Komentarz do Rodzaju 35:7

אל בית אל EL-BETH-EL — the Holy One, blessed be He, is in Beth-El; i.e. His Divine Presence has revealed itself in Bethel. Sometimes the prefix ב “in” is omitted from a word: e.g., (2 Samuel 9:4) “Behold, he is (בית) in the house of Muchir, the son of Ammiel”, which is the same as בבית in the house of Machir; (24:13) בית אביך is the same as בבית אביך ,‘in the house of thy father”.

ויקרא למקום, which was outside Luz, where he had erected a monument 34 years earlier when he was on his way from his home El Bet El.

ויקרא למקום, to this inn for wayfarers where he had spent the night on his way from home some 34 years ago when the Torah had referred to it as ויפגע במקום (28,11)

ויקראו למקום א־ל בית אל, He named the place El Bet El. Although Jacob had already named this place Bet El when he fled from Esau, he repeated naming the place El Bet El; he meant that G'd specifically associated His name with that site. The reason he thought so was that G'd had revealed Himself to him there. The reason he returned to this place was that G'd had meanwhile fulfilled the promise He made to Jacob at the time of his flight from Esau. The site had therefore assumed an even higher degree of sanctity in Jacob's eyes.

ויבן שם מזבח, this means that he built the altar in the house he had built there at the site of the original monument of which he had said in 28,22 “this will become a house of G’d.” We explained this on that verse. It does not matter that the house itself was not mentioned here separately.

ויקרא למקום אל בית אל, “he called the name of that place ‘El Bet- El.’” According to the plain meaning of the text, the line means: “after G’d had appeared to him, he named the site: ‘the house of G’d.” I have already explained a kabbalistic approach to this verse when I discussed the meaning of Genesis 31,13.

God is in Beis Eil... [Rashi knows] that אל [means “God,”, and] is not a preposition [meaning “to”], because its vowel is a צירה. Also, its tropp is a טפחא, indicates that it is disconnected [from the following word].

Er hatte früher die Stätte Bethel genannt, weil ihm dort die Wahrheit offenbart worden, dass Gott von dem Menschen auf Erden ein Haus gebaut haben wolle, in welchem Er segnend und leitend seine Stätte finde. Jetzt, da er mit einem solchen "Hause" an die Stätte zurückkehrt, vereinigt er damit den Gedanken, wie in der Gewährung der geistigen und materiellen Kraft zur Erbauung eines solchen "Gotteshauses" selbst sich die allmächtig waltende Gottheit offenbart, wie darum die reinste und höchste Menschentat im tiefsten Grunde zur Gottestat wird, ein jedes wahrhafte "Gotteshaus" nicht nur seiner Bestimmung, sondern auch seiner Entstehung nach ein Haus Gottes ist, und nannte die Stätte daher: "Gott des Gotteshauses" wie ja einst David denselben Gedanken aussprach: ממך הכל ומידך נתנו לך Chron. 1. 29, 14.

האלו־הים, the angels (according to Ibn Ezra) scriptural proof: Genesis 32,2: ויפגעו בו מלאכי אלוהים, “angels of G-d met him there.” Also: Genesis 28,12: והנה מלאכי אלו הים, “and lo here there were angels of G-d.” (in his dream)

נגלו אליו האלהים GOD WAS REVEALED UNTO Him — In many passages terms denoting Divine Power and Lordship are used in the plural e. g., (39:20) “Joseph’s master (אֲדֹנֵי)” (construct plural), and (Exodus 22:14) “If its owner (בעליו) be with it”, where it does not say בַּעֲלוֹ (the singular form). Similarly, forms of אלהים denoting Judge or Authority are expressed in the plural, but you will find none other of the Divine Names in the plural.

Originally, he had called the town known as Luz merely Bet El. Now he named the site where he had had the dream with the ladder El Bet El. This site was outside the town previously known as Luz. He added the word El, seeing that during all the intervening years G’d had stood by him.

א-ל בית א-ל, “the sanctuary of Bet El.”

ויקרא למקום א-ל בית א-ל. He had already called it Bet El on a previous occasion, Now he only expanded the name. Compare our commentary on 33,20.

כי שם נגלו וגו׳ denn dort war ihm einst, als flüchtigem, völlig mittellosem Wanderer der Gottesbeistand für eine solche Zukunft zugesagt worden, und diese Verheißung hatte sich nun so voll und mächtig erfüllt. Der Plural in Attributen und Prädikaten zu אלקים ist keineswegs ein sehr gewöhnlicher. Vergleichen wir die Stellen: אשר לו קרובים אליו (B. M. 4, 7 .5) ואם רע בעיניכם לעבוד את ד׳ וגו׳ וגו׳ לא תוכלו לעבוד את ד׳ כי א׳ קדושים הוא (Josua 24, 15f. 19) ומי כעמך כישראל וגו׳ אשר הלכו א׳ לפדות לו וגו׳ selbst das ,(Sam. 11. 7, 23) א׳ חיים Sam. I. 17, 26 und 36; Jirmija 10. 11; 23, 35: so scheint in allen diesen Stellen der Plural aus der Pluralität des Gottheitbegriffes der nichtjüdischen Welt entstanden zu sein, auf welche alle diese Stellen hinblicken, und, im Gegensatz zu diesem, die Nähe, Heiligkeit, Wundermacht, lebendige Daseinswirklichkeit des einen einzigen Gottes Israels hervorheben zu sollen, der in seiner Alleinheit das wirklich ist, was die polytheistische Welt von ihren vielen vermeintlich träumt. So dürfte vielleicht auch hier der Plural aus dem Gegensatz zu dem אלהי נכר erwachsen, deren Embleme er soeben aus dem Kreise der Seinen und derer, die sich ihnen angeschlossen, — waren doch Frauen und Kinder von Schechem, wie es (oben Raw Hirsch on Genesis 35: 29) scheint, bei ihnen — fortgeschafft hatte. Ihnen machte er es an dieser Stätte klar, wie das, was die übrige Welt in ihren Göttern als "betrogene Betrüger" vergebens sucht, er in Wahrheit in dem אל בית אל gefunden, der ihm eben hier offenbar geworden.

כי שם נגלו אליו האלוקים, a reference to the angels ascending and descending the ladder whom he had seen in his dream. Alternatively, the meaning of the word ה-אלוקים is a reference to G’d, Himself, not an intermediary. The reason why he used the plural mode נגלו instead of נגלה when the subject is only G’d Himself, is that this is a form of great respect and honour for the subject [known as pluralis majestatis when a king refers to himself in the plural. Ed.] compare Psalms 149,2 ישמח ישראל בעושיו, “Let Israel rejoice in its Maker.” A similar construction is found in Job 35,10 איה אלו-ה עושי?, “Where is the Lord, My Maker?” There are more such examples in Scripture.