A ladder
was set upon the ground
with its
top reaching to the sky
and angels
of God were going up and down upon it.
Jacob, in
his dream, standing at the foot of this link
to heaven,
wondered if he should ascend, so the rabbis tell us.
He saw the
great nations and ancient world powers, represented by angels, rising and
falling.
Jacob thought his ascent might be too
precarious, so he hesitated.
But God
promised him protection and partnership.
The rabbis
didn’t say that Jacob finally did step onto the
ladder and begin to climb.
Whether he
did or he didn’t, there was no doubt in
his mind that this dream was pivotal in his life.
Surely God
was in this place, and I, I did not know,
Jacob said
to himself.
In that
place, Bayt-Eil, the house of God,
Jacob saw
a gateway to a spiritual realm
that would
enable him to rise above the
dire
conflict with his brother Esau that he had left behind, at least for the
moment.
This was
Jacob's night to remember,
a
revelation of what his life could be
if he
realized that a supportive, powerful and spiritual presence was always there
for him
to guide
him to be at his best, to sustain hope for his family and his people for
generations to come.
75 years
ago, Jacob's descendants in Europe still retained hope for survival even when
they saw godliness eclipsed by human hatred.
By
November, 1938, Nazi Germany had succeeded in marginalizing the Jewish community through laws that
limited their participation in society and defined them as outliers and
pariahs.
One congregant of Temple Beth-El told me this week about how the Nazis had been trying to take over
his father's business in Berlin for several years before 1938.
On
Kristallnacht, his father, along with many other Jewish men, was arrested and
taken to Sachsenhausen, a camp where he was detained for three weeks. During that time, his father signed over his business to someone who was not
Jewish. That night strengthened
the family's resolve to leave the country. They emigrated to England in 1939 where they found a new
home and relative safety from the hatred of too many people on the European
mainland.
Kristallnacht
continues to be a night to remember
for Jews and for others in our world. We react to this pogrom with indignation and anger at the
bigotry and prejudice that still haunts the human family.
Unfortunately, signs of
persistent hatred still appear in the 21st Century.
Jews in Europe believe that
anti-Semitism is on the rise even now.
The National Socialist Party is
demonstrating in Kansas City this weekend. A broad coalition of groups will hold a rally for
understanding tomorrow afternoon to proclaim their message of unity and
cooperation.
A New York
Times article this morning recounted the overt anti-Semitism reflected in acts
perpetrated against Jewish students in the Pine Bush school district near
Newburgh, New York. Incidents
occurred in the school building, on buses, and on field trips. Several families have sued the
school district for not doing more to protect their children. School officials there said that
lawsuits wouldn’t change attitudes that
have been engendered at home.
However, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to set limits on
the harm that children or adults can do others.
Some people refuse to
accept their neighbors, who ever they are, as equals. We, as part of the worldwide Jewish community, continue to
bear witness to the Oneness that
unites all creation and all people.
We step onto Jacob's
ladder by being who we are,
by working
for justice, by allowing our experiences to guide us towards
empathy and compassion for anyone who faces oppression.
75 years after
the Night of Broken Glass, there are synagogues which were destroyed that night
that have been rebuilt and rededicated to Jewish life. The Nazi attempt to vanquish the
Jewish spirit failed. We
have learned never to give up. When we see brokenness in our world, we do our
best to pick up the pieces, believing that what we do can make a difference.
And when we see a ladder that links us to a higher place, we
have learned to ascend rung by rung to reach our greatest potential as caring
human beings.
So may we always do - and let us
say amen.
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