He encountered the place and spent the night there because the sun had set; he took from the stones of the place and he put them around his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamt, and behold! A ladder was set earthward and its top reached heavenward; and behold! angels of G-d were ascending and descending on it. And Behold! HaShem was standing over him, and He said, “I am HaShem, G-d of Avraham your father and G-d of Yitzchak; the ground upon which you are lying, to you will I give it and to your descendants. Your offspring shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall burst forth westward, eastward, etc.... Behold, I am with you; and I will guard you wherever you go... Yaakov awoke from his sleep and said, Surely Hashem is in this place and I did not know!” (Bereishis 28:11-17).
One can ask many questions on why the Torah goes to great length here to describe where and why Yakov Avinu went to sleep. We all know that there were no Sheraton Hotels or Holiday Inns or even a motel by the side of the road. Why should we care and what does it mean for us today where and why Yakov Avinu went to sleep.
Rashi explains that the Torah did not enumerate what place Yaakov was at but understands that the word in Hebrew “Makom” - place refers to the Har HaBayis - the Temple Mount. Rashi teaches us from Akeidas Yitzchak (Bereishis 22:4) that he (Avraham Avinu) saw the place from afar. Rashi explains there that the Torah is referring to the Temple Mount where Yitzchak Avinu was bound. But the question can be asked is where was Yakov Avinu when this occurred?
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 95a-b makes an interesting comment. The Gemara explains that Yakov Avinu was already at the gates of Charan, when the road carried him back to Yerushalayim. The Gemara explains that “For he had reached Charan and said, ‘is it possible that I passed the place where my fathers prayed and I did not pray there? He made up his mind to go back, and returned to Beit El, and the road was shortened for him” And then he lay down to sleep. “Vayishkav bamakom hahu - He lay down in that place.”
The question is why did he do this? The Maggid of Yerushalayim - Rabbi Shalom Schwadron explains that Yaakov Avinu did not sleep at all while he was learning in the Yeshiva of Ever. That was 14 years! He didn’t lie down because he was on the way to the house of Lavan Ha’arami and that he should have a good nights’ sleep before starting on a long trip. No, he was preparing himself to meet someone who was a great rasha - a great evil person!
It is important to note, Reb Shalom explains that the Torah only deals with great tzaddikim (righteous) or great reshaim (wicked people). Therefore, Yaakov needed to prepare himself in the place where his fathers garnered their spiritual energy from - the Temple Mount!
We know that the incidents related in Sefer Bereishis are recorded to teach us lessons that we need for our lives today. Maaseh Avos Siman L‘banim. The actions of the fathers are signs for the children. What do we learn from the events related in this week’s Parsha with Yaakov Avinu and his desire to return to the place where his fathers grew spiritually and gathered their strength from?
We learn a core lesson that unfortunately the world is trying to drive from the conscious of the Jewish Nation. The spiritual, religious and political center of Klal Yisrael - the Jewish People is Yerushalayim and the Har HaBayis. Yerushalayim has been the capital of the Jewish people from the days of King David. It has been the official religious center of the Jewish people from that day too when King David brought the Mishkan and the Aron Hakodesh to Yerushalayim. We pray three times daily and face Yerushalayim and the Har HaBays. We pray everyday for the rebuilding of the Temple and return of the priestly service. Does any other nation have this embedded in their daily lives?
One can visit Yerushalayim today, and see the excavations along the Temple Mount and Yerushalyaim. Is it possible not to know that this was not the center of the Jewish people for thousands of years? The daily discoveries being unearthed every today, is a sign from HaShem to awaken us from our slumber that this is in fact our inheritance. Unfortunately not all of us are listening or worse we are indifferent.
It is true times are difficult. But they are as difficult to us today as the days in which our forbearers lived. Our grandparents had a depression and overt anti-semitism. There were no guarantees for Sabbath observance. Yeshiva education was only for a few. Hitler’s shadow was on the horizon. Can today be any more difficult? It is always difficult to make a living and it is always difficult to deal with the travails of life. However, we must always try to rise above to see the big picture. That picture is what Hashem wishes for us to do. We must always keep in our sights the place where His name is and where His Temple stood. It is true that currently there is no Temple, but that does not diminish the fact that today we can go anyplace in Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisrael. That would have been a dream to our grandparents in Europe 100 years ago. But we can do it today.
However, just going is not enough. Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisrael are under attack. Maybe it is currently not under attack from armies but under attack it is. It is under attack from the big lies of the day. It is an overt attempt to separate Klal Yisrael from its inheritance that was promised by HaShem to Avraham Avinu and reiterated to Yaakov Avinu when he went to Lavan. We need to be cognizant of this fact and not help our enemies.
I had the merit to be invited to hear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak during the Aseres Y’mai Teshuva when he was in New York to address the United Nations. I was invited as a leader of the Young Israel movement. The Prime Minister said that we must refute and counter the three big lies that are being said about Eretz Yisrael today. They are 1) The Holocaust did not occur 2) We are the obstacles for peace and 3) We are colonialists - we have no historical reference to Eretz Yisrael and Yerushalayim.
It is important to say to anyone who believes or does not understand what these lies mean and answer them as follows: Regarding the Holocaust that did not occur let them go ask the survivors who are still among us and have numbers on their arms that the Holocaust did not occur or go ask the President of the United States who went to Buchenwald and Dachau. Ask them if the Holocaust did not occur. Let them read the transcripts of the Nuremberg trials or the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961. Let them see the diagram of the Auschwitz death camp signed by the head of the SS Heinrich Himmler himself. Then ask if the Holocaust did not occur.
Regarding the lie of Israel being the obstacle for peace answer them as follows: Would any country evacuate their citizens from territory they conquered in wars of aggression from their enemies if they would return it unconditionally? Ask them how long they would refrain from stopping missiles being launched against their cities and their populations without respite and provocation. How long would they refrain before attacking without any warning the source of the aggression. Ask any army if they would call their enemies before attacking and ask them to evacuate the civilian population so as to minimize civilian deaths. Would they do that? Ask the United States and Great Britain if they would have done that against German cities in World War II or the United States against Japanese cities? The historical evidence is clear they did not. Ask the member states of NATO if they would have refrained and called the civilian population during the bombing campaign of the Balkan War of the 1990’s? Ask the Russian Republic in Chechnya if they would do what the IDF did. The answer would be a resounding no!
Finally, the most insidious lie that is being said and promulgated today is that the Jewish people have no historical background to the Land of Israel or Yerushalayim. All one has to do is see the miracles being uncovered daily in the Holy City. Hashem is telling us - Banai! My children - here is your evidence. I am helping you to reclaim your inheritance as I told your Avos HaKedoshim. Take it and let the world know it is yours! What do we do? We say nothing! It is similar to the Jewish people before and during the Holocaust. We said nothing in fear of raising the angst of the Non-Jewish world. It was only when members of the Orthodox Rabbinate marched on Washington in 1943 and begged to see the President did any action occur. The War Refugee Board was formed and thousands of Jews were saved. A belated action yes but still something was done. We learned from this mistake. When the State of Israel was proclaimed, it was the National Council of Young Israel that took a leading role in helping the fledgling State protect and defend itself. A generation later, we took to the streets to fight for Soviet Jewry against the advice of the established Jewish leadership. Ultimately these protests help open the doors for Soviet Jewry to leave.
Today we have a war for Yerushalayim and the essence of Jewish right to the land of Israel. Just like Yaakov who was already at the gates of Charan when he realized that he needed to go back to the place where his fathers drew their strength from, we too must go back and draw our strength from Yerushalayim and the Har HaBayis - the Temple Mount. We must be vocal with our leaders in the United States and the secular leaders in Eretz Yisrael not to make the same mistake again. We must demand that the Temple Mount be removed from the Waqf - the Muslim Authority which; was mistakenly given control in 1967 by Moshe Dayan and be given back to us. It is our inheritance and our strength. It is a promise that Hashem made to Yaakov and which is forever binding. That is the essence of this week’s Parsha for us today. If we want to draw our strength from Yerushalayim and the Har HaBayis, we must be proactive and let the President and Congress in the United States know this fact. We must let the Government of Israel know this. If we do this, then Hashem will continue to allow us to draw our strength from the Makom - the place.
