we do this in practice? We don’t do it, our ego doesn’t do it, but the light that awakens “giving” in us. However, we can actively cooperate with the light and speed up the process. How? If we want to put trust before knowing, we must first have this knowing. Each of us has a whole bunch of knowings, of one kind or another, with which we define ourselves to the situations we find ourselves in. We must find within ourselves our knowings, beliefs, or truths that we defend, and place doubt or, better said, limitations on them. Of course, this inevitably leads to internal conflict, just as it happened to Jacob, who allowed himself to confront all forces, good and bad, and used them on the path of spiritual transformation.

How do we enter spirituality? By selfless giving! Trust before knowing is the most potent giving, but it should not be equated with trust under knowing, nor with trust within knowing. Entering spirituality and advancing from one level to the next is possible only by resisting the understanding of the material world or by resisting the understanding of the current spiritual level.

One of the most powerful tools of the ego that prevents us from connecting with the soul, with the light – are our concepts of entitlement. “What is mine?” – the ego asks itself over and over again. Answer this question, and then ask yourself: “Is it really so self-evident that this is mine?”

When a student of Kabbalah corrects his attitude towards entitlement, or expectations, if you will, he will not only be able to enjoy what he has, but he will be able to receive something much better that he feels is not rightfully his. It will be like a kind of bank loan or advance for which he will have to do work in the future.

When asking yourself the question of entitlement, you should never just stop at modesty! It is equally important to allow yourself to accept something now and believe that you will be able to fulfill your obligations when the time is right.

Želje so »zemlja«, ki jo dobi Jakob oz. njegovo potomstvo. Lestev, angeli in kreator, so razodetja, ki se nam pokažejo, ko hočemo pogledati prihodnjim željam v obraz – ko se hočemo soočiti z nalogami, ki nas čakajo na naslednjem spiritualnem nivoju. Na nek način so spanje in sanje povezani z našim izhodom iz območja udobja. Tako kot je Abraham odšel iz svojega kraja, iz udobja, tako stori tudi Jakob, le da se v tem primeru zdi, da gre za bolj pasivno zaupanje v kreatorja. Pa vendar ni povsem tako! Velikokrat je veliko teže zdržati pritisk in ne narediti ničesar, navzven prepoznavnega ničesar. Pa vendar imamo možnost narediti nekaj zelo pomembnega – sprejeti odločitev. Ta je seveda vedno rezultat želje, ki smo jo pred tem prepoznali. Kaj hočem pravzaprav povedati? Z uporom, ki ga postavimo nad naše trenutno stanje, nad naše trenutne želje, se nam pokažejo naše resnične, dolgoročne spiritualne naloge. V povezavi s temi nalogami moramo sprejeti odločitev. Ko dosežemo stanje spanja in sanj, ko se nam pokaže spiritualna struktura realnosti, lahko sprejmemo odločitve, ki se bodo zagotovo uresničile – le odslužiti moramo, kar je potrebno, da pridemo do rezultata upravičeno.

Doseganje stanja, kjer lahko sprejmemo odločitev, ki se bo zagotovo uresničila, se včasih zgodi popolnoma mimo našega zavedanja. Šele naknadno ugotovimo, kako smo tako stanje lahko dosegli. V tem je v resnici bistvo kabale - privilegij kabalista je doseganje stanja, kjer je vse mogoče. Postopek temelji na zapuščanju cone udobja - in ni ga bolj neudobnega, če delamo tako, da zaupanje postavimo nad vedenje.

Laban, ki ima na pripovedni ravni negativno vlogo, je v resnici zunanja svetloba, ki nas vodi v korekcijo. Rahela predstavlja naše želje, ki jih želimo korigirati, Lea pa tiste želje, ki se jih branimo – a so v bistvu za popolno korekcijo pomembnejše. Sinovi, ki jih Jakobu rodita Lea in Rahela, so nove želje, nove priložnosti za spiritualno napredovanje v prihodnosti, ko bomo na teh željah opravljali korekcijo in se vzpenjali po lestvi.

Laban, Jakobov stric, predstavlja svetlobo, ki se z nami poigrava in nas postavlja v situacije, v katerih mislimo, da smo prevarani. Laban izvira iz besede belo in je torej čista, dobronamerna svetloba.

Podobice, ki jih Labanu ukrade Rahela, predstavljajo še »nezasluženo« svetlobo, ki jo dobi človek vnaprej, vedoč, da bo zanjo moral in zmogel odslužiti kasneje, saj v spiritualnosti nič ne more biti podarjeno ali kako drugače pridobljeno, ni bližnjic in vse mora biti »zasluženo«, če hočemo doseči popolni užitek.

Če se poglabljamo v Toro, bomo v tem tednu zmogli prepoznati proces. Vendar moramo vedeti, da se ta proces na velikih, srednjih in malih nivojih naših spiritualnih lestev odvija neprestano.

Kamen, ki si ga je dal kot vzglavnik pod glavo Jakob, predstavlja našo trdosrčnost, nad katero se moramo postaviti, če hočemo, da se nam pokaže spiritualni svet, v katerem imamo možnost sprejeti za kreatorja obvezujoče odločitve.

The quantum leap we talked about earlier was meant metaphorically; it is a transition from one level to another. The levels are completely different from each other, so we experience the transitions as a quantum leap or as a miracle, to use a more popular term. Between the levels there is a ladder that unites these two opposites.

Jacob, like everyone who progresses on the ladder of spiritual transformation, becomes aware of the process and challenges, begins to enjoy them, and thus achieves a quantum leap. As long as you fight, you win - this is the basic guideline in Kabbalah!

On the other hand, the quantum leap is also directly related to our perception of macrospace. The word space, place /makom/ מקום is mentioned six times in this parasha. This leads us to think of the cube, a six-dimensional space, as a model of physical dimensionality.

וַיִּפְגַּ֨ע בַּמָּקֹ֜ום וַיָּ֤לֶן שָׁם֙ כִּי־בָ֣א הַשֶּׁ֔מֶש֙ וַיִּקַּח֙ מֵאבְנֵ֣י הַמָּקֹ֔ום וַיָּ֖שֶׂם מְרֽאֲשֹׁת֑יו וַיִּשְַּׁ֖ב הַהֽוּא

Gen 28:11 And he came to that place, and lodged there all night, because the sun was set: and he took of the stones of the place, and put them for his pillow, and lay down in that place.

In this verse we have the bending of time and space, which is described by modern physics, and Kabbalists have been experiencing this for thousands of years. The sun setting speaks of unusual temporal events. The narrative also has no logical sequence. It would make sense to first put up a pillow, and then spend the night.

Jacob is a man of synthesis, able to unite events that are distant in space and time. He also unites subjectivity and objectivity - which places him in Tiphereth, the center of the tree of life..

Working for Rachel is the development of desire, and copulation with Leo is the transformation of that desire into endlessly productive copulation.

Nikoli ne smemo zanemariti pomena jezika. Vsak kabalistični proces je potrebno videti kot ustvarjanje, jezik pa glavno kreativno orodje. Kabalist mora razviti svoj unikaten "meta jezik", s katerim bo lahko drugega prevaral, a bo potem s tem istim jezikom pokazal, da je bila prevara le navidezna in da je bila za drugega koristna.

Konkretno je v tej paraša zelo veliko jasnih in manj jasnih jezikovnih izzivov. Najbolj očitna so poimenovanja Jakobovih sinov, ki razkrivajo, kako človek čuti ustvarjalni proces.

Rahela je naše pisanje v materialnem svetu, ki odseva našo spremembo, naše delo na željah. Lea pa je še dodatni popravek besedila, da vse skupaj postavimo v širši kontekst.

Jezik je oblačilo naše duše. Sprememba v duši zahteva spremembo v jeziku in sprememba v jeziku narekuje spremembo v duši. Od zgoraj navzdol in od spodaj navzgor.