Shabbat Beit El and Jacob's Ladder

I woke up early this morning, hoping to catch minyan. First, I took a plain yogurt from the fridge, but it was too plain for me. On the advice of my wife, I added some honey.

... and then it hit me. I was eating MILK and HONEY! Just another one of those moments where you realize you're living in the Land of Israel.

For those of us living in Beit El, this is no ordinary Shabbat - this is Shabbat Beit El, so called because of the Torah portion we read this Shabbat (Parshat Vayeitzeh, Genesis, 28:10)

"Ya'akov (Jacob) went out from Be'er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed the night there, because the sun had set. He took from the stones of the place, and put them under his head and lay down to sleep. He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of the Lord were going up and down on it."



"Then suddenly the Lord was standing above him; and he said, 'I am Hashem, the G-d of Avraham your [grand] father and the G-d of Yitz'chak. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your descendants. Your descendents will be as numerous as the grains of dust on the earth. You shall greatly expand westward, eastward, northward and southward. By you and your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed. Look, I am with you, I will guard you wherever you go, and I will bring you back into this land, because I won't leave you until I have done what I have promised you.'"

Beit El, 1905


And Jacob awakened from his sleep, and he said, "Indeed, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know [it]." And he was frightened, and he said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." And Jacob arose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had placed at his head, and he set it up as a monument, and he poured oil on top of it. And he named the place Beth el, but Luz was orignally the name of the city.

Beit El today


And Jacob uttered a vow, saying, "If G-d will be with me, and He will guard me on this way, upon which I am going, and He will give me bread to eat and a garment to wear; And if I return in peace to my father's house, and the Lord will be my G-d; Then this stone, which I have placed as a monument, shall be a house of G-d, and everything that You give me, I will surely tithe to You.

A few points:

1. When G-d promised Jacob that "I am with you, I will guard you wherever you go, and I will bring you back into this land, because I won't leave you until I have done what I have promised you," He was not only talking to Jacob the person. Rather, Hashem was talking to the entire Jewish people, throughout their history. Hashem was promising that He will bring back the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, and that He will not leave them until He has done what He has promised.
Leaving, in this case, means the time of Moshiach, the End of Days, the time when the story of the world is wrapped up.

2. A question can be asked on the verse in which G-d states, "The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your descendants." Does it mean to say that only the Land that Jacob laid upon, a mere few feet, He will give to the Jewish people? Rashi explains that G-d folded up the entire Land of Israel beneath Jacob, so that Jacob was laying on the entire Land; and furthermore, this was assigned to Jacob, that it will be as easy to conquer the Land of Israel as it is to sleep in that place. The imagery of the whole Land of Israel folded underneath Jacob is a moving one. His body, spread out on the Land, represents the twelve tribes and their inheritance in the Land. The miracle of the Jewish people reconquering the Land of Israel is very much alive today.

3. Beit El today is a flourishing community, with the second highest birthrate in Israel (reportedly, the first highest birthrate is in Bnei Brak). Beit El has a wonderful yeshiva, produces the best tefillin in Israel, and of course, it is home to Arutz 7's Israel National News and Israel National Radio.

Last, but not least, it is home to Yishai and Malkah Fleisher, Alex, Tzipi and Temima Traiman, and a host of wonderful people whom we have grown to love and respect.

Malkah and her home in Beit El


Yishai tends the garden