Musar su Genesi 28:16

Jacob alluded to this domain when he said in 28,16: אכן יש י-ה-ו-ה במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי, "indeed G–d in His capacity as the Ineffable Name is active in this location and I had not known this." This was an allusion to the emanations בינה and חכמה. He referred to חכמה with the letter י, and to בינה with the letter ה in the word יש.

After having seen the ladder in his dream, Jacob understood a number of things; among them he understood the meaning of the four exiles he had seen in his vision, and he understood the eventual redemption. This is why he said: "Indeed G–d is in this place, אכן יש ה' במקום הזה, but I did not know it." He expressed his new found-understanding that the third Temple would lead to the realization of הזה and יש. He realized that this והתהלכתי בתוככם would be fulfilled במקום הזה. These two realizations all resulted from the וישכב, when he lay down to sleep. Concerning this experience we find an allusion in Jeremiah 31,16: יש שכר לפעולתך, "there is a reward for your labor." An example of the reward for וישכב, is the incident of Leah having traded the mandrakes her son Reuben had found in order to have an extra night with Jacob. Rachel had agreed with the words : לכן ישכב עמך, "therefore he may lie with you." When Leah became pregnant as a result of that night, and Issachar who founded the tribe that excelled in Torah study was born, she stated: נתן אלוקים שכרי, "G–d has given my reward." It was Issachar who would excel in bringing about the period described as ומלאה הארץ דעה, that the earth would become full of knowledge (of G–d).

Concerning the letters כב of the word וישכב, these correspond to the letters used in the Torah (alphabet). Bereshit Rabbah 69,7, commenting on Genesis 28,16: וייקץ יעקב משנתו "Jacob awoke from his sleep," re-phrases the word משנתו to read ממשנתו, "from his Torah study."

It is this spiritual association which is alluded to in Song of Songs 1,8: אם לא תדעי לך היפה בנשים צאי לך בעקבי הצאן. "if you do not know, O fairest of women, go follow the tracks of the sheep." Solomon describes Israel in exile in the verse, as can be seen from Rashi. The period referred to in our verse in Song of Songs by the words אם לא תדעי לך, "do you not know?" is the period to which Jacob referred after his dream as ואנכי לא ידעתי, "I did not know," both referring to the period of exile due to the destruction of the Temple. While the Temple was standing, however, there was ידיעה, knowledge, - it was the period when prophets abounded. The name יעקב itself alludes to something secondary, heel, something dragged behind, and that is also alluded to when Song of Songs speaks of עקבי הצאן. The letters in the word עקבי are identical to the letters in the word יעקב, they are only re-arranged. The "fairest of women" referred to in our verse in Song of Songs is Rachel who was described in 29,17 as יפת תאר ויפת מראה, "of beautiful form and appearance"