Musar su Genesi 28:26

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.

First of all, the episode of the serpent, who spoke lashon hara of the Holy One Blessed be He and thereby brought death to the world. And (Bereshith 29:20): "If G-d will be with me and guard me," concerning which Chazal have said: "if He will guard me against lashon hara." And the episode of Joseph (Ibid. 37:2): "And Joseph brought their evil talk to their father," this being the catalyst of the descent of the Jews to Egypt. And (Shemoth 2:14): "In truth, the thing has become known" (see Rashi there and what we shall write below). There, too, (4:1) Moses our teacher, may peace be upon him, says: "But they will not believe me," and the Blessed L-rd counters (Ibid. 2): "What is this in your hand?" … (3) …and it became a serpent." Also there (6): "And, behold, his hand was leprous as snow." And (Ibid. 17:2): "And the people quarreled with Moses… (7) …over the quarrel of the children of Israel, etc." followed by (8): "And Amalek came and warred with Israel, etc." And (Ibid. 23:1): "You shall not bear a false report, which applies to both the speaker and the receiver [of lashon hara] (as we find in Makkoth 23a), followed by (2): "Do not be after many to do evil." And, in reference to the me'il [the outer robe of the ephod] (Ibid. 28:32): "A border shall there be to its mouth roundabout," and the entire section. And (35): "And its sound will be heard when he comes to the sanctuary, etc." And the entire section of Tazria and Metzora: the plague-spots of houses, the plague-spots of clothing, the plague-spots of men, (Vayikra 13:46): "Solitary shall he sit"— even outside of the camp of Israel. And his atonement— "chirping" birds. And (Ibid. 19:16): "Do not go talebearing among your people," (Ibid. 17): "Reprove, shall you reprove your neighbor, but you shall not bear sin because of him." And (Ibid. 25:17): "You shall not wrong, one man, his fellow," which relates to verbal wronging, which is also in the category of evil speech. And (Bamidbar 5:1): "And they shall send out of the camp every leper"— even if he were as great in Torah as Doeg. And (Ibid. 12:1): "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, etc." And the entire section of Shelach Lecha, which speaks about the spies. And (Ibid. 21:5): "And the people spoke against G-d and against Moses." And (Devarim 23:10): "When you go out as a camp against your foes, guard yourself against every evil thing [davar ra]," concerning which Chazal have said: "davar ra" may be read as "dibbur ra" [evil speech]. And in Tetze, the "giving out of an evil name [motzi shem ra]," and (Ibid. 24:9): "Remember what the L-rd your G-d did to Miriam, etc." And (Ibid. 27:24): "Cursed be he who smites his friend in secret," which refers to lashon hara. And it is known that all of the "cursings" were preceded by blessings; and they opened with blessing, saying: "Blessed is he who does not smite"— whence we derive that one who is heedful in this is blessed.

“When you make a vow to the Lord, your God, do not delay fulfilling it” (Deuteronomy 23:22). Behold there is a punishment for the delay of vows and charity, even though one pays them later. And if someone vows to give charity to the poor, he is obligated to pay it immediately. And if by way of forgetfulness, a delay of the vow happens to him, this too will surely be punished. For since he knows that forgetfulness is found with people, he should have remembered his vows and constantly put them into his heart, so that he would not forget them - like the matter that is stated (Proverbs 20:25), “It is a snare for a man to pledge a sacred gift rashly, and to give thought to his vows only after they have been made.” Therefore, his punishment for his negligence is severe, as it is stated (Ecclesiastes 5:5), “Don’t let your mouth bring your flesh to sin, and don’t plead before the messenger that it was an error, but fear God; else God may be angered by your talk and destroy the work of your hands.” Its explanation is “Don’t let your mouth bring your flesh to sin, etc.” - why do you vow, if you are not careful with your vows and bring guilt upon yourself? And we have already explained this verse in the Gates of Precautions of Caution (no longer extant). And our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, have said about the iniquity of [unfulfilled] vows (Shabbat 32b) that children die [as a result], as it is stated (Ecclesiastes 5:5), “and destroy the work of your hands.” The verse is also explained to be about the matter of evil speech, that one is punished for negligence with it - even if he does not intend to disgrace his fellow. (And likewise did our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, say in the Sifrei - and Rashi cites it in his commentary on the Torah concerning Miriam - and this is its language, “And with Miriam, she did not have in mind to to disgrace him [...]” And it concludes in the Sifrei, “But rather for praise, on account of the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying, etc.”) And behold we were commanded not to make vows, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 23:23) “Whereas you incur no guilt if you refrain from vowing.” And our Rabbis expounded from this (Nedarim 77b) that if one does vow, he incurs guilt. For a vow is a stumbling block for the one who vows, lest he profane his word or delay fulfilling it. Rather a righteous man is gracious and gives without his vowing. [It is hence forbidden to vow] except for when he calls out from distress. For then he should make a vow, like the matter that is written (Genesis 28:20), “And Jacob made a vow, saying, etc.” And likewise in the gathering together of the heads of the people - the Tribes of Israel: They should make vows to strengthen weakened hands. (It appears to me that his intention in that which he wrote, “to strengthen weakened hands,” is meaning to say that it energizes the rest of the people whose hands are weakened in the trait of volunteering, since they are not used to it. And through his vowing publicly in front of many people, their hearts are elevated to volunteer as well. And so is it written in I Chronicles 29:1-9, “King David said to the entire assemblage, etc. ‘I have prepared with all of my strength, etc. and who is going to make a freewill offering and devote himself today to the Lord?’ And the officers of the clans made freewill offerings, etc. The people rejoiced over the freewill offerings they made, for with a whole heart they made freewill offerings to the Lord; King David also rejoiced very much.”

The patriarchs observed all the commandments as revealed later on in the Torah. We know from Genesis 14,20 that Abraham tithed when he gave the tithes to Malki Tzedek. In our פרשה we have a passage showing that Isaac also gave tithes; we know, of course, that Jacob promised to give tithes from his specific statement וכל אשר תתן לי עשר אעשרנו לך, “And all that You will give me, I will surely tithe to You" (Genesis 28,22). Our sages in Midrash Hagadol on that verse say that Jacob even tithed people. They explain that if we include Ephrayim and Menasseh in the count, there should have been fourteen tribes. Deduct four, seeing that each wife had a first born who was already sanctified from birth, and you remain with ten. From these remaining ten Jacob set aside Levi as a tithe to G–d. You see that all the patriarchs observed the commandment בכל לבבם, בכל נפשם ובכל מאודם, "with all their hearts, their souls and their means." The words בכל מאודם can be understood literally, i.e. "a tithe of everything." The expression בכל נפשם refers to Jacob who even tithed נפשות, people; the expression בכל לבבם, refers to תרומה גדולה, something for which the Torah does not prescribe a fixed amount. The amount to be set aside for the priest is left to the generosity of the individual, i.e. it is something to be decided on by his heart, לבבו. Our sages (Terumah 4,3) describe one fortieth as the תרומה of a generous individual, one fiftieth as the average gift, and one sixtieth as the תרומה of a miser. They derive these details from the verse in Genesis 14,20. It would have sufficed for the Torah to say ויתן מעשר, that Abraham tithed. Why did the Torah have to add the word מכל, from all? They answer that this is an allusion to תרומה מעשר, the tithe that the Levite has to give to the priest from the מעשר ראשון, the regular tithe that he received from the Israelite. I will explain later how this is alluded to in the text. Abraham gave to Malki Tzedek both the regular tithe and the תרומת מעשר. The numerical value of the letters in the word כל, all, is 50 which is an allusion to the 2% the average person sets aside. [In order to appreciate the following calculation, one must assume that Abraham first divided the entire harvest into two equal parts. This is not mentioned by the author. Ed.] Abraham removed one tenth of the total [taking it from one half] as tithe. He also set aside one part in fifty from the same total amount (before having tithed it) to give it separately as תרומה גדולה. When you remove "ten" from fifty, you are left with forty. This means that Abraham gave one part in forty as תרומה גדולה. [The normal procedure is to remove the תרומה גדולה from the harvest before measuring the ten per cent tithe from the remaining 98% of the harvest. Ed] Even though the normal or average amount set aside for תרומה is one in 50= כל, Abraham was more generous than that. All the patriarchs acted in a similar fashion.

עד אשר יצא מאפכם והיה לכם לזרא . When we observe how severely those people who knew no bounds to their greed were punished we learn the lesson that we should restrain our appetites even when it pertains to matters that are permissible. We should learn from our patriarch Jacob who had asked only for "bread to eat and clothes to wear" (Genesis 28,20).

5) A fifth level of performance is one which shows disdain for the comforts of life, as demonstrated by Jacob, who asked G–d only for minimal necessities such as food, clothing and shelter (Genesis 28,20).

Therefore, anticipating this, he fled to Shem and Ever and studied Torah there with great diligence for fourteen years. For all of these years he did not once lay down to sleep a full sleep, as Scripture testifies about him (Ibid. 28:11): "And he slept in that place," as Rashi explains there. And, with such learning, though he remained in the house of Lavan afterwards for several years, nothing could harm him. [According to our words, the figure of fourteen years is very apt. For since they were meant to offset the years that he would have to remain in the house of Lavan, and it is known that this would be fourteen years, Jacob knowing that he could not return to his house so long as Joseph had not been born, he [Joseph] being as "flame" and Esav as "straw" [see Ovadiah 1:18], and as it is written (Bereshith 30:25): "And it was, when Rachel bore Joseph, that Jacob said to Lavan: "Send me away, etc.'", (as Rashi explains), and it is known that Joseph was in the fourteenth year, as it is written (Ibid. 31:41): "I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, etc." — therefore, Jacob first learned Torah fourteen years without interruption, so that the merit of these fourteen years would stand for him in the house of Lavan, as mentioned above.]

(Ibid. 28:20): "And He guards me on the way that I will go": We find in the Midrash: "And He guards me from lashon hara." And thus have Chazal said in Sifrei on Devarim 23:10: "When you go out as an encampment against your enemies, then you shall guard yourself against every evil thing" that this alludes to lashon hara. And it is obvious that when a person goes to a place of danger he needs special guarding, as it is written there (Ibid. 15): "For the L-rd your G-d walks in the midst of your camp to save you, etc." And it is known that because of the sin of lashon hara the Shechinah departs from Israel, and there is no one to protect it. And so with Jacob when he went to Lavan, which was a place of danger, as we know from the end of the episode when he pursued him to kill him had the Holy One Blessed be He not saved him, as it is written (Devarim 26:5): "An Aramean (Lavan) would destroy my father [Jacob]" — wherefore Jacob our father prayed that he not stumble in this (lashon hara).

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

Even though a person be guiltless and completely righteous he should always be fearful that a sin might come to him. And so have we found in the case of Jacob that even though the Holy One, Blessed be He, had said to him "And I will keep Thee withersoever thou goest" (Gen. 28:15), Jacob was nevertheless afraid that he had sinned (and lost the divine promise). And so did David say "If I had not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord, in the land of the living!" (Ps. 27:13). Even though David knew that he was a perfectly pious man he feared that sin might prevent him from receiving the pleasant reward of the righteous (Berakoth 4a).

Yalkut Shimoni, item 386, quotes Rabbi Yoshia son of Nachman the priest saying that G–d said to Moses: "go and count the Jewish people." Moses replied: "It is written (Hoseah 2,1) that the Jewish people will be as the sand on the beaches of the sea which is not subject to count; so how can You ask me to count the Jewish people?" G–d answered Moses that he had misunderstood the verse he quoted. If he wanted to know the number of Israelites all he had to do was to take the first letter of the name of each tribe, i.e. the ר from ראובן, the ש from שמעון, the ל from לוי, etc., and he would get the number of Israelites. This is to be understood as a parable. A money-changer had a junior assistant whom he told to count a certain number of coins. [These coins were apparently stacked in a number of rows of different denominations. Ed.] The assistant did not know how to go about counting these coins. His employer explained to him that all he had to do was to count the denomination of each row and then he would have no difficulty arriving at the total amount of money in the various rows. This is why G–d said to Moses to take the first letter in the name of each tribe as his point of reference. The letter ר of the name ראובן represents 200,000. The letter נ in נפתלי represents 50,000. The letter ש in שמעון represents 300,000. The letter י in יוסף stands for 10,000, the letter י in יששכר also stands for 10,000. The letter י in יהודה also stands for 10,000. The ז in זבולון stands for 7,000, whereas the ד in דן stands for 4,000. the ג in גד stands for 3000, whereas the ב in בנימין stands for 2000. The letter א in אשר stands for 1000. So far you have a total of 597,000 (from 11 tribes excluding Levi, using Joseph instead of Menashe and Ephrayim). The reason the total does not amount to 600,000 is because 3000 Jews were killed during the episode of the golden calf, when the Levites were instructed to execute those who actively worshipped the calf. G–d wanted Moses to make a fast count, so he would know how many Jews were executed by the Levites (or died at the hand of G–d when there was no evidence upon which a Court could have acted). Thus far the Yalkut Shimoni.

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.

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.

The general principle of the matter: Holiness consists of one's clinging so much to his G-d that for any action he does, he will not separate nor budge from G-d, blessed be He, so that the physical things he uses will attain greater elevation than that which he diminishes in his clinging and level due to his using physical things.

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.

Yalkut Shimoni item 386 at the beginning of our פרשה points out that the last paragraph in the previous פרשה mentions that Aaron used the corners קרנות of the altar to perform the rites of atonement on the Day of Atonement (30,10). The Hebrew word for corners is קרן, horn, the same as the "horn" of the ox. G–d told Moses to use this method of atonement because Israel had sinned with the golden calf. Moses queried that the Torah had stated that this method was effective only "once a year," i.e. on the Day of Atonement (ibid.) G–d replied that Moses should erect it (the altar) immediately, as soon as he had performed the counting of the Children of Israel. Rabbi Joshua son of Nachman said that G–d told Moses: "Go and count the Children of Israel!" Moses replied that we have two verses. In one of them the Israelites are compared to the dust of the earth, and in the other they are compared to the sand on the beaches of the sea. Both verses point out that one cannot count all the Israelites. In view of this, how could he be expected to carry out such a command? G–d told Moses that he was mistaken, that if he wanted to find out the number all he had to do was to use the first letters of each of the tribal heads' names etc., as we pointed out earlier. All G–d had intended was to find out how many of the Israelites had died as a result of the episode of the golden calf. Those who survived were to give a ransom for their souls (lives, 30,11). When Moses heard this he became afraid and said: עור בעד עור וכל אשר לאיש יתן בעד נפשו (Job 2,4), "Skin for skin; all that man has he will give up for his life." [Moses did not yet realise that G–d required only a half-shekel from each person as the ransom for his life. Ed.]

In Parshat Vayetzei I have demonstrated how such mundane matters as לחם לאכול ובגד ללבוש which Jacob requested must be understood (page 234). What this means is that parallel to the repair of man's "clothing" i.e. the garments of leather being exchanged for garments of light, man's food supply too will undergo a dramatic change in the World to Come. Our Rabbis describe how ארץ ישראל will produce ready-to-eat cakes and the like in Shabbat 30.

"He was afraid and distressed;" the former was due to Jacob's fear that the accuser in the Celestial Regions might have come across sins committed by Jacob that he had not been aware of. He was also afraid that Esau's merit in having performed the commandment of honouring father and mother during all the years Jacob had not performed it might now support him. We find that Moses too was afraid before engaging Og, King of Bashan, in battle, fearing that the merit of Abraham might assist Og, as explained by Rashi on Numbers 21,34. [The merit of Og referred to must be that he became instrumental in Abraham saving Lot, by having told him that the latter had been taken prisoner, even though that had hardly been Og's motive, as Rashi himself explains on Genesis 14, 13. Ed.] Bereshit Rabbah 76, 1, quoting Rabbi Pinchas, understands our verse in a similar vein. "There were two people who had received specific assurances from G–d, and still they were reported as being afraid. One is the choicest of the patriarchs, Jacob, to whom G–d had said: "I shall be with you;" in the end we nonetheless find him afraid of his upcoming encounter with Esau, seeing the Torah says: ויירא יעקב. The other person was the choicest of the prophets, Moses. G–d had told him "for I shall be with you" (Exodus 3,12). Still, we find G–d had to tell him in Numbers 21: "Do not be afraid of him (Og)." G–d certainly would not have bothered to reassure Moses had he not been afraid, (though the Torah did not report this as a fact). Thus far the Midrash.

Bereshit Rabbah 68,11, on Genesis 28,11: ויקח מאבני המקום, "He took from the stones of that place," comments that Jacob made an experiment. He took 12 stones and said to himself, that seeing that neither Abraham nor Isaac had founded the twelve tribes, if those stones were to fuse, it would signify that he, Jacob, was slated to do so. When he awoke he found that the stones had fused. The Torah writes: "He took the stone which he had made into his pillow" (28,18). By this he was convinced that he would become the founder of the Jewish nation. The letters of the Torah are alluded to in these stones. We read in Sefer Yetzira chapter 4, section 17: "Two stones build two houses; three stones build six houses; four stones build twenty four houses, etc." The stones are hyperbole for letters.

We should remember that just as the "garment" of the body will be woven of light and will be prestigious, so the body itself will be the distinguished clothing of the soul. Israel experienced a glimpse of such a future while in the desert. This is why the Torah tells us in Deut. 8,4: שמלתך לא בלתה מעליך, “your clothing did not wear out, etc. during all these forty years. The first step in restoring man to the garments that he ought to be wearing were taken by two of Noach's sons when they covered their father by taking hold of the שמלה and covering him with it (Genesis 9,23).

By feeding all the animals in the ark for a full year, Noach himself had begun the process of repairing the damage done by Adam in the area of food. When Jacob prayed (Genesis 28,20) that G–d should give him "bread to eat and clothes to wear," he may well have referred to a world in which man would wear clothing made of light, and in which all the trees would bear fruit and their trunks would taste just as their fruit. Because Noach had commenced the process of repairing the damage to the production of food caused by Adam, he was given the right to improve his diet and that of mankind after him. He was allowed to include meat in his diet (Genesis 9,3). His son Shem, who had begun to repair the damage to the kind of clothing man was allowed to wear, merited that his descendants, Israel, when wearing ציציות on a four-cornered garment, could ignore the prohibition of mixing wool and linen. In other words, a linen garment may have ציציות made of wool. Ever since the dispute between Cain and Abel linen and wool symbolized their strife, hence the prohibition of mixing them. The people of Israel kept rising to higher spiritual levels until they qualified for food made in the heavens, i.e. the מן, Manna. The jewelry that the Jewish people wore from the time G–d revealed Himself until they forfeited it through participating in the sin of the golden calf, was symbolic of the כתנות אור Adam had worn before the sin (compare Exodus 33,5).

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?

Bereshit Rabbah 68,13 on this portion quotes the following comment by Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: The opening words of our portion, ויצא יקב describe exile, and can be compared to Jeremiah 15,1, where G–d describes this in the cruellest terms: שלח מעל פני ויצאו, "Dismiss them from My Presence, and let them go forth." The next two words, וילך חרנה, are comparable to the verse in Lamentations 1,12: אשר הוגה ה' ביום חרון אפו, "When G–d afflicted me on the day of His wrath." The words following, i.e. ויפגע במקום, must be understood as analogous to Isaiah 5,8: עד אפס מקום, "until there is no room left" (for the Jews in ארץ ישראל); the words: וילן שם כי בא השמש, "he remained there overnight for the sun had set," should be compared to Jeremiah 15,9: אומללה יולדת השבעה, "The forlorn one who gave birth to seven." The Midrash continues in that vein.

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.

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."

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.

This prompted him to make a vow. The Kabbalists explain that נדרים, vows, are of the mystical dimension found in the emanation בינה, something alluded to in the spelling of the word נ"דר, "dwelling in the domain of 50." The letter נ, alludes to the 50 gates of בינה, whereas דר means to dwell. The Kabbalists go on to explain that the Ultimate Redemption will be rooted in the emanation בינה. בינה is viewed as the יובל הגדול, the great Jubilee year, i.e. absolute Redemption.

The meaning of the name "Israel" in the future envisioned would not only denote the fact that he had prevailed in a struggle between the forces of evil and of good. At that time, Israel would not compete with evil but with the most highly placed angels. The position of Israel then would be so exalted that angels would address halachic enquiries to Israel. Rashi has mentioned this in connection with Numbers 23,23: כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל השם, "At such a time Jacob and Israel will be spoken to about what G–d's works are." [my translation reflects the commentary mentioned. Ed.] The name "Israel" also denotes something of eternal value. We have already explained that the first two letters 310-יש, refer to the 310 worlds that every צדיק and צדקת will inherit in the Hereafter, [based on להנחיל אוהבי יש, Proverbs 8,21 Ed.] The remaining letters רלא, are an allusion to the superiority of Israel over the angels, seeing that Israel possesses the merit of having observed the Torah which is based on 22 letters, (alphabet) These 22 letters are 231 gateways, i.e. the permutations constructed from the alphabet as explained in the Sefer Yetzirah. [The second Mishnah in the fifth chapter of the book explains how these permutations are worked; you combine the first letter א, for instance, with all the other 21 letters. The second letter ב, is combined with the remaining 20 letters. The third letter ג, is combined with the remaining 19 letters, etc. By continuing in this fashion you will arrive at a total of 231. Ed.] The name ישראל is a composite of יש+ראל. Jacob had seen an allusion to this already in his dream of the ladder, during the course of which he glimpsed the highest domain of holiness, a dimension of the World to Come. When he lay down, i.e. וישכב, the letters in that word are a composite of יש+כ"ב, the 22 letters of the Aleph Bet. We have elaborated on that theme in its place. When Samael named Jacob ישראל, however, that was not what he had in mind, and that is why Jacob had still suffered from the "touch" (ויגע) during the struggle with Samael even after he had obtained his blessing. This effect also expressed itself in the word וישכב, with which Shechem's rape of Dinah is introduced in 34,2 [It would have been sufficient to merely mention ויענה, "he violated her against her will," the word following וישכב. Ed.]. The same word וישכב is repeated in the Torah's description of Reuben's relations with Bilhah, his father's concubine, in 35,22. Subsequently, however, there was no longer any Nachash (in the sense of serpent) attached to Jacob [play on words of Numbers 23,23 כי לא נחש ביעקב where Bileam describes the virtues of the Jewish people], seeing the name Jacob referred to the World to Come ever since Jacob's spirit was resurrected. This in turn represented an additional spiritual level over and above the one where G–d called Jacob "El," in 33,20. When G–d called Jacob "Isra-el," we must view the "Isra" as an additional dimension to the title "El" that He had already bestowed on him. The numerical value of the word א-ל, is 10% (מעשר) of the numerical value of the word 310) יש).

Nachmanides writes that it is possible that when speaking about events in the future, one should do so in a conditional tense. He quotes several examples. It does not mean that Jacob entertained ambivalent thoughts. It simply means that when the time comes when the condition applies the vow will become operative. We still must understand why Jacob used an expression that lends itself to more than one interpretation, especially where such a sacred subject is involved.

There are numerous hints in Jacob's vow, and his use of the word אם was most appropriate. He used the word in the same sense as in Numbers 36,4: ואם יהיה היובל, "and even when the Israelites observe the Jubilee." I have already mentioned that the Jubilee year legislation contains allusions to the Great Redemption in the future which may occur sooner than its ultimate date, (אחישנה, G–d says: "I will hasten it,") in the event Israel is worthy, or it may arrive according to a pre-determined timetable set by G–d which is known as בעתה (cf. Isaiah 60,22). The word אם also consists of the respective first letters of אליהו and משיח, both of which symbolize the redemption of the future. When Jacob asks for G–d's protection ושמרני בדרך הזה, he refers to the journey through exile during which protection from Esau/Edom is needed. When he says: אם יהיה אלוקים עמדי, this is a reference to the day when the name of G–d will be One.

Why did Jacob have to mention that the bread that G–d would give him would be לאכול, "to eat," and that the clothing would be "to wear?" What else is one supposed to do with bread and clothing?" If we needed proof that the Torah is not merely turning a phrase, look at Deut. 10,18: "G–d loves the stranger to give him bread and clothes." The Torah does not bother to mention the function of bread and clothing.

Jacob concluded his vow by saying: והיה ה' לי לאלוקים, "the Lord will be my G–d." We must remember that the vowel pattern used in the Ineffable Name of G–d is not uniform. The word appears with the vowel pattern Cholam Kametz, but it also appears with the same vowel pattern as the word Elo-him. When that is the case, though it appears with the latter vowel pattern we read it as if the word were in fact the name Elo-him. [This occurs frequently in the Books of the Prophets. Ed.] When pronounced in such a way, it refers to the name of G–d operative in the emanation בינה, as we have explained frequently. This principle has also been dealt with in Pardes Rimonim in the chapter called מהות והנהגה, sections six and seven. When the Ineffable Name is vocalized in the Cholam Kametz pattern it reflects G–d's activity in the emanation תפארת, the realm of His Sanctuary in the Heavens. The spiritual זווג, marital union between Jacob and Rachel is one that emanated in the emanation תפארת, whereas the זווג between Jacob and Leah originated in the higher emanation בינה. Jacob could not attain a real foothold in the emanation we earlier described as דעת, until Leah joined him in the lower emanation. In the future, Jacob will achieve a greater hold on the emanation בינה and דעת, that is what he alluded to when he said: והיה ה' לי לאלוקים.

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"

There is a mystical element concealed in all this. Jacob and Esau were twins. There were two reasons for this. We have already explained that one purpose was for Esau to be able to absorb the excess pollutant from Jacob, i.e. as if one half of the baby to be born contained all the negative influences. As a result, Jacob would eventually also inherit Esau's share, the present world. Esau in fact absorbed the negative part of Jacob, whereas Jacob became the recipient of the positive part of Esau. The Torah alludes to this mystery in 28,5, where Rebeccah is described as "mother of Jacob and Esau." Rashi comments that he does not understand what new dimension the Torah conveys in the verse. I believe that the Torah teaches us that Rebeccah, in her capacity as mother of both of these twins, allocated to each one certain genes in keeping with her prerogative as a mother. This is why the Torah could describe her earlier as "personally dressing Jacob," though clearly we must understand this merely as a figure of speech, and Jacob no doubt physically dressed himself. Rebeccah had exercised her prerogative to make one twin appear like the other. Once this had been accomplished, Jacob was certainly in line for receiving blessings that were meant to be effective in this world. Jacob's principal garments, of course, were those described as בגדי עשו החמודות, "Esau's valuable clothes," also mentioned in 27,16 as having remained under Rebeccah's care. These were reportedly the skins worn by Adam, a reminder of his having rehabilitated himself after his sin. G–d had made these for him in the terrestrial גן עדן, which is situated "opposite" its celestial counterpart.