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קום עלה ARISE: GO UP [TO BETHEL] — Because you have delayed to fulfil your vow to sacrifice to me at Bethel you have been punished by this trouble of your daughter coming upon you (Genesis Rabbah 81:2).

GO UP TO BETH-EL AND ABIDE THERE, AND MAKE THERE AN ALTAR. I do not know the significance of the expression, and abide there. Now it is possible that G-d commanded him to abide there at first in order to purify the camp from the idols taken from Shechem or from the dead they had touched, similar to, And encamp ye without the camp seven days,¹⁷⁶Numbers 31:19. Said to the soldiers who returned from the war against the Midianites. since they had not yet been commanded concerning the Waters of Sprinkling,¹⁷⁷Ibid., 19:17-19. Used in purification from the defilement of touching a dead body. and afterwards they were to make the altar. But Jacob was zealous in observing the commandment to be purified before he came to Beth-el. It may be that Jacob’s words, And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el,¹⁷⁸Verse 3 here. actually preceded the purification mentioned in the previous verse. And perhaps the command, and abide there, means that he was to direct his thought to cleaving to G-d.¹⁷⁹See Ramban, Deuteronomy 11, for further elucidation of this matter.

ושב שם. An invitation to prepare himself mentally and spiritually before beginning to build the altar that he had in mind to erect. This corresponds to what our sages have described as being the manner in which they prepared for prayer and subsequently unwound before pursuing mundane activities. According to Berachot 30 they spent an hour “gearing up” before commencing their prayers and then spent an hour unwinding before going about the business of earning their daily bread.

קום עלה בית אל, "Arise and proceed to Bet El, and settle there." The reason G'd said that Jacob should settle there though Bet El is in the land of the Canaanites is to reassure Jacob that he had nothing to fear from the local population.

ויאמר אלוקים, an angel appeared to him while he was at Shechem and told him to proceed to Bet El, and to redeem his vow there. Regarding the words of the angel: ושב שם, “and settle down there!,” this did not mean that Yaakov was to settle there permanently, but that he was to remain there long enough to build the house of G’d which he had undertaken to do as part of his original vow. The angel on this occasion hinted that Yaakov’s “dream” with the ladder had in fact been more than a dream, it had been the first vision of the Divine he had experienced. The incident with Dinah’s rape and the subsequent upheaval had delayed Yaakov’s progress in the direction of his father’s home. Yaakov’s having built himself a house in Sukkot and his purchase of real estate had given the impression that he intended to settle in that vicinity permanently. His duty at that time had been to proceed to Bet El and to pay his vow of 34 years ago. He was supposed to proceed directly in the direction of his father’s home without allowing himself to be distracted on the way. Having failed to do this, G’d punished him with the incident involving Dinah. Even though we explained that Yaakov’s punishment was due to his having experienced fear in spite of repeated assurances by G’d that He would be with him, this delay he had allowed himself was an additional reason for his being punished.

ושב שם ועשה שם מזבח, “and settle there, and erect an altar there.” Nachmanides writes that he does not understand the meaning of the words ושב שם, but he considers it possible that the meaning was that Yaakov should establish a temporary residence at Beyt El before proceeding to erect the altar mentioned in the second half of the verse. The purpose of the altar would be to cleanse themselves of all the ritual impurities connected with various types of idolatry, or the state of defilement incurred through contact with the slain people of Shechem. This is based on the verse (Numbers 31,19) “and you encamp outside the encampment for seven days.” This was necessary as the legislation for such defiled persons to sprinkle water laced with the ashes of the red heifer on themselves, to purify themselves before they could re-enter the camp. had not yet been given. Perhaps G’d commanded Yaakov to shift his focus to matters of a religious nature before building the altar at Beyt El.

ויאמר אלוקים אל יעקב קום עלה בית אל ושב שם, G’d said to Yaakov: “rise and move to Bet-El and settle down there.” The meaning of the word ושב, in this instance is “let your mind come to rest.” He was to erect an altar to G’d there when he had recovered from his disturbed frame of mind. The fact that G’d appeared to him would contribute to Yaakov’s recovering his peace of mind.

Because you lingered on your journey you have been punished... [Rashi knows this] because otherwise, why did Hashem need to command him, “Arise, go up [to Beis Eil]”? Yaakov had already vowed to do this! Perforce, Hashem was telling him: Go up quickly and linger no longer. But Yaakov was not punished for lingering in Lavan’s house, because the vow went into effect only when he began to return [home]. For it is written [when he made his vow], “And if I return in peace...” (28:21).

Das vorangehende Ereignis hatte gezeigt, wie das Zusammenwohnen mit dem kanaanitischen Landeseinwohner die Jakobsfamilie gefährdete. Es hätte auch Jakob wohl nicht sich in solcher Nähe derselben niederlassen sollen, hätte vor allem die Stätte aufsuchen sollen, wo er beim Ausgang aus väterlichem Hause den Grundstein zu seiner Zukunft gelegt und dabei das Gelübde seines Lebens getan, und hätte dann die Heimat aufsuchen sollen, die seine Eltern und Großeltern bereits für die ruhige Entfaltung des abrahamitischen Familienlebens geeignet gefunden hatten, und wo deren geachtetes Andenken auch ihn und die Seinigen schützend umfangen konnte. Zu beiden wird er hier veranlasst. Er zieht zuerst nach Bethel und dann nach Mamre-Kirjatharba- Chebron. —

קום עלה בית אל, “arise and go to BetEl!” Rashi explains that Yaakov was commanded to keep the vow he had made at the time when he had the dream with the ladder. G-d implied that if he had not delayed keeping that vow the problem with Dinah would not have befallen him. If you were to argue that Rashi himself, when commenting on Yaakov presenting only eleven of his children before Esau because he was afraid that Esau might violate her, was punished for having failed to seize the opportunity that she might bring him back to the faith of his father? How does this tally with what he writes here? It tallies absolutely! She could not have become the victim of Sh’chem if Esau would have expressed a desire for her. [I do not see a problem at all. If Yaakov thought he had to protect her from his own brother, why was Dinah not chaperoned and allowed to leave the house on her own and roam amongst Canaanites?Surely this was an additional act of neglect by her father, who was punished here for this act of neglect. Ed.]

לא-ל הנראה אליך, a reference to what he saw in his dream when G’d appeared to him to be standing on top of the ladder (28,13). At this juncture, the angel addressing him told him to build there an altar to the attribute of G’d Who had appeared to him at that location. The reason for the angel adding: בברחך, “when you were fleeing, etc.,” was a reminder to him that at that time he had been all alone and that G’d had given him His assurance that He would look after him and would bring him back to the land of Canaan. Seeing that G’d had kept His promise, it was now Yaakov’s turn to keep his vow.

ועשה שם מזבח לא-ל הנראה אליך בברחך, in order to give thanks to G’d Who has kept His promise which He gave you on that occasion. We have a long standing tradition that when one passes a location where one had once experienced G’d’s help in a clearly supernatural format one is to recite a special benediction giving thanks to G’d for having done so, even though the event may have taken place a long time ago. (Berachot 54).

ושב שם, bleibe dort, lasse dich dort eine zeitlang häuslich nieder: wohl, um sich und die Seinigen ganz mit dem Geiste zu durchdringen, den die Bedeutung dieser Stelle und die an sie sich knüpfenden Erinnerungen so sehr zu wecken geeignet waren.

The meaning could also be that G'd told Jacob to settle in Bet El in preference to his present location near Shechem. He should not settle anywhere until he had built an altar at the site he had experienced the vision of the ladder.

ועשה שם מזבח. Er hatte dort eine מצבה zur Erinnerung an das von Gott ihm dort Gewordene errichtet, hatte aber gelobt, die von Gott zu erhoffende Selbständigkeit dazu zu verwenden, diesen Denkstein in ein "Haus Gottes", d. h. in eine Stätte menschlichen Strebens und Schaffens umzuwandeln, das zum Ziele hat, der Gegenwart Gottes auf Erden würdig zu werden. Die Erfüllung dieses Gelöbnisses heißt: einen מזבח bauen, wo bis jetzt nur eine מצבה stand. Und das Ganze heißt: an der Stätte der Gottesoffenbarung sein Haus bauen und dabei einen Altar errichten, heißt: ושב שם ועשה שם מזבח לאל הנראה אליך der מזבח neben dem Hause (vergl. Kap.28. 17. f Kap.38, 20).