Musar su Genesi 28:17

ויירא ויאמר מה נורא המקום הזה. It is appropriate for man to stand in awe and reverence at sites which have been distinguished through historical events and which hosted holy people, or which themselves represent holiness. This is is why idle conversation in houses of study and synagogues is forbidden even when no study or prayer is in progress. Such conversation interferes with one's reverence and thereby aggravates the wrong committed.

"In Your awe" - that is Yaakov, as about him is it written (Genesis 28:17), "how awesome is this place."

We have another allusion to Jacob in the course of the Torah's report of Eliezer's journey, when the Torah describes Eliezer thanking G–d in that verse with the words: אשר הנחני בדרך אמת, "who has guided me on the path of truth." He referred to the קפיצת הדרך he had experienced i.e. the telescoping of the distance from Kiryat Arba to Charan into a single day's journey. Something similar happened to Jacob on his journey to Charan in Genesis 28,11 (see Rashi). Eliezer told his hosts that if they were prepared to do a חסד and אמת for him all well and good, seeing that Jacob would be destined to "redeem," i.e. justify G–d's having saved Abraham from Nimrod's furnace. This is the deeper meaning of חסד ואמת. When Jacob, whose children were all loyal to the tradition founded by Abraham and Isaac appeared on the scene of history, the whole universe became rejuvenated. Jacob personified the purpose of Creation which is intended to be fully good and to continue indefinitely as symbolized by the tree of life in the center of the garden of Eden. Ishmael, who represented the קליפה, the husk, preceded Isaac; it is in the nature of things for the husk to appear before the fruit, the kernel.

All these matters are alluded to in the word הזה in Genesis 28,17. Bereshit Rabbah 63,8, commenting on Genesis 25,22, where Rebeccah complained about the fetuses within her quarreling, by saying: אם כן למה זה אנכי, quotes Rabbi Nechemiah as saying that Rebeccah had sufficient merit to become the mother of twelve tribes, in accordance with the numerical value of the letters in the word זה; seven corresponding to the letter ז, and five to correspond to the letter ה. Did Rabbi Nechemyah think that we could not count to twelve and had to have this calculation broken down for us? I believe the Midrash wanted to stress why the number twelve here is composed of a combination of 7+5, and not of, say, 8+4 or 9+3. Why did the Midrash have to see in that number a reference to the twelve tribes? The Torah does not mention anything about that number of children! Maybe the number twelve refers to something else?

The next part of the Midrash deals with the Holy Temple given to the children of Israel. The words: מה נורא המקום הזה, "How awesome is this place," refer to the first Temple which boasted the additional five manifestations of G–d's Presence. This why we have the word הזה, with the letter ה in front. When Jacob said: אין זה, he referred to the destruction of that Temple. Even though the Temple was rebuilt, the second Temple was not considered as something significant when compared to the first, as five vital elements were never restored.

The future Temple is referred to by Jacob here as בית אלוקים וזה שער השמים. Considering this we can understand the Midrash saying that Jacob saw the Temple built, destroyed, and rebuilt. The interval between the destruction of the first Temple and the rebuilding of the third Temple is considered one unbroken period of destruction, the purpose of which is to encourage Israel to wipe out its sins through repentance.

The expression שער השמים, refers to the place from where our prayers ascend to heaven, a gate which, alas, is closed to us now; Rabbi Eleazar in Berachot 32, quotes Lamentations 3,8: גם כי אזעק ואשוע שתם תפלתי, "Though I cry out and and plead, He shuts out my prayers," as proof that the gates of prayer have been shut since the destruction of the Temple. He agrees, however, that the gates of tears have remained open. It is to be noted that the word שתם, "He shut out," is not spelled with the customary letter ס, but with the letter ש, which, by its opening to the top side suggests less than a total shut-out. We observe a similar use of the letter ש, when Bileam describes himself as שתם העין "open eyed" in Numbers 24,3 and 24,15. G–d will receive our prayers gladly in the rebuilt Temple. Even though the gate is closed while we are in exile, as long as we are not in Israel, our prayers are "detoured" from wherever they emanate via the land of Israel.