Do you act upon your dreams? There is a difference between the dreams of Jacob and the dreams of Pharaoh.
Jacob arrives at Mount Moriah and goes to sleep. He dreams of the ladder, seeing angels go up and down, and God promises that his seed will be like the dust of the earth.
When Jacob awakens, he commits his life to this vision, his name becomes Israel, and we become the people of Israel.
Pharaoh had the famous dream of the lean and fat cows. What does he do after? He goes back to sleep. Rabbi Z.S. Suchard teaches that we can only reach great heights when we are determined to persist.
At our Thanksgiving table, we all engage in the tradition of expressing what we are grateful for. This year has been a difficult one–for the Jewish people, for Israel, and for the world.
Yet, for a moment, we say thank you. We thank God for the ability to envision the world in which we want it to be.
After we utter our gratitude, we have two choices. Will we be Jacob or will we be Pharaoh? Will we wake up and get to work or will we slumber and go back to sleep?
The difference in those two actions can often change the course of history. Let’s choose wisely.
