Chasidut su Genesi 28:16
וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַעֲקֹב֮ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יְהוָ֔ה בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי׃
Giacobbe svegliatosi dal suo sonno, disse: C’è dunque il Signore [la divina Provvidenza, anche] in questo luogo, ed io nol sapeva [e pareami sventura dover qui pernottare].
Kedushat Levi
The words: וילך חרנה, according to this method of interpretation allude to the future when G’d would become angry with His people. The words: ויצא יעקב, would contrast this with his leaving the domain from which G’d dispenses all His goodness for His creatures, especially the Jewish people. All this caused him great anguish and when the Torah describes his ויפגע במקום וילן שם כי בא השמש, “that he met hamakom and had to spend the night there as the sun had set,” this is a simile for Yaakov foreseeing how the fortunes of the Jewish people would turn from having enjoyed G’d’s bounty to not only becoming persecuted but also causing G’d to share the pain that He had been forced to inflict upon His people. The darkness alluded to in this verse describes that his vision became so clouded worrying about how G’d must suffer when His favorite people stray so far from the path of Torah that they must undergo harsh punishments in order to bring them back to the right path.
When the Torah describes Yaakov as ויקח מאבני המקום, “he took from the stones of hamakom,” this describes Yaakov’s sharing G’d’s pain and wishing to be able to compensate G’d for this in same way. (Alluded to by the word ויפגע). The words מאבני המקום וישם מראשותיו, “from the stones of hamakom and he placed them under his head,” suggest how Yaakov tried to share G’d’s “pain” at what both He and His people would have to endure in exile. His whole thinking was preoccupied with how he could somehow if not forestall these happenings at least ensure that his descendants would survive these experiences. This is the key to his dream of the ladder that follows. It portrays that Yaakov had found a means to deal with the physical implications of exile and persecutions because of Whom He saw on the top of the ladder. This helped him console himself that all of these harsh experiences would be confined to Israel’s existence in the “lower” regions of the universe. The words: וראשו מגיע השמימה, “the ladder’s top reached into heaven,” reminds Yaakov that exile also touches the celestial spheres, so much so that its impact affects those regions negatively. Its most direct impact on the celestial regions is that it interferes with the dispensation of G’d’s largesse to mankind, and the forces of nature upon which man depends.
The line: והנה מלאכי אלוקים עולים ויורדים בו, “and behold G’d’s angels were ascending and descending on that ladder,” is the message that even exile has its positive aspects, as it enables numerous “sparks” that had previously “fallen” from the tree that we perceive as the Shechinah, to find their way back to their holy origin. At the same time, regretfully, the descent of the Jewish people into exile brings with it a parallel descent of some other “sparks” from the Shechinah into the ritually contaminated part of the universe. In our verse these “sparks” are referred to as מלאכי אלוקים, “Angels of the Divine.” Presiding over all these happenings is G’d, והנה ה' נצב עליו, “and behold the Lord is standing above it;” this line also reassures Yaakov that wherever he may find himself he will not be alone, as G’d Himself accompanies him even in exile. Moses confirms this in psalms 91,15 when he says (quoting G’d) “I will be with him in distress.” Seeing that the Lord is with us, our real “pain” or sorrow is really G’d’s pain and sorrow.
As soon as G’d saw that Yaakov’s concern was with His pain and sorrow, and how all this would impact on the foundation of the Jewish people and its development, He reassured him that he was the same G’d Who had looked after Avraham and Yitzchok, his respective grandfather and father. He assured him that this same piece of earth on which he was lying at this time, i.e. that he is so worried about, He, the Lord will give to him and to his descendants and that his descendants will spread out to all the corners of the earth. He continues to reassure Yaakov that during all the vicissitudes of history that his descendants would endure, He would always keep a benevolent eye on them. They will, in due course, return from exile to a brighter future.
Genesis 28,16. “Yaakov awakened from his dream, etc;” the word משנתו, here is a reference to the mental state of depression under which Yaakov had laboured when contemplating the exile his descendants would experience in the future. When he says: אכן יש ה' במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי, “indeed the Lord is even in this place and I did not know it,” is an acknowledgment that he had unnecessarily despaired of the future of his people thinking that G’d would forsake them in exile. Having realized now that he had been wrong, filled him with such gratitude that he determined to build a Temple on the site where this insight had been revealed to him. The words: בית אלוקים, as something already in place, allegorically speaking, refers to his realization that once there is a Jewish people G’d will never again withdraw from the lower regions of the universe as He had done previously when man’s conduct had become too offensive.[I believe the principal lesson Yaakov learned in this dream (as portrayed by the author) was that even when Moses speaks clearly in the Torah about G’d “hiding His face,” (Deut. 31,18) this does not refer to His withdrawing from our part of the world; it only means that we will be under the impression that He has done so as we see no evidence of His Presence overtly or covertly. Ed.] If this is the lesson of exile, exile itself becomes a truly positive experience.
At this stage Yaakov reverts to his original intention of taking the “stones” or “stone” i.e. the foundation stone of the Jewish people and converts it from a potential tool into an actual by consecrating it with oil. [The Jewish people no less than the Temple are perceived as “Temples,” the former as a living entity, the latter as an inert structure always on a sacred site. Ed.] [The significance of oil for consecration, and the miracle of Chanukah being the miracle of the cruse of holy oil as having been foreshadowed in Yaakov’s dream signaling the end of desecration of the Holy Temple, has thus been established. Although some of the words are mine, I trust that I have conveyed our author’s meaning. Ed.]
This is the first time in the Torah that “oil” is portrayed as possessing spiritually elevating potential. Normally, we are familiar with this only from when the priests who were anointed with oil, or when a King, first in a dynasty, was consecrated with it. Yaakov understood the mystical properties contained in such oil (holy oil) and used it here for the first time as such.
[One wonders at the fact that although Yaakov appears to have been stripped of all valuables prior to this night, he still had some such oil on his person; this makes the connection the author establishes between Chanukah and Yaakov’s dream of the ladder a great deal more plausible. Ed.]
Reshit Chochma, shaar ahavah section 5,39, שמן, oil, i.e. the resin found in trees, is a euphemism for wisdom originating in the celestial regions. By means of this wisdom G’d used a combination of this wisdom and sanctity to produce a unique product, the foundation stone of the Jewish people preparing from this an entire building containing many “rooms” one of which was reserved for G’d to manifest Himself therein to His people exclusively. When speaking of “His people,” we refer to the spiritualized concept of the Jewish people, described by our sages as כנסת ישראל, “the collective soul of the Jewish people.” This is what the Torah had in mind when it reports Yaakov as saying: ויקרא את שם המקום ההוא ביתאל, “he called the name of this site Betel;” the Torah adds that ואולם לוז שם העיר לראשונה, “originally the name of the town had been Looz.” (Verse 20) By mentioning this detail, the Torah wishes to inform the reader that even before Yaakov spent a night at this location all the basic ingredients for the site to be elevated to one of sanctity had already existed as a potential. This was so because the concept of a Jewish nation, as mentioned previously, was not new, in fact it had been in G’ds mind before He even began to create the universe. This concept did not only include the formation of a Jewish nation, but envisaged its history right to the point when the Messiah would redeem this people from its last exile. According to tradition (Bereshit Rabbah 69, discussed at length) the human body contains a bone known as לוז, which is indestructible, the angel of death having no power over it, and conversely, it is also the bone from which all other parts of the human body develop. [Not necessarily a “bone” as we understand it, but possibly what we call a stem cell in our time. Ed.] The “stem cell” לוז, is for man what the expression היולי is meant to convey when we speak of the origin of the universe, the primordial raw material. Yaakov’s contribution was to make out of a potential Jewish nation one that had materialized.
When the Torah describes Yaakov as ויקח מאבני המקום, “he took from the stones of hamakom,” this describes Yaakov’s sharing G’d’s pain and wishing to be able to compensate G’d for this in same way. (Alluded to by the word ויפגע). The words מאבני המקום וישם מראשותיו, “from the stones of hamakom and he placed them under his head,” suggest how Yaakov tried to share G’d’s “pain” at what both He and His people would have to endure in exile. His whole thinking was preoccupied with how he could somehow if not forestall these happenings at least ensure that his descendants would survive these experiences. This is the key to his dream of the ladder that follows. It portrays that Yaakov had found a means to deal with the physical implications of exile and persecutions because of Whom He saw on the top of the ladder. This helped him console himself that all of these harsh experiences would be confined to Israel’s existence in the “lower” regions of the universe. The words: וראשו מגיע השמימה, “the ladder’s top reached into heaven,” reminds Yaakov that exile also touches the celestial spheres, so much so that its impact affects those regions negatively. Its most direct impact on the celestial regions is that it interferes with the dispensation of G’d’s largesse to mankind, and the forces of nature upon which man depends.
The line: והנה מלאכי אלוקים עולים ויורדים בו, “and behold G’d’s angels were ascending and descending on that ladder,” is the message that even exile has its positive aspects, as it enables numerous “sparks” that had previously “fallen” from the tree that we perceive as the Shechinah, to find their way back to their holy origin. At the same time, regretfully, the descent of the Jewish people into exile brings with it a parallel descent of some other “sparks” from the Shechinah into the ritually contaminated part of the universe. In our verse these “sparks” are referred to as מלאכי אלוקים, “Angels of the Divine.” Presiding over all these happenings is G’d, והנה ה' נצב עליו, “and behold the Lord is standing above it;” this line also reassures Yaakov that wherever he may find himself he will not be alone, as G’d Himself accompanies him even in exile. Moses confirms this in psalms 91,15 when he says (quoting G’d) “I will be with him in distress.” Seeing that the Lord is with us, our real “pain” or sorrow is really G’d’s pain and sorrow.
As soon as G’d saw that Yaakov’s concern was with His pain and sorrow, and how all this would impact on the foundation of the Jewish people and its development, He reassured him that he was the same G’d Who had looked after Avraham and Yitzchok, his respective grandfather and father. He assured him that this same piece of earth on which he was lying at this time, i.e. that he is so worried about, He, the Lord will give to him and to his descendants and that his descendants will spread out to all the corners of the earth. He continues to reassure Yaakov that during all the vicissitudes of history that his descendants would endure, He would always keep a benevolent eye on them. They will, in due course, return from exile to a brighter future.
Genesis 28,16. “Yaakov awakened from his dream, etc;” the word משנתו, here is a reference to the mental state of depression under which Yaakov had laboured when contemplating the exile his descendants would experience in the future. When he says: אכן יש ה' במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי, “indeed the Lord is even in this place and I did not know it,” is an acknowledgment that he had unnecessarily despaired of the future of his people thinking that G’d would forsake them in exile. Having realized now that he had been wrong, filled him with such gratitude that he determined to build a Temple on the site where this insight had been revealed to him. The words: בית אלוקים, as something already in place, allegorically speaking, refers to his realization that once there is a Jewish people G’d will never again withdraw from the lower regions of the universe as He had done previously when man’s conduct had become too offensive.[I believe the principal lesson Yaakov learned in this dream (as portrayed by the author) was that even when Moses speaks clearly in the Torah about G’d “hiding His face,” (Deut. 31,18) this does not refer to His withdrawing from our part of the world; it only means that we will be under the impression that He has done so as we see no evidence of His Presence overtly or covertly. Ed.] If this is the lesson of exile, exile itself becomes a truly positive experience.
At this stage Yaakov reverts to his original intention of taking the “stones” or “stone” i.e. the foundation stone of the Jewish people and converts it from a potential tool into an actual by consecrating it with oil. [The Jewish people no less than the Temple are perceived as “Temples,” the former as a living entity, the latter as an inert structure always on a sacred site. Ed.] [The significance of oil for consecration, and the miracle of Chanukah being the miracle of the cruse of holy oil as having been foreshadowed in Yaakov’s dream signaling the end of desecration of the Holy Temple, has thus been established. Although some of the words are mine, I trust that I have conveyed our author’s meaning. Ed.]
This is the first time in the Torah that “oil” is portrayed as possessing spiritually elevating potential. Normally, we are familiar with this only from when the priests who were anointed with oil, or when a King, first in a dynasty, was consecrated with it. Yaakov understood the mystical properties contained in such oil (holy oil) and used it here for the first time as such.
[One wonders at the fact that although Yaakov appears to have been stripped of all valuables prior to this night, he still had some such oil on his person; this makes the connection the author establishes between Chanukah and Yaakov’s dream of the ladder a great deal more plausible. Ed.]
Reshit Chochma, shaar ahavah section 5,39, שמן, oil, i.e. the resin found in trees, is a euphemism for wisdom originating in the celestial regions. By means of this wisdom G’d used a combination of this wisdom and sanctity to produce a unique product, the foundation stone of the Jewish people preparing from this an entire building containing many “rooms” one of which was reserved for G’d to manifest Himself therein to His people exclusively. When speaking of “His people,” we refer to the spiritualized concept of the Jewish people, described by our sages as כנסת ישראל, “the collective soul of the Jewish people.” This is what the Torah had in mind when it reports Yaakov as saying: ויקרא את שם המקום ההוא ביתאל, “he called the name of this site Betel;” the Torah adds that ואולם לוז שם העיר לראשונה, “originally the name of the town had been Looz.” (Verse 20) By mentioning this detail, the Torah wishes to inform the reader that even before Yaakov spent a night at this location all the basic ingredients for the site to be elevated to one of sanctity had already existed as a potential. This was so because the concept of a Jewish nation, as mentioned previously, was not new, in fact it had been in G’ds mind before He even began to create the universe. This concept did not only include the formation of a Jewish nation, but envisaged its history right to the point when the Messiah would redeem this people from its last exile. According to tradition (Bereshit Rabbah 69, discussed at length) the human body contains a bone known as לוז, which is indestructible, the angel of death having no power over it, and conversely, it is also the bone from which all other parts of the human body develop. [Not necessarily a “bone” as we understand it, but possibly what we call a stem cell in our time. Ed.] The “stem cell” לוז, is for man what the expression היולי is meant to convey when we speak of the origin of the universe, the primordial raw material. Yaakov’s contribution was to make out of a potential Jewish nation one that had materialized.
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Maor VaShemesh
And he dreamt, etc, and Yaakov woke up from his sleep and said 'Surely H' is present in this place, and I did not know it! etc This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.' (Gen. 28:16-17) And there is a midrash that Yaakov awoke from his mishnah (Bereishit Rabbah 69:7). And this is surprising, and it appears to me [that the explanation is] that it is known that the essence of the service of a person, to come to the objective of completeness in their service to the Holy One of Blessing, to attain the Blessed One's Godliness, happens through Torah and Tefilah, and one cannot exist without the other. This is because an Am Haaretz cannot be a Hasid (Pirkei Avot 2:5), and also, Torah alone will not complete one's soul, as the saying of the sages z"l "anyone who says he has nothing other than Torah, has no Torah" (Yevamot 109b:4), since obviously through doing Torah for its own sake one can come to a great holiness when one learns for its own sake, and clings to one's life-force [nefesh], spirit [ruach] and soul [neshamah] through the letters of the Torah. However, one cannot come to the essence of Awe and Love and Longing in one's service to the Holy One of Blessing , and to grasp Godliness [with Torah alone], rather, through Tefilah, with self-sacrifice and enthusiasm as it is know from the sacred books. And behold the saying of the sages z"l is known: "and he encountered the Place, meaning, he fixed the evening prayer" (Brachot 26b:7) - behold he didn't know until that moment the secret of Tefilah, how great it is, and we find that Yaakov hid in the study house of Shem and Ever (Megillah 17a:5) and learned Torah, and we see that he knew the secret of Torah, however he did not discover God's Godliness until this moment, when it was revealed for him after he stood at the secret of Tefilah. And this is the explanation for the midrash "and he awoke from his sleep - from his mishnah" - they wanted to say from his Torah, that was awaken through this Tefilah, and he understood that he had not reached complete understanding through Torah alone, and so he said 'behold, there is Hashem in this place', meaning, through this tefilah he was able to understand more deeply the revelation of Godliness than he had until that moment, which was through Torah alone. "And I didn't know" this secret "this is but the House of Elokim", meaning through Tefilah, self-awakening and enthusiasm a persn can come to Higher Awe, which is called in the language of our sages z"l 'pity on one who has no courtyard etc' (Shabbat 31b:1). "And this is the gate to heaven" that Tefilah is the essence of the gate to heaven, to come to an understanding of Godliness and awe of heaven, a good treasure, since "awe of Hashem is God's treasure" (Isaiah 33:6) and pay attention to this, because it is correct.
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