ר"ע תיתד תונויצל ינויערה גוחה ,םולשו זוע

So Yaakov worked seven years for Rachel, yet they were in his eyes as but a few days, because of his love for her. (Bereishit 28:20)

" . . .they were in his eyes as but a few days . . ." - Because he thought that she was worthy of a much higher price. ". . . because of his love for her." – Because love distorts judgement. (Sforno, Breishit 28:20)

" . . .they were in his eyes as but a few days . . ." Because of his great love for her, seven years' work was a trifling matter in his eyes; had Lavan asked for more, Yaakov would have worked more.

An alternative explanation: After he completed his term of labor, it seemed like a few days, but during the period of work it seemed like a very long time because of his love for her.

"It was, many years later . . ." – During the time of trouble, they are called 'many', and in a time of joy they are called "few", as is written "they were in his eyes as but a few days, because of his love for her," meaning: having passed, the days of indenture seemed but a few. (Hizkuni, Shmot 2:26)

Stone symbolizes permanence. Man is transitory. If his actions are not recorded, they fade away as though they had never been. Ostensibly there is no contact between stone and man. They are different beings. Different essences. Solidity versus softness. The eternal against the passing. Constancy opposed to flux. Stone remains as it was on the day of its creation; the human being is in constant change from the second it is born. The formlessness of stone disappears upon its encounter with man. The relationships which develop between them create another world.

Stone strikes man; he engraves his spirit upon it. He forms it to his imagination. He shapes it to his will, his thought, his vision. The stone is witness to our times. The etched stone remains to tell of us. The undefined stone . . . gray . . . in its clefts cyclamens flower and youths and maidens cavort . . . it is the material which envelops our home, the wall which surrounds our fortress. It is the earth upon which we stand. It is past, present . . . and it will be built. It is the cliff and it is the material in the hands of the builder.

The dream imparts meaning to the stone. Our ability to dream transforms the rock of the field to an oil-anointed altar. The rock becomes a monument to Yaakov's dream-vision. The dream united the many rocks into one.

" . . . one of the stones of the place . ." Words wrapped in the grandeur of the distant past. "The place". The center. The essence. "They came to the place that God had told him of and there Avraham build the slaughter-site".

The place. God. The altar. The focus. The nucleus. The focus of the Divinity. The focus/altar upon which burnt offerings are offered. Sacrifices offered to God. [Translator's note: The Hebrew דקומ means both "focus" and "burning place"]

The dream-vision-prophecy transforms one of the stones of the field into a monument which symbolizes the place. The focus-altar stands on the place which touches God. The place upon which the world is established. The point of genesis. The site touched by the finger of God when

"At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth", from which the petals of the world unfolded. The foundation. Its essence from earliest times,

"Luz was the name of the city in former times". The foundation of the earth. The essence.

The silent stone is a memorial of the dream. Life around it continues to flow. The stone stands on its place. The dream begins to be built. The dream takes on skin and sinew . . . becomes . . . changes. Reality is reality, and the dream is a dream. From the dream a path leads forward . . . " on this way that I go . . . "

The path joins the altar with the land of the Easterners. Distancing from the stone is indispensable for reaching the land. In order to live there. In order to live with the Easterners. The silent stone symbolizes the dream, but reality is dynamic, fluid, mutable. The stone makes life burdensome. Its heft bends the back. Life bubbles beneath, striving to burst forth.

We cannot drink of the water before we roll away the stone. Together. In cooperation. "The stone on the mouth of the well was large," larger than we. Only when the herds -- dissimilar to each other -- gather together, streaked, speckled and spotted, their unity removes the stone and gives the sheep living waters to drink.

"Now it was then Yaakov saw Rahel . . . that Yaakov came close, he rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and gave drink . . . (and he) kissed." [Trans. note: "gave drink" and "kissed" are spelled the same קשיו , differing only in vocalization].

New life sprouts from the meeting of the dreamer and the stone,the memorial of his dream. Yaakov's 'seeing' is the hope which imbues the rock with life, which gives the rock its 'rollability'. Movement leading to meeting. "And he kissed." The kiss of the far-apart. Movement which means new life. A kiss which results in a new reality. "They were in his eyes as but a few days, because of his love for her."

Life is replete with births, livelihood, and wanderings. Life is fraught with misunderstandings, enmities, conflicts of interest, contention.

Disputes over property, over women. Over gods. Controversy over the nature of life.

"What did you mean to do by stealing my wits and leading my daughters away like captives of the sword . . . Why did you steal my gods?" As against: " . . . stolen by day and stolen by night . . . by day, parching heat consumed me, and cold by night . . . It is twenty years for me now in your house; I have served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your animals, yet you have changed my wages six times over."

Two camps. Two creeds. Clashing wills. These are not matters of dreams. Difficult reality. Demands, claims, arguments.

Discord which ends in compromise. A compromise which is reconciliation.

"So now, come, let us cut a covenant, I and you, and let (something here) serve as a witness between me and you."

The interpretation of the dream is the bridge, the uniting force. The dream includes ascents and descents. The land and the continuity of generations. And also the angels of God. The same stones which were united by the dream became the monument of reconciliation. "Yaakov took a stone and erected it as a standing- pillar". The erectness of the stone is witness. To the dream and its reconciliation. Its interpretation. Its compromise. [Trans. note: The Hebrew words for "interpretation" רשפ and "compromise" הרשפ share a common root].

"Here is this mound, here is the pillar that I have sunk between me and you: witness be this mound, witness is the pillar that I will not cross over this mound to you and that you will not cross over this mound and this pillar to me, for ill! May the God of Avraham and the God of Nahor keep-justice between us . . ."

Reconciliation combines the fragments into new form. An essence which contains relationships between its different components. Reconciled. Connected. A mound composed of ascents and descents. The mound is dynamic. [Trans. note: The Hebrew for "mound" also means "wave"]. A mound can dismantle into pieces and can reassemble them anew. The form of the mound is determined by its basic components, yet is different from them. The mound has its own existence. The mound buries beneath itself the past, and enables new laws of life to exist.

Two stones of monument. The first, the memorial of the dream at the outset of the journey; the second, memorial of the reconciliation on the way home. The two meetings of man/monument are accompanied by angels. The place is not compressed into a single stone. The place is an expanding entity. The place expands its capacity. The compromise to the quarrel between the stones – on whom will this tzaddik rest his head – is concluded with the unification of the stones. The expanding place contains diversity. The monument/witness includes stones, rocks, pebbles, and chips. Alienation is eliminated in Luz, the place which encompasses multiplicity. "The house of God" becomes "the camp of God". "Beth El becomes Mahanayim."

What is the difference between stone and man? Stone is immutable. Stone can crack. Can be scratched. Broken. Not in vain did we carry the fragments of the tablets of our faith in the ark together with our new faith. Belief revives itself. Faith develops . . . renews itself . . . reconciles.

Faith is a dream. Faith is the driving force. Faith dons awe – yir'ah. Perfection is peace. The parts of the whole, the "shalem", complement each other. The motivation of awe and the completeness of the interlocking ensure rotation. Movement.

"Avraham called it Yir'eh, as is written "Avraham called the name of that place Yir'eh (God Sees)". Shem called it "Shalem", as it is said, (Bereishit 17) "Malkizedek king of Shalem." Said the Holy One, "If I call it "Yir'eh" as did Avraham, righteous Shem will protest; if I call it "Shalem", righteous Avraham will protest. I will call it "Yerushalayim" as the two of them called it "Yir'eh Shalem" (He will see peace) . . . Yerushalayim. (Bereishit Rabba, Parasha 56, article 10)

Chayim Rubinstein gathers stones, attaches dreams to each other, and is involved in education.

"Going up and down": First ascending, then descending. Angels who accompanied him in the land did not exit the land; they ascended to heaven, and angels of a foreign land descended to accompany him. (Rashi, Bereishit 28:12)

"Messengers of God encountered him." Angels of Eretz Yisrael came towards him to accompany him to the land. (Rashi, Bereishit 32:2)

. . . the angels of God are the prophets, with reference to whom it is clearly said "And He sent an angel;" and "An angel of God came up from Gilgal to Bochim." How well put is the phrase ascending and descending, –the ascent before the descent. for after the ascent and the attaining of certain rungs on the ladder that may be known comes the descent with whatever decree the prophet has been informed of – with a clear view to governing and teaching the people of the earth (Rambam, Guide to the Perplexed, 1:15)

"As Yaakov went on his way, messengers of God encountered him. Yaakov said when he saw them: This is a camp of God." This matter of angels being perceived with the physical eye can be explained either as a disguise of the angel – as in the case of Yosef, "and a man discovered him", meaning that he dressed in human garb -- or as Yaakov having so sensitive an imagination as to experience actual encounter one with the other. If one approaches his friend, he is first discerned from afar, and only later is there physical contact. This not the case with the angel. A human cannot see him from afar; only when he is nearby is his capacity for (spiritual) perception sufficiently sharpened. Similarly, our ancients explained (Bereishit 16:13) "Have I actually gone on seeing here after his seeing me?" – since he (the heavenly messenger) had stopped talking to her, she could no longer 'see' him [Trans. note – her seeing was a spiritual experience, in effect as long the angel spoke to her]. Thus, with regard to our passage: Even though they (the angels) were coming from Eretz Yisrael to meet him, he did not see them from afar. Only they physically touched him, when they were actually with him – when he needed them – then he discerned them and his sight was purified. Therefore it says, "when he saw them" – after making contact, and not prior to contact, for "This is a camp of God!" (Reb Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, Meshekh Hokhma, Bereishit 32:2-3)

. . . his is not an encounter between two humans, but a meeting between Yaakov the man and angels. This is not something which can be seen, because the angels which man sees are seen in his consciousness. This seeing of angels is a metaphoric expression of man's inner cognizance of God, and therefore man sees them only when they are within him, in his consciousness . . . it should be noted that these ideas are articulated by Reb Meir Simcha against the background of his knowledge of the Rambam's doctrine of prophecy, in which "angels" are perceptions of the imagination. (Leibowitz, Seven Years of Discussions of the Parasha of the Week)

On Shabbat, Parashat Vayishlach, (18-19 Kislev, 5761 – 15-16/12/00) a Shabbat of Study will take place in the guest house at "Neve Ilan."

The program: Our member, Dr. Menachem Klein will lecture on the peace process in the light of the current situation. A panel composed of Dr. Debora Waysman, Shaya Nahliel-Rotenberg, and others will discuss "Whither Netivoth Shalom?" A work meeting will take place immediately following Havdala. Arrival time: From 2 P.M. Friday.

Cost: 280 NIS for adult in double room. 140 NIS for a child sharing room with parents (up to two children). Discount for students and soldiers. Payment can made in installments. Confirmation of registration will be given upon receipt of payment.

Please register early – places are limited.

Please pay membership dues: 140 NIS per family, 70 NIS per single.

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