We know that physically a person can only be in one place. But we also know that the mind is powerful, and imaginative. We are capable of flying with dragons (in our head) while our body is impersonating a root vegetable on a couch.
The origin of this idea might well be in the Torah: Jacob goes to sleep, with his head on a stone – while he dreams of a ladder whose head (the very same word for “head” appears both places) is in heaven. The idea is that a person can occupy two worlds simultaneously – indeed, that the ideal divine spiritual connection happens when we are physically firmly connected to the earth (think of prayer, or Moses removing his shoes at the burning bush). Torah and stories of dragons have this in common: mental visions do not require physical substantiation.
The symbolism of this idea extends widely. In the world of mathematics and physics, we have imaginary numbers and higher dimensions in linear algebra that are essential tools for any number of problems, but for which we cannot prove or demonstrate any kind of physical reality. In everyday life, anyone who believes in the existence of a soul, at some level, understands that there is a spiritual existence that is only loosely connected to our physical selves – but is no less important for all of that.
In the world of the Torah, the repercussions of Jacob’s dualism seem to be reflected throughout the entire text. After all, every offering on an altar involves trying to connect a grounded altar, a sacrifice, and heaven itself – not that different from Yaakov’s head on a stone (altar) connecting to the ladder. And the result is a connection between earth and heaven, man and G-d. The head of the sleeping man, connected to the ground through a stone, is dreaming of being at the top of a ladder, and touching the realm of the divine. The dualism underpins much of Jewish symbolism of a world above, and a world below.
Here is a curiosity: when animals are offered (especially as a sin offering), the offeror lays (samach) their hands on the head of the animal to be sacrificed – and then the animal is used to somehow create a connection to heaven! That, after all, is the core purpose of the offering! What is incredible is that all three of these elements of the sacrifices connect back to Jacob in some way, perhaps offering an explanation for these offerings!
Lay/Samach:
This word is first found in describing the blessing that Jacob stole from his brother. Isaac tells a distraught Esau, ‘with corn and wine have I sustained (samach) [Jacob].’
Jacob receives a samach (the very first one in the Torah!) – but the gift is only physical: corn and wine. This is quite odd – because every other use of samach in the text is for an assignment for a higher purpose, e.g. an offering or the Levites to serve G-d or Joshua to replace Moses.
Doesn’t this look like it parallels Jacob’s dream? The physical head on the ground – with the vision in heaven? So Jacob steals the physical blessing – but the use of that same word samach is ever after only used to describe a spiritual goal. Might those offerings and appointments all be corrective for Jacob’s deception of his father and theft of the blessing?
Hands:
With all of the offerings using samach, the ritual involves the person laying (samach) their hands on the head of the animal. What is the importance of the hands? Is there relevance to Jacob?
Of course! Jacob used his hands to deceive his father, and to take the blessings!
[ Isaac] felt [Jacob], and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And [Isaac] recognised [Jacob] not, because [Jacob’s] hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands.
Jacob uses his hands to deceive his father to receive samach – albeit a physical one.
And so, much later in the Torah, the pattern is neatly and perfectly reversed! A person offering an animal to G-d lays/samach his hands on the animal, to give the animal to G-d, and thus to achieve a spiritual samach result.
Every samach after Jacob could be a corrective for the actions of Jacob! Especially when one considers that most of the offerings are specifically sin offerings – including the two goats that are brought on Yom Kippur (corresponding to the two goats Jacob uses in his deception of his father).
Head:
Which leaves one element: the head. The first use of “head,” (rosh) incredibly, is when the snake is punished by G-d for the way he manipulated Eve. The eating of the forbidden fruit has a lot in common with the story of Jacob and blessings – deception and manipulation. What is amazing is the punishment that the snake receives: G-d says: [mankind] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Whoa! This is almost a foreshadowing in the text. Why? Because the word for “heel” is the root word for the name “Jacob” (whom, you may recall, was a heel-grasper at birth). The divine punishment to the snake is that there will forever be a reciprocal connection between the head of the snake (and perhaps all animals) and Jacob and his descendants.
And so it proves! When we samach our hands on the head of the animal, we are connecting back to Jacob and even to the first use of the root-word of his name, at the punishment of the snake. Our offerings, using the heads of animals, may well be a result of G-d’s prophetic curse of the snake and Eve. From the snake onward, mankind has the power and ability to slough our sins off onto the heads of animals!
Which might explain why the use of the word samach, when it is used to assign or elevate another person, does not involve the head at all! When the Levites and Yehoshua are selected and samach for special service (N:27:18, 27:22 /D:34:9), hands and samach are mentioned, but the head is not.
Jacob is integrally linked to these offerings, both as a result of his name and his choices. Just as he created a link between earth and heaven, so, too, we are supposed to do the same – but although the inspiration may come from Jacob, the actions we do might well be correctives for what Jacob did!
P.S. The man who curses G-d (Lev. 24:14) is also touched on the head. I would argue that he is treated like the snake, who diminished G-d in the world, and so he is treated like the snake.
P.P.S. Hands in the Torah are used for Taking, Giving or Doing Work – and in each case, G-d is involved. Here are the first three uses of the text: And the Lord G-d said, Behold, the man is become like one of Us, knowing good and evil: and now, what if he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eating, live for ever: … The voice of thy brother’s [Abel’s] blood cries to Me [G-d] from the ground. And now cursed art thou from the earth, which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; … And he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one shall comfort us for our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.’
Hands can be used, then, to take, to give, or to labor (this pattern is repeated in the next 3 incidences of these words in the text). In all cases, G-d is part of the relationship. There seem to be echoes in Jacob’s life for all three meanings.
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