Scaling the Temple Mount

(11) He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. (12) He had a dream; a ladder. was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and messengers of God were going up and down on it. (13) And standing beside him was ה׳, who said, “I am ה׳, the God of your father Abraham’s [house] and the God of Isaac’s [house]: the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and to your offspring. (14) Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants. (15) Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (16) Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely ה׳ is present in this place, and I did not know it!” (17) Shaken, he said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.” (18) Early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.

(6) Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land. (7) ה׳ appeared to Abram and said, “I will assign this land to your offspring.” And he built an altar there to ה׳ who had appeared to him. (8) From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to ה׳ and invoked ה׳ by name.

[AND HE LIGHTED UPON THE PLACE.] The reason the bet of ba-makom (the place) is vocalized with a pattach is that Moses in writing the Torah did so in order to indicate the place that was well known in his time.

And he arrived at the place and lodged there because the sun had set. Our Sages said (Chullin 91b) that this was Mount Moriah, as it says about it “…and he saw the place from afar.” (Bereshit 22:4) That place was called ‘the place’ without any specific name. Every place has an identifying name, derived from the name of its owner or its nature, but in this it was separate from all other places – the essence and name of this place was hidden as I explained above in the portion of Vayera (22:14). Therefore it is called simply ‘the place,’ because it has not yet received the name which will distinguish it from all other places.

And he called the name of the place, the Lord will see, as it is said this day, on the mountain of the Lord, He will be seen: ...

this is why he called the name of the place, the Lord will see, implying the future: Because the Holy One, blessed be He, did not reveal this holy place to any creature. For even to Avraham, it was said, "upon one of the mountains which I will tell you" (Genesis 22:2). And we do not see that He said anything to him, except that which Avraham sensed, in that he saw a cloud tied around the mountain. Nevertheless, 'there was no speech and no words,' that this was the place that God desired for His seat.

Another reason why it is called simply ‘the place,’ is because this is the place of the world. This is both because the foundation stone, from which the world was founded, is located there, and that even now the whole world rests on it because from there the Divine abundance pours out to the world.

Ya’akov sensed that this would be the place of the Holy Temple when he saw that the sun set upon him before its proper time, because this holy place dims the sphere of the sun and does not require the sun.

SURELY THE LORD IS IN THIS PLACE. The meaning of Jacob’s statement is that there are places where miracles are seen. [The point is that there are some places where God’s presence is more manifest than in others. Cf. I.E.’s comments on Ex. 25:40.] I cannot explain why this is so because it is a deep mystery. [It is beyond human comprehension (Weiser). Levine (Introduction to Vat. Ebr. 38) suggests that when I.E. says, I cannot explain, he means, I am not permitted to explain.]

כי אם בית אלקים THIS IS NONE OTHER THAN THE HOUSE OF GOD —R. Eleazar said in the name of R. José the son of Zimra: “This ladder stood in Beersheba and [the middle of]) its slope reached opposite the Temple” (Genesis Rabbah 69:7). For Beersheba is situated in the South of Judah, Jerusalem in the North of it on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin and Bethel in the North of Benjamin’s territory, on the border between the land of Benjamin and that of the children of Joseph. It follows, therefore, that a ladder whose foot is in Beersheba and whose top is in Bethel has the middle of its slope reaching opposite Jerusalem. Now as regards what our Rabbis stated (Chullin 91b) that the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “This righteous man has came to the place where I dwell (i.e., the Temple at Jerusalem, whilst from here it is evident that he had come to Luz) and shall he depart without staying here over night?”, and with regard to what they also said, (Pesachim 88a) “Jacob gave the name Bethel to Jerusalem”, whereas this place which he called Bethel was Luz and not Jerusalem, whence did they learn to make this statement (which implies that Luz is identical with Jerusalem)? I say that Mount Moriah was forcibly removed from its locality and came hither (to Luz), and that this is what is meant by the “shrinking” of the ground that is mentioned in the Treatise (Chullin 91b) — that the site of the Temple came towards him (Jacob) as far as Bethel and this too is what is meant by ויפגע במקום, “he lighted upon the place” (i.e., he “met” the place, as two people meet who are moving towards each other; cf. Rashi on Genesis 5:11). Now, since Jacob’s route must have been from Beersheba to Jerusalem and thence to Luz and Haran and consequently when he reached Luz he had passed Jerusalem, if you should ask, “When Jacob passed the Temple why did He not make him stop there?” — If it never entered his mind to pray at the spot where his fathers had prayed should Heaven force him to stop there to do so? Really he had reached as far as Haran as we say in the Chapter גיד הנשה (Chullin 91b), and Scripture itself proves this since it states, “And he went to Haran”. When he arrived at Haran he said, “Is it possible that I have passed the place where my fathers prayed without myself praying there?” He decided to return and got as far as Bethel where the ground "shrank” for him. This Bethel is not the Bethel that is near Ai (cf. Genesis 12:8) but that which is near Jerusalem, and because he said of it, “It shall be the House of God”, he called it Bethel. This, too, is Mount Moriah, where Abraham prayed, and it is also the field in which Isaac offered prayer as it is written, “[Isaac went out] to meditate (i. e., to pray; cf. Genesis 24:63) in the field”. Thus, too, do we read in the Treatise (Pesachim 88a) in a comment on the verse Micah 4:2: “[O come ye and let us go up] to the mountain of the Lord (i.e. the mountain upon which the Temple is built) and to the house of the God of Jacob”. What particular reason is there for mentioning Jacob? But the text calls the Temple not as Abraham did who called it a mount, and not as Isaac did, who called it a field, but as Jacob did who called it Beth[el]—the House of God. (To here from “This Bethel” is to be found in a certain correct Rashi-text)

(7) Jacob rose up early in the morning in great fear, and said: The house of the Holy One, blessed be He, is in this place, as it is said, "And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the house of God" (Gen. 28:17). Hence thou canst learn that every one who prays in Jerusalem is (reckoned) as though he had prayed before the Throne of Glory, for the gate of heaven is there, and it is open to hear the prayers of Israel, as it is said, "And this is the gate of heaven" (ibid.).

(8) And Jacob returned to gather the stones, and he found them all (turned into) one stone, and he set || it up for a pillar in the midst of the place, and oil descended for him from heaven, and he poured it thereon, as it is said, "And he poured oil upon the top of it" (Gen. 28:18). What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He placed (thereon) His right foot, and sank the stone to the bottom of the depths, and He made it the keystone of the earth, just like a man who sets a keystone in an arch; therefore it is called the foundation stone, for there is the navel of the earth, and therefrom was all the earth evolved, and upon it the Sanctuary of God stands, as it is said, "And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house" (Gen. 28:22).

(9) And Jacob fell upon his face to the ground before the foundation stone, and he prayed before the Holy One, blessed be He, saying: Sovereign of all worlds ! If Thou wilt bring me back to this place in peace, I will sacrifice before Thee offerings of thanksgiving and burnt offerings, as it is said, "And Jacob vowed a vow, saying" (Gen. 28:20). There he left the well, and thence he lifted up his feet, and in the twinkle of the eye he came to Haran, as it is said, "And Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the children of the east" (Gen. 29:1); and the (text) says, "And Jacob went from Beer-Sheba, and went to Haran" (Gen. 28:10). "And the Holy God is sanctified in righteousness" (Isa. 5:16). The angels answered and said: Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the Holy God.

לחם ויין BREAD AND WINE — Thus is done for those wearied through battle. He showed him (Abraham) that he bore him no malice for killing his descendants.

The Midrashic explanation is that he (Melchizedek) thereby gave an intimation to him (Abraham) of the meal-offerings and libations which his descendants would offer there (in Salem which is Jeru-salem) (Genesis Rabbah 43:6).

AND MELCHIZEDEK. He was so called because he was king (melech) over a righteous (tzedek) place. [Salem is Jerusalem. Jerusalem is known as the city of righteousness (Is. 1:26).]

(45) Thereupon Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. (46) And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” So they took stones and made a mound; and they partook of a meal there by the mound. (47) Laban named it Yegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Gal-ed.*Gal-ed Heb. for “the mound (or: stone-heap) of witness,” reflecting the name Gilead, v. 23. (48) And Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” That is why it was named Gal-ed; (49) and [it was called] Mizpah, because he said, “May ה׳ watch*watch Heb. yiṣeph, associated with Mizpah. between you and me, when we are out of sight of each other. (50) If you ill-treat my daughters or take other wives besides my daughters—though no one else. be about, remember, it is God who will be witness between you and me.” (51) And Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this mound and here the pillar which I have set up between you and me: