You’re running late for an interview. You’ve navigated traffic, finally found a parking spot and now you’re sprinting into the building.
You cry out, “Hold the elevator!”
A kind soul holds open the door and promptly asks “up or down?”
And just for a second, a sneaky-see-the-bigger-vision-you-have-a-dream second, you say “going up, please.” Because, for that second, you have a dream that this interview might just elevate your career to fulfilling new heights.
The Power Of Elevation
In this week’s portion, Vayeitzei, we read about Jacob dreaming of a ladder with angels floating up and down it. The concept that the ladder connects heaven and earth is one that’s captured the imagination of many.
And rightfully so.
This is one powerful metaphor that hits home when we think about what it means to be Jewish and, indeed, what it means to be a human being.
We have a mission to bring light into the world.
The mission is this: take things in this world and elevate them spiritually by giving them a push up the metaphorical ladder.
It sure sounds like a mission. But it’s not that difficult if you break it down. Every day we have endless opportunities to turn material things holy. Even if those things don’t seem consequential, it is our actions that elevate them up the spiritual ladder.
We bless our breakfast before we eat it, and so we elevate it.
We put time into acts of thanksgiving and loving-kindness, and we elevate them.
We give Tzedaka, and we elevate it.
Through the simplest of actions and by increasing our mitzvot, we become the proverbial ladder, connecting heaven and earth. All it takes is a moment to think “what can I do right now to elevate myself, these people, this place or these objects?” And you’ll quickly find it takes no effort at all to do so. It can be as simple as a kind word or a “thank you.”
What Goes Down Can Go Up, The Choice Is Yours
In Jacob’s dream, the angels both ascend and descend the ladder, showing us that it’s a two-way pathway. So, this should teach us that we ought to be careful not to insult the holy by making sacred things commonplace.
Speech is a powerful example. It’s a topic our Sages have battled with throughout the years. While the power of speech can certainly be elevated with kind words, meaningful interactions and prayer, so can it be used for lashon hara and harm.
Lashon hara is prohibited. Interestingly it is spoken of as a ladder:
You should not go up and down as a slanderer among your people.
Leviticus 19:16
The good news is that you have a choice – to lower yourself by using the power of words for destruction or to use them to elevate people, prayers and actions.
I hope that we’re blessed with opportunities to garner holiness from above and bring it down into the physical world as we pray for eyes to see these opportunities and arms to grab them, and may we stop just for one kind second to hold the elevator as someone rushes towards it.
Let’s just hope they’re going up!
Shabbat Shalom.
Nachas & Drash 