AND JACOB SAID WHEN HE SAW THEM, "THIS IS THE CAMP OF GOD," AND HE NAMED THE PLACE MAHANAIM.

(Bereishit 32:3)

 

Mahanaim Two camps, [one of the angels] outside the land, who came with him up to here, and [one of the angels] of Israel, who came to greet him (from Tanchuma Vayishlach 3).

(Rashi on Bereishit 32:3, Judaica Press translation)

 

Angels of God met him - To aid him on his way, and he alone saw the camp of angels surrounding his camp. That is why he called the place Mahanaim [two camps]; one of them his, the other of the angels.

(Ibn Ezra ad loc)

 

And the name of the place was called Mahanaim in the plural, for such is the way of Scripture with names. It may be that Mahanaim refers to His camp and the camp of the higher beings, that is to say that His camp on earth is as the camp of the angels, all of them being camps of God, blessing Him and confessing His unity, may His name be blessed forever.

(RaMBaN ad loc)

 

We have explained that wherever it is mentioned that an angel was seen or had spoken, this had happened only in a vision of prophecy or in a dream whether this is explicitly stated or not, as has been said before... I say likewise also of the story about Jacob in regard to its saying, And there wrestled a man with him (Bereishit 32:24), that it is in conformity with the form of prophetic revelation, inasmuch as it is finally made clear that he who was there was an angel. This is quite similar to the story concerning Abraham, in which it at first informs us in a general way, And the Lord appeared unto him, and so on, and then begins to explain in what way this happened. It is similar with regard to Jacob. At first it says: And the angels of God met him (verse 1). Then it begins to explain what happened before they met him, and says that he sent messengers and acted and did this and that. Then Jacob was left alone [and there wrestled a man with him until daybreak] (verse 24). And these are the angels of God of whom it had been said at first: And the angels of God met him. All the wrestling and the conversation in question happened in a vision of prophecy.

(RaMBaM: Guide of the Perplexed 2:42, Pines translation pg. 389)

 

And he dreamed, and behold! a ladder set up on the ground and its top reached to heaven; and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending upon it...

Oshrat Shoham

The parasha opens with the dreamy and wonderful story of Jacob's encounter with the angels of God ascending and descending upon the ladder. Jacob's encounter with the angel of God who wrestled with him upon his return to the land at Ma'avar Yabok can teach us about the personal significance of Jacob's meetings with angels as a window into his inner world, his struggles and doubts from his. The midrash sees in the angel an allusion to Jacob's fierce inner struggle at the eve of his return to the land, a struggle born of his years of separation from the land and from his brother and family. The doubts, inner suffering and perhaps even pangs of conscience that accompanied Jacob's departure from the land can be found in the dream of the ladder and the angels ascending and descending upon it. Pangs of conscience regarding his deeds, qualms and fears of the past and future - I would call the dream "First Night without Mom;" the desire, perhaps, to return home to the protection of Rebecca's kitchen and apron strings, to warmth and fraternity; perhaps to apologize to Esau and to Father, to return the blessing and birthright, to go back in time and reverse the wheels of history - and on the other hand the desire to continue in his path out of recognition of the purpose, election, and mission placed upon him.

Angels of God ascend and descend within him.

And the story opens a window to Jacob's stormy conflicted inner world.

And he dreamed, and behold! a ladder set up on the ground and its top reached to heaven; and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending upon it...

The description of a physical object bridging heaven and earth, and the expression and its top reached to heaven occurs in one other place in Scripture - in the story of the Tower of Babel-

And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make ourselves a name...".

Both stories begin with similar timing - the beginning of a journey - And it came to pass when they traveled from the east, and in the case of Jacob's story - And Jacob left Beersheba, and he went to Haran and afterwards the story Now Jacob lifted his feet and went to the land of the people of the East.

The people of the Shinar Valley, traveling from the east, make bricks for themselves and build a tower with its top in the heavens, just as Jacob dreamt upon the stone set by his head, and in the dream the ladder was set up on the ground with its top reaching the heavens.

In both stories, God is found at the end point. In the story of Babel - And the Lord descended to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built, and in the story of Jacob's ladder - And behold, the Lord was standing over him.

In both stories, the response to the link between heaven and earth is "spreading out": in the case of Babel - and from there the Lord scattered them upon the face of the entire earth; in Jacob's case - and you shall spread out westward and eastward and northward and southward.

The parallelism of structure and phrasing of the two stories does not seem accidental; it is interesting to contemplate the function and significance of this parallelism.

The ancient Babylonian culture of the age of the Patriarchs constructed many ziggurats - stepped pyramids whose foundations are set up upon the earth and whose tops are in the heavens. Sometimes the ritual involved an ascent from earth to heaven.

Even Babylonia's name (despite traditional interpretations) means bab eylon: "Gate of the gods."

Seen from this viewpoint, we have two polemical stories which come to deal with Babylon's idolatrous culture. The story of the Tower of Babel describes man's failed attempts to reach God and open the gates of heaven; it even offers an alternative explanation of the name Bavel. The story of Jacob's ladder does not only clarify who it is who is capable of establishing a real connection with God; it also gives the location of the genuine gate of heaven, as Scripture states: 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."

Later, the place is emphasized over and over again - Bet El [House of God] - which also alludes to the "Tabernacle of God" and its gate.

According to this approach, which I learned from Avigdor Shenan and Yair Zakovitz, Scripture is establishing an alternative to Babel, to bab eylon, to the idolatrous gate of heaven. There is no better time for making this point than at the eve of Jacob's departure from the Land of Israel eastward, towards the land between the rivers with its idols and temples.

Scripture announces and emphasizes that if the chosen son is traveling eastward, to the Land of the Sons of the East, the gate of heaven is in Bet El, both in the physical dimension of the Land of Israel and in the spiritual dimension.

I think that by comparing the two cases we can come to see the connection between God and humans on the model of reflection in a mirror.

In Babel, the gate of heaven, the connection to God - or to the gods - is achieved through material means. The people of the Shinar Valley join together to make bricks and to use mortar. They build an impressive tower whose broad foundations rest upon the earth and whose narrow top is in the heavens. It is built of man-made materials; its ascent is spacious and easy. It is almost impossible to fall to earth while climbing the ritual tower's convenient steps; everything is expected. The tower is stable and intelligible, made of materials created by humans. Man stands at the center of the rite - its motivation is let us make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of the entire earth. Both in conception and physical construction, its critical mass is human communality and name, i.e., human memory and heritage.

In contrast, the story of Jacob's ladder is almost ephemeral, floating, and spiritual. It speaks of a very isolated individual who dreams a dream which is personal, concealed, and spiritual. A ladder is usually constructed from two parallel or nearly parallel lines with rungs set between them. It is not massive, but fragile, made of little material. In ancient days it was usually made of natural materials, while in the dream it was not made of any concrete materials at all. It is set up upon the earth, and the dream is realized in an actual, natural, stone; a stone from amongst the stones of that place, upon which rested the dreamer's head - with his head in the heavens. The ladder is portable. It may be carried from place to place, from situation to situation, and from time to time, always setting it up afresh upon one of the stones of the place to reestablish the connection between earth and heaven, between man and his God.

Human and earthly nature connects with the God of heaven by means of a personal spiritual dream. The dream is not massive; it is fragile. It allows one to climb but also easily to fall. Climbing the ladder is not self-evident; there is no climbing without possibility of slipping, of stopping, or even of descent. As long as the climber climbs, he will always see both heaven and earth. The dream itself makes clear that both ascent and descent are possible - after all, that is what the angels are doing. This stands in contrast to the Tower of Babel which leaves the angels in heaven, where God consults with them before descending to inspect the tower and to decide its builders' fate.

Jacob's oath expresses the dream's ultimate motivation: and the Lord shall be God for me.

Gradual, spiritual, inner, personal drawing near to God is the essence of Jacob's ladder. The inner angels of God ascend and descend within man, while he carries the ladder with him, setting it up wherever he goes, restoring it, gradually trying to ascend, rung after rung, always looking at the stone below on which his personal ladder rests, and also looking heavenwards, towards God in heaven, thirsting for connection and for the knowledge that, Indeed, the Lord is in this place.

I shall conclude with part of a poem by Yehudah Amichai:

Our father Jacob, on the beaten track,

Carries a ladder on his back

Like a window washer to the VIPs.

He does God's windows if you please.

Only the ladder remains of his dreams;

The angels finally ran out of steam.

He carries the ladder again ever night

Back into his dream and out of sight.

... ... ..

He will climb that ladder, if he ever dies,

Right out of this world and into the skies

Until the world vanishes into thin air.

For all that we know, he is still climbing there.

(Chana Bloch's translation from Open, Closed, Open pp. 22-23))

Oshrat Shoham is an attorney in the Jerusalem district attorney's office.

 

                                     

Matzeiva and Mizbeiyah: Nature and Man

Matzeiva (memorial-stone) consists of a single stone, mizbeiyah (altar) is an elevation built up by many stones; matzeiva is presented by nature, mizbeiyah is made by man. Before the Torah was given, God's rule was manifest primarily only in the ways of nature and in Man's fate, accordingly in what Man gets from the Hand of God. A matzeiva corresponds to that, a stone taken from God's creation as a memorial for something which He has done. But with the giving of the Torah, God wishes to be revealed, not so much in what Man receives from Him, as in what Man does with what he gets from Him; not with God's gifts but with Man's deeds is God to be glorified. That indeed is the purpose of the Lawgiving, since then the matzeiva is rejected.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Bereishit 28:18, Levy translation)

 

And the Stone was Great on the Mouth of the Well

Generally the cover of a well designed for general public use, is made to be removed as easily as possible to facilitate its use for everybody. But here - this introduces us to the character of the Arameans - no one trusted the other and nobody meant anybody else to have the slightest advantage. One person might take a drink more than the other. Hence they made the cover so heavy that no person alone but only by their combined effort could the well be used.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Bereishit 29:2, Levy translation)

 

He Rolled the Stone From The Mouth of the Well: Revelation through the Struggle for Justice

"It is still broad daylight": The righteous man despises injustice, even that which is inflicted upon others, as is written, "The unjust man is an abomination to the righteous".

(Seforno, Bereishit 29:7)

 

To inform you that contemplation, isolation, and avoidance of the bustle of life and the masses are not the identifying features of one who seeks God's nearness and divine revelation; it is rather the carrying of His banner among the people, action - even dealing with daily routine (often trifling) matters, involvement and integration into daily activity in order to impose justice. This is the reason why the Torah tells of such trivial and unimportant matters such as Jacob and the shepherd.

(Professor Nechama Leibowitz, Studies on the Book of Bereishit, p.219)

 

Fairness in Labor Relations is Required Equally of Both Employer as well as Employee

In the same way that the home owner is warned not to rob the poor-man's wage or delay its payment, so too the poor-man is warned not to rob the employer of work by repeatedly taking breaks from work so that he spends the day dishonestly. Rather he is required to be strict with his own time. See how they said he should not recite the fourth blessing of the grace after meals [so that he would get back to work quickly], and so he is required to work with all his strength, for the saintly Jacob said I have served your father with all my might. That is why he took his reward even in this world, for it says so the man became exceedingly prosperous.

(RaMBaM Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Sekhirut 13: 7)

 

How does a Shifha Differ from an Amah? How did Sarah Differ from Rachel?

And I shall also be built up by her - What force has [the word] also? She said to him, "Your grandfather, Abraham, had children from Hagar [and yet] he girded up his loins [actively interceded] for Sarah [and she afterwards was blessed with a child]. He replied, "But my grandmother brought an associate wife into her house." She retorted, "If that is what prevents me [being blessed with children] - here is my handmaid, etc.- And I shall also be built up by her - [through her] as Sarah [was built up through her handmaid].

(Rashi on Bereishit 30:3, Silberman translation)

 

She said, "Here is my amah [maid] Bilhah. Consort with her that she may bear on my knees" (Bereishit 30:3) - Unlike Sarah, who said, Consort with my shifhah [maid] (16:2). Rachel had freed her, so that she was called an amah, as in the expression amah ivriyah [a Hebrew maid], while afterwards she is still called a shifhah, because they continued to serve her as they did previously. [Sarah said], perhaps I will be built-up through her (Bereishit 16:2), while Rachel said that she may bear on my knees and that through her I too shall be built up. The meaning here is that she will raise the child, making it as if it had been born to her, while Sarah did not want to raise her maid's child. That is why she [Sarah] said perhaps I will be built-up, that she might have some kind of merit and goodly commemoration through that child.

(Ha-Amek Davar Bereishit 30:3)

 

 

 

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