וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַעֲקֹב֮ מִשְּׁנָתוֹ֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ ה׳ בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי׃
Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely ה׳ is present in this place, and I did not know it!”
ואומרו יש ה׳ פי' שם הוא מקום שבו ה׳ מצוי תמיד יותר מכל המקומות, ואשר לזה רצה ה׳ לדבר אתו שם מדי עוברו שמה, ואמר ואנכי לא ידעתי קודם טעם הדבר כי אם היה יודע היה מכין עצמו לנבואה כי הנבואה צריכה הכנה כידוע. ואפשר אם היה מכין עצמו היה מתנבא בהקיץ ולא בחלום ידבר בו, ולזה מתאונן על מה שלא השכיל על דבר. ורש"י ז"ל פי' ואם ידעתי לא ישנתי במקום קדוש ע"כ. ואם לזה לבד נתכוין נאמר אליו ואם לא ישנת לא היית חולם חלום נבואיי בכל ההבטחות, ובהכרח להשלים הכוונה במה שפירשתי:
When Jacob said: יש השם במקום הזה, that G'd is in this place, he meant that G'd is present at this site all the time, in contrast to other sites. This is why G'd wanted him to spend the night there in order to communicate with him there. Jacob apologised for not having prepared himself for a divine revelation; had he been aware of the significance of that site he would surely have done so. Prophecy requires the recipient to first prepare himself mentally. Perhaps if Jacob had prepared himself to become the recipient of a message from G'd he might have prophesied while awake instead of while dreaming. This may have been what he bemoaned in this verse. Rashi explains simply that Jacob meant that if he had known the holy nature of that site he would not have allowed himself to go to sleep there. If that were the only meaning of Jacob's words we could say to him (Rashi) that Jacob then would not have experienced all the promises G'd made to him during his dream. We therefore need to include what I have just written in order to explain the verse satisfactorily.
על כן יעקב אבינו לאחר שראה מראה הסולם והבין בו כמה דברים והבין ג"כ ענין ד' מלכיות, ראה בנבואה והתבונן על הגאולה העתידה. ואמר (בראשית כח, טז) אכן יש ה׳ במקום הזה ואנכי לא ידעתי, כלומר המקדש שלעתיד יוחזר ענין הז"ה, ויש ה׳ שהוא ענין והתהלכתי בתוככם נמצא מה שאמר אכן יש ה׳ במקום הזה, הוא כמו וזה, והיש נמשך מן יש וישכ"ב שכתבתי ועליו נאמר (ירמיה לא, טו) יש שכר לפעולתך, על כן נרמז ג"כ ביששכר שהיה בעל תורה ישכ"ב כמו שכתוב (בראשית ל, טו) לכן ישכב עמך וגו', כי תמלא הארץ דעה:
After having seen the ladder in his dream, Jacob understood a number of things; among them he understood the meaning of the four exiles he had seen in his vision, and he understood the eventual redemption. This is why he said: "Indeed G–d is in this place, אכן יש ה׳ במקום הזה, but I did not know it." He expressed his new found-understanding that the third Temple would lead to the realization of הזה and יש. He realized that this והתהלכתי בתוככם would be fulfilled במקום הזה. These two realizations all resulted from the וישכב, when he lay down to sleep. Concerning this experience we find an allusion in Jeremiah 31,16: יש שכר לפעולתך, "there is a reward for your labor." An example of the reward for וישכב, is the incident of Leah having traded the mandrakes her son Reuben had found in order to have an extra night with Jacob. Rachel had agreed with the words : לכן ישכב עמך, "therefore he may lie with you." When Leah became pregnant as a result of that night, and Issachar who founded the tribe that excelled in Torah study was born, she stated: נתן אלוקים שכרי, "G–d has given my reward." It was Issachar who would excel in bringing about the period described as ומלאה הארץ דעה, that the earth would become full of knowledge (of G–d).
From Me'or Eynayim by Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (1730-1797)
Knowing to be awake to the present moment, the now.
Torah Journeys: Vayetze by Rabbi Shefa Gold
Jacob's journey is blessed at its outset with a dream and with a moment of awakening. In the dream God shows Jacob the stairway that connects the realms of Heaven and Earth and then gives him a promise. Through this blessing, we ourselves become that stairway, that connection, with our feet planted in the foundation of Earth and our crowns open to the expanse of Heaven. Through us the Divine flow pours down into the earthly realms. Through us the pleasure and miseries of earthly experience are offered up to The Divine Expanse.
When I become available to this flow, I am awakened to the most awesome and transformative truth. God was here all along and I didn't know it. THIS is none other than the House of God. THIS is the Gate of Heaven. This very moment and this place here where I stand is at once God's home and the doorway to all realms.
Our journey brings us the blessing of zeh - "This." In becoming fully present to this moment - Here and Now - the Presence of God is revealed.
• What are the barriers to our enjoying the blessing of zeh - Here and Now?
Torah Journeys: Vayetze by Rabbi Shefa Gold
Jacob's journey is blessed at its outset with a dream and with a moment of awakening. In the dream God shows Jacob the stairway that connects the realms of Heaven and Earth and then gives him a promise. Through this blessing, we ourselves become that stairway, that connection, with our feet planted in the foundation of Earth and our crowns open to the expanse of Heaven. Through us the Divine flow pours down into the earthly realms. Through us the pleasure and miseries of earthly experience are offered up to The Divine Expanse.
When I become available to this flow, I am awakened to the most awesome and transformative truth. God was here all along and I didn't know it. THIS is none other than the House of God. THIS is the Gate of Heaven. This very moment and this place here where I stand is at once God's home and the doorway to all realms.
Our journey brings us the blessing of zeh - "This." In becoming fully present to this moment - Here and Now - the Presence of God is revealed.
• What are the barriers to our enjoying the blessing of zeh - Here and Now?
Knowing that the darkness contains new possibility
The Murmuring Deep by Aviva Zornberg
The night at Bethel is the heart of his journey, the dream interim between Be'er Sheva and Haran. There, he dreams and wakens with the words, "Surely, God is in this place. And I did not know." He wakens, that is, with the deep conviction that he did not know. He has brushed against a knowledge that could only arise from the way of ignorance. In such profound shifts of experience, the revelation is the not-knowing; the sense of previous darkness itself intimates a dawning light. In a startled moment, Jacob recognizes the shape of his own ignorance: "Surely, God is in this place." Why is it so unexpected that God should be in this place? What strange beauty has just touched him?...
Mount Moriah becomes...a place in Jacob's mind, uncannily overwhelming him, just as the sudden sunset becomes his personal syncope, a kind of blackout, which moves him to a new genre of prayer - arvit [the evening prayer] - the prayer in darkness. This is the place he unwittingly bypassed on his journey: "How could I have forgotten to pray?"...
I suggest that, for Jacob, the Akedah is the unreachable place. His prayers cannot find inspiration in the thought of that terror. But, having unwittingly traveled past Mount Moriah, guilt assails him: "How could I have passed by the place where my fathers prayed, without praying there?" He sets himself to return, and finds himself abrasively hurtling against that place, that darkness. A new prayer is born: arvit, which represents an unimaginable possibility - that divine light can be revealed in the dark. The world of darkness, of sleep and dream, of loss of consciousness, vulnerability, passivity - all this is associated with the Akedah and his father's helplessness from which he has long recoiled.
The Murmuring Deep by Aviva Zornberg
The night at Bethel is the heart of his journey, the dream interim between Be'er Sheva and Haran. There, he dreams and wakens with the words, "Surely, God is in this place. And I did not know." He wakens, that is, with the deep conviction that he did not know. He has brushed against a knowledge that could only arise from the way of ignorance. In such profound shifts of experience, the revelation is the not-knowing; the sense of previous darkness itself intimates a dawning light. In a startled moment, Jacob recognizes the shape of his own ignorance: "Surely, God is in this place." Why is it so unexpected that God should be in this place? What strange beauty has just touched him?...
Mount Moriah becomes...a place in Jacob's mind, uncannily overwhelming him, just as the sudden sunset becomes his personal syncope, a kind of blackout, which moves him to a new genre of prayer - arvit [the evening prayer] - the prayer in darkness. This is the place he unwittingly bypassed on his journey: "How could I have forgotten to pray?"...
I suggest that, for Jacob, the Akedah is the unreachable place. His prayers cannot find inspiration in the thought of that terror. But, having unwittingly traveled past Mount Moriah, guilt assails him: "How could I have passed by the place where my fathers prayed, without praying there?" He sets himself to return, and finds himself abrasively hurtling against that place, that darkness. A new prayer is born: arvit, which represents an unimaginable possibility - that divine light can be revealed in the dark. The world of darkness, of sleep and dream, of loss of consciousness, vulnerability, passivity - all this is associated with the Akedah and his father's helplessness from which he has long recoiled.
