Shabbos Parashas Vayeitzei - 5780
Shabbos Parashas Vayeitzei - 5780
Rabbi Hal Miller
And he became frightened and said, "How awesome is this place. This
is none other than the abode of God and this is the gate of the heavens."
[Bereishis 28:17]
On this verse, Rav Hirsch asks, "What made Yaakov afraid?" The answer
seems to lie in the remainder of the verse, but what does it mean? There
must be some differentiation between "abode of God" and "gate of the
heavens" or the Torah would not have listed two phrases.
Radak gives Rav Hirsch a possible answer, "He feared for himself that he
might have done something not allowed in a holy place, or he was not in a state
of ritual purity," and Onkelos says something similar, ""This is not an ordinary
place." Both emphasize the holiness of the geographical spot, which follows
from the last half of the verse.
Rashi deviates slightly when he writes, "A place of prayer, for their prayers
ascend heavenward." Here, the reference to place is for a purpose other than
attributing holiness to that spot, rather simply to inform us of where we should
pray. Both Rashi and Ramban tell us that the Beis HaMikdash belongs there,
which is the gateway for our prayers to ascend to heaven, which is again
what the end of the verse states.
All these commentators focus on the last portion of the verse, the abode of
God and gateway to the heavens. But others see it differently.
Rav Soloveitchik explains that this is the "first recognition by Yaakov of the
holiness of the land of Israel," a recognition that left him awestruck, thus
concentrating on the earlier part of the verse, Yaakov's mindset.
Sfas Emes understands that most people waking up from such a dream
would be thinking about their own greatness in having been afforded such
a view, but that Yaakov, to his credit, assumed the dream was only because
of the place, that anyone sleeping there would have seen it, so was afraid
that maybe he had seen something he didn't merit. Thus the concentration
is on the earlier part of the verse, the fear and awesomeness of place.
Rav Hirsch answers his own question. Yaakov's realization of the ties
between upper and lower strata were a new idea to him. This revelation
made clear to him that he had a role in the connection, which was the
source of his awe. He stood at the boundary, the gate through which all
communication passes upward to God on His throne. Why at that place
was not important, rather only what needed to be done there.