Photo Credit: Jewish Press

What gives us strength? This week’s parshah, Va’yetze, starts with the famous dream of Jacob’s ladder. Jacob hears wonderful promises about his future and the future of the people of Israel. He gets up from his resting spot, after which, the Torah reports, “Jacob carried his legs and went.”

Rashi explains: Since Jacob was given good news, his heart carried his legs, and it became easy for him to walk. His heart lifted his legs.

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A few verses later, we again see the mind’s ability to affect the body and energize it with special forces. When Jacob sees Rachel – his partner in fulfilling his divine role – for the first time, he moves a heavy rock that would normally take many people to lift.

In this parshah, then, we learn about the two factors that arguably can influence a person more than anything else, giving him strength and lifting him up: faith and one’s spouse.


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Sivan Rahav-Meir is a popular Channel 12 News anchor, the host of a weekly radio show on Galei Tzahal, a columnist for Yediot Aharonot, and the author of “#Parasha.” Every day she shares short Torah thoughts to over 100,000 Israelis – both observant and not – via Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. Translation by Yehoshua Siskin.