This week’s Torah reading begins with Jacob, exhausted from his flight from his brother,     preparing to rest for the night. In an open field, Jacob gathers stones and makes a pillow of sorts so he can sleep before moving on in the morning. 

A Midrash describes a fight that breaks out between the stones Jacob has gathered. The     stones began to quarrel with each other, one saying, “Upon me shall the righteous Jacob place his head”, and the other said, “Let him lay upon me.” To settle their dispute, God merged them all into one stone. 

Jacob gathered twelve stones, each one representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Each stone, each of his children and each of the tribes was imbued with its own strengths, beauty, and color. Through the process of gathering the stones, Jacob realizes that his mission as father of the Jewish people is to fuse them together as one, while maintaining those unique individual qualities. Jacob creates unity, not uniformity. 

Here in our united Jewish community, we know that we are stronger together. We realize how much more we can accomplish when we come together, bringing with us each of our own unique ideas, backgrounds, and strengths.  Our Jewish collective accomplishes things that no individual can do on their own.

When we come together, whether to ensure that families in need have Hanukkah gifts for their children through Jewish Family Services or to advocate at the state level for nonprofit security grants for the entire community; from providing aid to Ukrainians as they face a winter of survival to bringing 3,000 Ethiopian olim to Israel this year, we accomplish what may seem impossible. Together, we do good that goes everywhere. 

This Shabbat, let’s marvel at the mound of diverse rocks we have piled and rest our head on one, unified stone. 

Shabbat Shalom,
Eric Maurer
Executive Director
emaurer@ujcvp.org