How Awe Inspiring Is Every Place

Most of the time we walk around like Jacob, sleeping and dreaming. We fail to see the divine that stands right before us.

Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Adonai is present in this place, and I did not know it!” (Genesis 28)

The question is how do we fashion such moments? The first and most obvious answer is to be attuned to nature. If we turn away from the dispiriting news and look instead at autumn’s beautiful colors, we might catch a glimmer of the divine. It appears as if a master artisan took a paintbrush to the trees and sky as well as the vegetables and fruits I prepare for our festive meal.

Breathe in the fall air. Take in the Artist’s handiwork. Despite the thunderous noise, and despair, that beset our world we can, like Jacob, glimpse God.

The holiday of Thanksgiving reminds us to give thanks for the food arrayed on our tables. Our tradition counsels us that we should offer thanks every time we sit down to eat. Regardless of the size of the meal we are taught to say a blessing.

Our home becomes a sanctuary through blessings. Our table becomes an altar through prayers. This is how Judaism helps us to summon the divine to the most ordinary of occasions.

Then again Jacob was running. He was fleeing for his life. He was alone and afraid. And so, these days I am struggling with how fear might create such holy moments. I am wondering. Is the feeling of calm that sometimes follows fear a taste of the divine?

Perhaps this is why so many people are adrenaline junkies and thrill seekers. They are chasing similar feelings. I have never done this, nor do I plan on doing this, but I imagine that bungie jumping and sky diving at first make one feel afraid but then, if one is to take the smiles and laughs as evidence, ecstatic highs. The fear that precedes is perhaps the necessary corollary to the feeling that follows.

In Hebrew the word for fear and awe are the same. Yirah can mean both fear and awe. They are mingled and interchangeable. It is an unsettling and troubling thought to contemplate. Fear and awe are dependent on each other.

Jacob awakes from sleeping. He is filled with fear and awe. The Hebrew offers one direct word: “Vayira!”) Jacob exclaims, “How awe-inspiring is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and the gateway to heaven.”

How awe-inspiring is every place! And now we acknowledge, even those which cause us fear.