Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran... The passage continues ‘this rock that I have made into a pillar will be the House of G-d, and of all which You give me, I will give You a tithe’.
There are various questions on this from previous Chassidic teachings, beginning with the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe. One is about the rock becoming the House of G-d. How can a rock reach such a high spiritual level that it is called the House of G-d?
The point is that Jacob’s name in Hebrew, Yakov, is composed of the letter Yod, signifying something highly spiritual (like the letter Yod beginning the Divine Name, the Tetragrammaton) and the word Akev, ‘heel’. This suggests a movement drawing from the highest spiritual level, down to the lowest, the ‘heel’ of existence.
Similarly, Jacob’s journey was from Beersheba, a spiritual place, literally meaning the Well of Seven, [which can be understood as relating to the seven Sefirot]. He went from there to Haran, which is described as relating to the phrase haron af, anger. He was drawing from the supernal spiritual realm of Beersheba into the lowest, anger filled aspect of the world. His goal was to ‘sift’, purify and transform, that lower realm. Through this the rock, something low and inanimate, could become the House of G-d.
Hasidic teachings explain that Jacob was drawing great radiance from the beginning of the downchaining of the worlds, indeed from Wisdom and Keter (Crown), higher than the downchaining, and he was drawing that down to the lowest levels, in order to transform them.
The discourse now explains that in order to achieve this, two kinds of movement are necessary. The first is reaching from below upwards. This is expressed in the verse ‘I lift up the goblet of salvation’ (Ps.116:13). The word ‘salvation’ in Hebrew is yeshuot, a word explained in the Zohar as meaning a burst of supernal radiance. In order to receive the radiance, the goblet must be lifted up, expressing the individual reaching towards the Divine.
The Mitteler Rebbe explains that there is also a silver chalice (gevia hakesef) which does not have to be lifted up. It is in a higher position, from which it pours downwards. This is the cup of Joseph.
The verse ‘I lift up the goblet of salvation’ is in Psalms, said by King David, representing Kingship, the tenth Divine attribute. The attribute Kingship flows down to the lowest levels of existence, to give them life, including realms of impurity. Hence the goblet has to be lifted upwards, away from the lower realms, so that it can receive from the radiance.
By contrast Joseph’s chalice is already exalted. Joseph signifies the higher Sefirot, considered ‘male’, pouring down into the lower goblet, thought of as ‘female’, which is lifted up to receive the flow.
In the life of the individual these two aspects are like Prayer and Torah study. In Prayer the person reaches up towards the Divine, as Psalm 25:1 says – ‘From David – to You, o G-d, I lift up my soul’. By contrast the upper silver chalice expresses the downpouring of Torah, from G-d to the Jewish people and to each individual.
Chassidic teachings present the image of two people, one above and one below. How will they meet? Will the lower limb up to the higher, or the upper come down to the lower? These express Prayer reaching upwards and Torah flowing downwards.
This relationship of upper to lower is seen in our time of Exile. But in the time of the Redemption the relationship will change. The goblet which signifies Malchut, Kingship, will be elevated to the level of the chalice and higher, reaching to Keter, Crown, the highest level of the system of Sefirot.
Now we can try to understand the meaning of Jacob’s rock. The rock is on the lowest level; but then Jacob elevates it to the highest. This is expressed in the verse ‘the stone which the builders despised has become the head of the corner’. In the same way the rock on which Jacob laid his head when he slept, which he then made into a pillar, which he anointed with olive oil, will be elevated to become the House of G-d, the Temple, where the radiance of the Infinite is revealed to all.
