Most are familiar with the story and image of Jacob’s Ladder, the well-known beautiful biblical imagery of an endless ladder standing down here on earth and reaching up heavenward, with angels going up and down. There’s so much meaning and symbolism to this ladder, but another time for that.
Before going to sleep at that spot, the verse tells us that Jacob gathered rocks (plural) to surround his head. When he awoke, after seeing that ladder and hearing G-d’s reassuring blessings and promise, Jacob took the rock (this time written in the singular) and made it a monument.
What happened to the rocks? Why does the verse first refer to the rocks in the plural and then in the singular? Rashi, quoting earlier sources, tell us that a miracle occurred. The numerous rocks that surrounded Jacob’s head that night fused into one, becoming one unified rock.
We witness this miracle all the time here at UAlbany.
Each student that comes here, and join our community is like a rock. Don’t feel bad if I call you a rock, that’s how we refer to G-d, too! Think of pebbles and stone of different colors, shapes and sizes. Those students who come around often enough, who involve and invest of themselves in the Jewish campus community, eventually start to morph into one.
It’s like an earth-science thing. What is it – sedimentary, metamorphic? Mostly it happens over time, only that in earth science it takes hundreds and thousands of years, while in the compressed generational time-span on campus, it can happen in only four years.
We were just at an alumni Bris early this morning down near where Queens and Long Island meet. There were nearly a dozen alumni there. We took a UAlbany photo. Thinking about that picture and the people in it, helps us appreciate this miracle of the joined stones. Everyone in it comes from a different place, had different life journeys, are at different levels of Jewish observance, have different hobbies and interests. Yet, coming together for this joyous occasion, it was a bunch of a chips off an old block. We feel the same sense of richly diversified unity and sense of family at every Shabbos House program and event, and at all types of alumni Simchas. There’s a unified sense of family and community that grows on you, that becomes part of who you are.
So usually this happens over time. And of course in different degrees and shades depending on each person and the chemistry and all kinds of other variables. Keep coming for Shabbat, keep hanging around and singing together, talking and sharing, celebrating and learning, and everything else we do as a community. Eventually, the miracle of the rocks at Jacob’s Ladder starts to take hold.
But going back to Earth-Science, there are phenomenon which can accelerate this miracle. Incredibly high degrees of temperature, seismic shifts, huge amount of pressure (though we’re big on warmth, we’re not interested in pressure) can make the rocks come together quicker.
The same is true with our Jewish campus community at UAlbany. Sometimes the incredible warmth and passion of a Simchat Torah or a night in the Sukkah helps us bond quicker. We often see the freshmen class start to gel after Sukkot. Or it could be something seismic and out of the ordinary, like a birthright Israel trip or an unusual rare experience like Shabbat360 that helps bring our community together, and connect and fuse our individual rocks in unforgettable and inseparable ways.
One more thing about these rocks. We’re told Jacob put these rocks around his head as a protective measure, like a helmet of sorts. The same is with the unity of our rocks at UAlbany. Our joint rock has protective properties. It helps us in times of crisis and challenge, when faced with adversity or erosion. A single pebble or small stone can be washed away in rushing water or be smashed by force, but a boulder is a steadfast bulwark and has a much better chance, and a strong future.
Be a part of this miracle!