פירוש על בראשית 28:22

והאבן הזאת THEN THIS STONE — This is how you should explain the ו of והאבן: if He will do these things mentioned in Genesis 28:15 as He promised, then I, also, will do this:

עשר אעשרנו לו, to present to Him a burnt offering.

והאבן הזאת, and concerning this stone, etc. According to Zohar 1,72 the stone in question is the אבן שתיה, the stone G'd used as the foundation of the Holy Temple and which He had buried in the interval in the depths of the abyss at the "navel" of the earth. According to Tanchuma Parshat Terumah, Jacob prepared the shittim wood for the Tabernacle in the desert at this time. Perhaps this is what G'd referred to in Exodus 25,8 when He said: "They shall make for Me a Sanctuary;" G'd referred to this wood from which the Israelites were to construct this Sanctuary. When the Torah there continued: "and I shall dwell amongst them," G'd may have referred to preparations made by Jacob for both the Tabernacle and the Holy Temple.

עשר אעשרנו לך, “I will give two tithes of it to You.” Yaakov kept his promise to give a tithe of everything that was his, including even his children. [This has been discussed in connection with 27,19. Ed.] Our verse forms the basis of a Talmudic statement in Ketuvot 50 that even someone who dispenses charity very generously should not disburse more that one fifth of his wealth so as not to risk becoming a charge on charity himself. Yaakov serves as the example seeing he tithed 20% of his wealth.

As it is translated ... And he, indeed, did so upon his return... Rashi says, “And he indeed did so...” so that we will not ask: How does Onkelos know that “become a House of God” means specifically that Yaakov will serve Hashem on this monument, [i.e., will bring offerings on it?] Rashi answers: We see that Yaakov brought offerings in the end. Evidently, this was his intention from the beginning. The phrase, “And Hashem will be my God” (v. 21), is part of the condition [that Yaakov set for his vow,] not part of [his promise in] the vow. Therefore Onkelos says here, “I shall serve Hashem upon it,” implying: Even if Hashem does not keep His promise, I surely will bring offerings to Him—but not on this altar. You might object: It says וכל אשר תתן לי עשר אעשרנו לך, implying: “And if You do not keep the promise, I will not give You a tenth.” The answer is: [The ו of וכל denotes “but”. Accordingly,] this phrase means: “But of all that You give, I will surely give a tenth to You, even if You do not keep the promise.” However, the Maharshal writes: It seems that Yaakov was saying as follows: “If You keep the promise—עשר אעשרנו, I will give two tenths. And if not, I will give one tenth.” And so he did.

— und so wird dieser Stein, den ich jetzt mir zum Denkmal für diesen Moment gesetzt, wo ich als ärmster Mann auf kahler Haide mit Hinausblick in eine solche ganze gottgesegnete Zukunft dastehe, zu einem Hause ausgebaut werden, in welchem Gott ein solches Leben gelebt wird, dass Gott darin einziehe. Nur dadurch. dass ד׳ uns לאלקי׳ wird, kann eine irdische Stätte zum Gotteshause werden. Auch dies kehrt eine verkehrte, oft am meisten mit ihren Gotteshäusern prunkende Zeit um, baut, wie das der Prophet (Jecheskeel 43, 8) nennt, ספם את ספי "ihre Schwelle neben meiner Schwelle", dass jedes sein besonderes Gebiet, "Gott auch ein Haus", aber beileibe nicht unser Haus zu dem seinigen habe! Besuchen Gott in seinem Hause, aber verbitten sich den Besuch Gottes in ihrem Hause — wo seine Gegenwart mit seinen Anforderungen freilich unbequem sein dürfte!

'וכל אשר תתן לי וגו, “and all that You will give to me, etc.;” Yaakov promised to tithe all the money (material goods) that he would acquire with the help of G–d. (B’reshit Rabbah, 70,7) A heretic once asked Rabbi Yoshua son of Levi, where the Torah reported that Yaakov kept this promise. He was answered that Yaakov declared this tithe “sacred,” i.e. he gave it to the treasury of religious institutions. Thereupon the heretic wanted to know what this tithe consisted as precisely seeing that Yaakov was not a wealthy man. He was told that Yaakov made all his newly born animals pass under a gate, and every tenth animal he declared as holy, i.e. not to be used for secular needs. In the Talmud this procedure is called: מעשר בהמה, “tithe from livestock.” [Since Yaakov did not plant crops, not owning any arable land in the land of Canaan (except one small field near Sh’chem from which he moved away before it could produce a crop), he could not tithe his crops. The version in my edition of B’reshit Rabbah is slightly different but the point is made that Yaakov certainly did not default on his vow. Ed.]

והאבן הזאת literally: “and this stone,” but the meaning must be: “I will offer sacrifices and separate tithes on this stone (altar).” The letter ו at the beginning of the word: והאבן, appears superfluous.

והאבן הזאת אשר שמתי מצבה THEN THIS STONE WHICH I HAVE SET UP FOR A PILLAR etc. — Explain it as the Targum translates it: “I shall serve the Lord upon it” This, indeed, he did on his return from Padan-aram, when God said to him, (Genesis 35:1) “Arise, go up to Bethel”. What is stated there? “And Jacob set up a pillar … and he poured out a drink-offering thereon” (Genesis 35:14).

Nicht also wards bei dem allerersten Grundstein zu dem ersten "Hause Gottes" gedacht! Die Gottesheiligkeit der Häuser ist Bedingung der Gottesheilig- keit des Gotteshauses, das nicht מקדש heißt, weil dort die der קדושה angewiesene Stätte sei, sondern weil von dort aus die Heiligkeit in alle menschlichen Verhältnisse und Räume dringen soll, deren Mittelpunkt es ist. ועשו לי מקדש, heißt es einst von dem auf Grund dieses Steines auszubauenden Menschen- und Volksleben der Jakobsenkel, heißt es selbst vom ,ד׳ אלקיך מתהלך בקרב מחנך ;והתהלכתי בתוככם ,ושכנתי בתוכם Kriegeslager, und das Ziel der mit diesem Steine beginnenden Entwicklung heißt: והיה כל סיר בירושלים וביהודה קדש לד׳ צבאו׳ "jeder Topf in Jerusalem und Juda soll Gott heilig sein (Secharja 14, 21).

Auf diesen Stein schaut Jakob noch in seiner Sterbestunde als auf den Anfang und Grundstein Israels hin, und spricht von Gott aus: משם רועה אבן ישראל, dass Er von da an diesen Stein als Hirte überwachend und schützend zu seinem Ziele führe. Von diesem Stein vielleicht heißt es in Secharja 3: על אבן אחת שבעה עינים, dass über diesen einen Stein sieben Augen, somit die Fülle der göttlichen Vorsehung wache, er der אבן הראשה, der erste Eckstein sei, der mit dem Bau des zweiten Tempels wieder aufs neue zu legen war, dem aber תשנאות חן הן לה, die rauschendste Fülle der Vollendung gesichert ist. Von diesem Steine heißt es daher sinnig in פרקי דר"א: Gott habe diesen Stein als fortsetzendes Zubehör der Erdgestaltung angefügt: עשה אותה סניף לארץ; denn auf dem mit diesem Steine beginnenden Bau "menschlicher Häuser für Gott" beruht die ganze Bestimmungszukunft der Erde. Er ist der אבן שתיה, der Grund- oder Begründungsstein. Siehe שרשים ,רד"ק, Rad. שות.

עשר אעשרנו לך‎ (siehe oben zu Kap.14:20)