Place of the World

(1) "In the Sinai Desert..." Our Rabbis expounded precious understandings through this text in Bamidbar Rabbah 1. It is only left to ask why HaShem did not use consistent measures in this verse. When it describes where they were, the general location (the Sinai Desert) is mentioned first and only afterwards does it specific 'in the Tent of Meeting;' but when it mentions the time the specific is mentioned first, 'on the first day of the second month,' and afterwards the general - 'in the second year.'

It appears, actually, that in a very intelligent fashion the verse did use consistent measures. This can be understood in the same way they explain "...see there is a place near Me..." (Shemot 33:21) in Bereshit Rabbah 68, saying 'that the place of the Holy One is secondary to Him.' From this perspective, every place is secondary in relation to the place where Gd encamps. Therefore, in our verse, the Tent of Meeting is actually the encompassing measure and the desert is secondary to it. In order that we read the verse from this perspective, the second half was joined to it 'on the first of the month...in the second year.' The phrase 'Tent of Meeting' is actually the encompassing measure, and therefore was placed second just as the words 'second year' were placed afterthe phrase 'on the first day of the month.' You can know how immeasurably awesome is the place where the Lord is from the fact that six hundred thousand men of Israel stood in the two cubits between the poles of the ark (Bereshit Rabbah 5). Though it appears little to the eye, it is great from the perspective of the One who dwells there, Blessed be He.

(6) “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” (Tehillim 90:1) R’ Yitzchak said ‘from that which the Scripture says “…which are the abode for the God Who precedes all…” (Devarim 33:27) we could not know if the Holy One is the dwelling place of the world, or if the world is His abode, until Moshe came and explained it ‘You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.’ R’ Yosi bar Halifta said ‘we could not know if the Holy One is dependent on His world or His world is dependent on Him, until the Holy One came and explained “…Behold, there is a place with Me…” (Shemot 33:21) This means that He is the place of the world and the world is not His place, therefore the world is dependent on Him and He is not dependent on His world. R’ Huna said in the name of R’ Ami ‘why is the Holy One called ‘place’? Because He is the place of His world, as it says “…Behold, there is a place with Me…” (Shemot 33:21) Avraham called Him ‘place,’ as it says “And Abraham named that place, The Lord will see…” (Bereshit 22:14) Yaakov called Him ‘place,’ as it says “And he was frightened, and he said, "How awesome is this place!” (Bereshit 28:17) Moshe called Him ‘place,’ as it says “…Behold, there is a place with Me…” (Shemot 33:21) [Another explanation - why is He called ‘place’? Because anywhere the righteous are standing, there He is found with them, as it says “Wherever I allow My name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.” (Shemot 20:21) So too it says “And he arrived at the place and lodged there…” (Bereshit 28:11)

(2) And he arrived at the place – Why do we use a pseudonym and call the Holy One ‘place’ (makom)? Because He is the place of the world and the world is not His place. R’ Yosi ben Halifta said ‘we don’t know whether the Holy One is the place of the world or if the world is His place. From that which is written “…Behold, there is a place with Me…” (Shemot 33:21) it appears that He is the place of the world and the world is not His place.’ R’ Yitzchak said ‘from that which is written “…which are the abode for the God Who precedes all…” (Devarim 33:21) we cannot know whether the Holy One is the abode of the world or whether the world is His abode. From that which is written “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” (Tehillim 90:1) we see that the Holy One is the abode of the world and the world is not His abode. This is like a mighty mounted warrior, whose armor and garments hang down around his steed. The horse is secondary to the rider, the rider is not secondary to the horse. This is that which is written “Only that You rode on Your steeds with Your chariots of salvation.” (Habakuk 3:8)

(11) 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.

(12) 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. On the contrary - the sun needs it, as the Sages taught ‘R’ Avin said, we find that one who wants to make windows makes them wide on the inside and narrow on the outside in order to draw in the light from outside. But the windows of the Holy Temple were wide on the outside and narrow within – why? In order that the light would go out from the Temple and illuminate the world, as it says “…and the earth shone from His glory,” (Yechezkiel 43:2) and it is written “As a Throne of Glory, exalted from the beginning, so is the place of our Sanctuary.” (Yirmiyahu 17:12) See the version of this midrash in Yalkut parshat Tetzaveh 378. This is a proof that the sun does not light the Holy Temple, therefore the light of the sun dimmed immediately upon reaching this holy place, “…and it shall come to pass that at eventide it shall be light,” (Zechariah 14:7) because Gd shined the supernal light from this holy place until He appeared to Yaakov in a vision that night.

(13) There is another hint in what it says in the midrash Yalkut Shimoni 118, that the sun set two hours before its time. Why precisely two hours? There is a hint in this about the future, that so too will Israel’s sun set two years before its time. As Rashi explained in the Torah portion of Va'etchanan (Devarim 4:25) Gd brought the exile two years early, as its says “And the Lord hastened with the evil…” (Daniel 9:14) If this is so, then the Holy Temple which will be built in this place is destined to be destroyed two years before its sun has set. Therefore this hint came to Yaakov through the early setting of the sun, that there would be a sign in his hand that in the future the Holy Temple would be destroyed two years early. Therefore “…and he took some of the stones of the place and placed [them] at his head…” (Bereshit 28:11) They said in the midrash, brought by the Rama in Orach Chaim 555:2, that the pious and holy ones were accustomed to place a stone under their heads when they laid down on the night of Tisha B’Av. He said that they have a support from this verse “…and he took some of the stones…” because Yaakov saw the destruction. And who told the writer of this midrash that Yaakov saw the destruction? Certainly they learned this from the fact that the sun set two hours early, as I said.

(14) and he took some of the stones of the place and placed them at his head - After it was known to him that this place would be the House of Gd which dims the sphere of the sun, therefor he took some of the stones of the place and set them as a guard to his head in order to show how he cherished their sanctity as it says “For Your servants desired its stones…” (Tehillim 102:15) He took twelve stones parallel to the twelve tribes as it says in the midrash (Bereshit Raba 68:11) that the stones argued, each one saying ‘let the righteous one rest his head on me!’ until they became one stone. This was a hint for the future as the writer of the Guide to the Perplexed wrote, that this is why the Holy One hid this place which would be the location of the Holy Temple and the King’s palace – in order that there not be argument between the tribes, each desiring that holy place to be theirs. Also for the sake of peace, as it says “But only to the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes…” (Devarim 12:5) And it is written “But only in the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes…” (Devarim 12:14) How is this? When David purchased the threshing floor from Aravna the Yevusi, he collected the money from all of the tribes, as Rashi explains there (see Shmuel II 24:24). If this is so, then the argument between the stones which ended in their becoming one stone was sign for the future, that so too will be the argument between the crown jewels, the twelve tribes of Gd, that each tribe will say let the righteous One of the world rest His head upon me, referring to the Holy Temple as it says “As a Throne of Glory, exalted from the beginning, so is the place of our Sanctuary.” (Yirmiyahu 17:12) In the end they were made as one stone when David collected the gold from all of them. About this stone it is said regarding the building of the Second Temple “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you sink to a plain! He will bring out the stone of the main architect, with shouts of grace, grace to it.” (Zechariah 4:7) When it says that He will bring out the stone of the main architect (even rosha) it means the stone which was at the head (rosh) of Yaakov. Bring it out to build the foundation for the Palace of Gd. Yaakov made a bed from it to lie upon in order that it be a sign that this will be 'the bed which is to Shlomo' (Song of Songs 3:7) – the king to whom peace belongs, as Rashi explained in Shir HaShirim on the verse “Behold the bed of Shlomo…”