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Have you ever noticed that when we have someone at services that I and others ask them where they came from? It sounds like the exact opposite of what those from where they came from had been asking them. because they had been asking, “Where are you moving too” or, “where are you going too”?  I guess we can all understand the question about where they are moving or going too. After all, there are those who might want to stay in touch and there are those who are thinking about moving themselves.

But why do I, why do we ask, “Where are you from”? Yes, I know many of us want to play Jewish Geography and see if they know people that we know who live in that area; or, perhaps we want to see if they came from somewhere close to where we came from. 

At the Temple we often want to know not only where they came from, but what they did there. After all, everyone has some experience that just might prove to be of great help to our Temple….and, if that is the case, the new person just might appear to be an angel in our eyes. Okay, chances are we wouldn’t see them as an angel, but, in essence, that is exactly what they could prove to be. Someone who appears at just the right place, at just the right time, and, is able to do just the right thing….now that is, indeed an angel. Funny thing is that they, themselves, might not realize that that is exactly what they are.

So, we might have angels among us who we don’t realize are angels and, we might have angels among us who don’t even realize how angelic they are, or, can be to us. This week’s Torah portion, Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:3), begins with the words; “And Jacob went out from Beer-Sheba, and went toward Haran”. So, we are getting two questions answered. We learn not only where Jacob is coming from, but where he is going to. 

He is going somewhere where he will be a newcomer, a stranger, and in those days, (let alone in ours) it is not the brightest thing in the world to enter a new city in the dark of night. Apparently there are a lot of people who are not very nice in regard to strangers….especially if you are a stranger in the dark. We learn from the rabbinic commentaries, “Why is where he came from mentioned…..”…it would have been sufficient to say, “Jacob went toward Haran”. And the answer the Rabbis give us is that it is to teach us a lesson. What lesson? “That the departure of a righteous ‘person’ from any place diminishes its importance, and should be keenly felt by its inhabitants”. Think about it, if someone leaves a community and it is keenly felt not just by the people who live in that area, but that it also makes the area of lesser import, then that person who left must have been quite an asset to the entire community.

So if they are sad to see that person go….then we can be hopeful that that person coming to us might add a lot to our Congregation and to our whole area. Speaking of angels, this week’s portion also has the story of Jacob’s Ladder and, if you read the words about the angels on that ladder you will find that they were ascending and descending. This has been the subject of discussion for ages as to why it says that they were going up the ladder before they were going down.

Of course, we all know that to go up a ladder you have to start at the bottom rung and go up. But these are angels and, if angels are only celestial beings, wouldn’t it make more sense that they should start by coming down from the heavens rather than going up from earth? Some say that that particular order is to teach us that there are already angels down here on earth who are watching over us and we don’t even realize that they are, indeed angels. At least, they are angels when they are there at just the right time with just the right tools or just the right words. This means that the person sitting next to you right now could be an angel to you or to someone else in any given moment. So, how do you treat someone who might actually be an angel? 

Then again let’s remember the words, “In your coming and in your going…when you lie down and when you rise up…..” maybe that’s part of the lesson of the ladder. Those angels were angels whether they were ascending or descending, they were angels during their time of being high on the ladder and, even when they were on the lowest rung….they were still angels.

Please never feel that you have no opportunity to be an angel anymore, whether you feel that you have already given enough when you were plying your profession, or, as we learn in this week’s portion, when you were high up the ladder. You might be older, but that just might means that you already have gotten your wings. And, if so, that means that you can lift others higher up the ladder and you can help lift our Congregation up so high that when we worship with one another we will feel like we have reached the heavens..

I guess there are two types of people in this world. There are those who will read my words today and think, “I wish an angel would come and lift me up”. And then there are those who think, “God has blessed me with another day on this earth…I need to keep my eyes open and watch for those heavenly opportunities to help someone up the ladder because I don’t want to miss the chance to be an angel to others just as, in my time of need others have proved to be angelic to me.”

I know that we don’t all believe in angels in quite the same way, but I hope that most of us share the same concept of what it means to be angelic to others. Now, of course, you know that we are not celestial angels, we are human beings, so you might be wondering what the difference between an angel and a human being is. Well, there is an old Chasidic saying that sums it up in a very interesting way’ “The virtue of angels is that they cannot deteriorate; their flaw is that they cannot improve. A Human beings flaw is that they can deteriorate ; and their virtue is that they can improve”.

Let’s work on that, let’s angelically help each other improve so we can climb that ladder together.

SHABBAT SHALOM