(AY:XK TYwARB) „AWHH OWQMB BKwYW ...wMwH AB YK Ow ILYW OWQMB EGPYW
“He came to the place, and tarried there for the sun had set... and he lay down in that place.” (Beraishis. 28:11)
Enroute to Lavan’s home to find a wife as his parents told him, Yaakov passed a place. Not just any place, this was “The Place.” Chazal tell us this was Har HaMoriah, where the binding of Yitzchak occurred, and where the Bais HaMikdash would be built in the future. Arriving there, a number of things happened.
First of all, Yaakov davened. We know this because the word used for his arrival is ‘vayifga,’ which we find in other verses refers to prayer. Prayer is a meeting of the person and Hashem, and Yaakov took the opportunity to daven at this holy spot. But that wasn’t it.
He then stayed there because the sun had set. The Midrash tells us the sun set two hours early, presumably to keep Yaakov in that location. Finally, it tells us that Yaakov lay down in that spot. We deduce from these words that though he lay himself down here, but he did not lay down during the fourteen years he spent in Yeshiva on the way to Lavan, where Yaakov had stopped to prepare himself for life’s challenges ahead.
If Yaakov hadn’t slept in a bed in fourteen years, why did he choose to lay down now? Especially when he sensed there was holiness in that place, he should have remained awake. Why the sudden change?
Perhaps, when Yaakov came to Har HaMoriah, he sensed it was a special place. Just as Yitzchak had prayed in the spot where the angel appeared to Hagar, Yaakov prayed in the spot where his father had been bound as a sacrifice until an angel appeared to his grandfather and told him to stop. He was prepared to move on, but darkness fell abruptly.
He therefore tarried and stayed in that place. He understood that Hashem wanted him to stay there for some reason, so he waited.
When nothing happened, Yaakov reasoned that Hashem wanted something else from him. Instead of traveling on, he made himself even more present in that location by laying down. Sleep overtook him and he dreamed the prophecy of Hashem promising to give him the land promised to his fathers, and to protect him and accompany Yaakov throughout his life.
We learn from the actions of Yaakov Avinu to take our cues from Hashem. When we find ourselves somewhere, it is for a reason. It’s our job to try to figure out that purpose, and to change the way we think or act in order to do so. Because Yaakov recognized the signals from Hashem that something great was to happen, he did what he could to be ready for it.
Therefore, despite not laying down for fourteen years, now he felt it was what Hashem wanted from him, so he did it. How far one should go to get the messages Hashem is sending him, and how open he must be to recognizing that what Hashem wants may not be what he originally thought.
The Baal Shem Tov was known to do things ordinary people didn’t understand. Once, he told one of his students to go to a particular island. The fellow caught the ferry to the island and waited all day for something special to happen. Nothing did, and he caught the ferry back in the afternoon.
When he returned to his master, he said that he had gone where instructed, but was unsure why, because nothing special had happened. “Did you do anything on the island?” asked the Rebbe. “No,” he replied. “Did you eat anything there?” “Well, yes, I brought food along but lunch was uneventful.”
The Baal Shem Tov said, “From the Six Days of Creation, no bracha or mention of Hashem has been said on that island. There were sparks of holiness trapped there. When you made your bracha, you freed them, and elevated them to Heaven.”
©2023 – J. Gewirtz
