November 28, 2025 – Dr. Susanna Kokkonen
Vayetzei 5786 (2025)
Genesis 28:10-32:3; Hosea 11:7-12:14.
Vayetzei, the name of this Torah portion refers to Jacob leaving his family “and he left” – this is the story of Jacob escaping Esau’s anger to his uncle Laban. Last week we learnt about Esau selling his birthright to Jacob and then not being happy about it afterwards. It was not safe for Jacob to remain at home. Laban was his mother Rebekah’s brother.
The Ladder
The most amazing thing that happened during the journey took place during the night. Jacob only had a stone as his pillow. First, he saw an amazing sight in his dream. Second, God confirmed His covenant with Jacob.
“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:12-15 NIV)
Jacob’s reaction was that of fear of God. He knew He had experienced a real and Divine encounter.
“Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Genesis 28: 18-22 NIV)
Jacob understood that the very place where he had the encounter was a special and holy place. One of the many names (and attributes) of God in the Hebrew language is the word used here makom meaning a place. It is commonly understood in rabbinic interpretation that the House of God (where Jacob stayed) was Mount Moriah where the Temple would later stand.
“He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:17 NIV)
But it seems to me also that wherever we encounter God, in prayer, in a dream or sometimes through other people, there is a Makom, holy place.
Prophet Hosea
The prophetic portion recalls Jacob’s birth but also his encounter with God at Bethel, the House of God.
“In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God.
He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there—
the LORD God Almighty, the LORD is his name!” (Hosea 12:3-5 NIV)
There is a promise here that God will be merciful to His people. Israel will indeed encounter Him.
Jesus on place of worship
Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well, a holy place. The woman talked to Him about worship here or in Jerusalem.
“Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” (John 4:20 NIV)
But Jesus answered by describing the character of true worship.
“…true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (John 4: 21 NIV)
Carol Deutch: Art from the Holocaust
When working at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, I learnt the story of an amazing artist Carol Deutch (1894-1944). Gestapo detained Carol and his wife Fela in Belgium. Their two-year-old daughter Ingrid and her grandmother, Regina Braunstein, hid for 18 months with a Catholic family in a town in the Belgian province of Luxembourg.
Ingrid and Regina returned home to Antwerp in early 1945, after Belgium had been liberated. Meanwhile Fela and Carol Deutsch had been deported to Auschwitz, where Fela was murdered. Carol was transferred to Sachsenhausen and from there to Buchenwald. He died in 1944.
When Regina and her granddaughter arrived at their apartment, they discovered that the Nazis had looted their furniture and valuables. But a large wooden box decorated with a Star of David and a seven-branched menorah, remained. The box had collection of biblical illustrations by the artist Carol Deutsch. He worked on these remarkable works of art during twelve months between 1941 and 1942. Under the most frightening conditions of persecution, the artist had produced a collection of ninety-nine strikingly painted gouaches depicting biblical scenes.
One of these, and in my view an extremely spiritual and a mystical one, is ‘A Ladder set up on the Earth’ (1941-1942). This is an artistic view of the Torah Portion. According to experts, Carol Deutch was also unique in that he painted the Biblical figures in their own Biblical environment in the Land of Israel.
Later, as the Bible tells us, Jacob would return and he would become Israel.
The land of Israel is the only place chosen by God as His portion on earth. There still is a covenant! The covenant is increasingly under attack, so let us pray in the Spirit and in truth for His covenant purposes to be fulfilled.
*For an explanation of the terms see the first The Torah Portion Blog.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:3 NIV
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Psalm 119:105 NIV
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
Isaiah 60:1 NIV
…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 NIV
Torah Scrolls were attacked and desecrated during the Holocaust. The enduring images of the Kristallnacht (November 9-10,1938) are those of synagogues on fire and Torah Scrolls burning. Some of these desecrated Torah Scrolls disappeared, others were buried. Some were lovingly rescued and are on display in museums in various locations.
[author] [author_image timthumb='on']https://irw.duv.temporary.site/website_047320a9/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/dr-k.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Dr. Susanna Kokkonen received her Ph.D. in Holocaust Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For ten years Dr. Kokkonen was the Director of the Christian Friends of Yad Vashem, World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. Dr. Kokkonen has authored several books about the Holocaust and antisemitism. She educates Christian audiences worldwide including about the Jewish roots of their faith. Dr. Kokkonen is the author of the exhibits for the Holocaust Garden of Hope and serves the Holocaust Remembrance Association as Educational Advisor. [/author_info] [/author]
