Musar su Esodo 20:21

The whole subject matter of burial is connected with Genesis 3,19: כי עפר אתה ואל עפר אתה תשוב, "For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Adam's origin was dust from the earth. Our sages describe G–d as having taken earth from the site that is described in Exodus 20,21: מזבח אדמה תעשה לי, "Make for Me an altar of earth" (Talmud Yerushalmi, Nazir 7,2).

We must try and understand why Rabbenu Bachyah was so selective in his comparison of the creation with the construction of the Tabernacle. He could have cited additional parallels. A look at a lengthy Midrash in Shemot Rabbah 33,4 quotes Rabbi Berechyah as presenting a long list of parallels between the Tabernacle and מעשה בראשית. The list includes many items found in the heavens such as ערפל, זבול, עצי שטים, כרובים, אופנים and many others. In each case Rabbi Berechyah demonstrates that the Tabernacle contained something parallel.

The center of the world, the Holy Temple, is also alluded to here: Bereshit Rabbah states that the ladder is hyperbole for the כבש, ramp of the altar, the words מוצב ארצה, being understood as a reference to the "earthen altar" G–d wished the Jewish people to build (Exodus 20,21). The words וראשו מגיע השמימה, its top reaches Heaven, is understood by the same Midrash as referring to the fragrance of the sacrifices offered on the altar. The מלאכים described as ascending and descending are the High Priests ascending and descending the ramp of the altar when performing the service in the Temple. The words: והנה ה' נצב עליו, are compared to: ראיתי את ה' ניצב על המזבח, "I had a vision of seeing G–d standing on top of the altar" (Amos 9,1). Thus far the Midrash. At the end of Jacob's dream we also find an allusion to the building of the Temple, its destruction, and the eventual rebuilding of it, as will be demonstrated later.