Thought for the Week

Surely God is in This Place

This week’s parashah, Va-yeitzei, opens with Jacob on the run, fleeing his brother’s anger and stopping for the night in an open stretch of ground under the dark sky, far from the safety of any home. There, with only a stone for a pillow and the stars for a blanket, he falls asleep and dreams, and only afterwards realises that this exposed place was in fact Beit Elohim, the House of God. 

Our synagogues are expressions of that same truth. In every age, they have been spaces where fear and hope, exile and belonging, dwell side by side, places where people come together to pray, to learn, to rebuild trust in the world and in one another.

This week, the sight of demonstrations pressing close to synagogue doors in London and New York has reminded us again just how fragile sacred space can feel. Yet the deeper story is that people from many backgrounds also stood shoulder to shoulder - volunteers, neighbours, and allies - to help protect these moments of gathering. That act itself is a form of holiness: an affirmation that every Beit Elohim deserves safety and respect.

In this vulnerable moment, Jacob awoke and declared: “Surely God is in this place, and I did not know it.” May we too awaken to holiness wherever human dignity is defended, wherever sanctuary is created, and wherever hearts open to one another in courage and in peace.