week 12-8

Jacob was the Patriarch in which all the promises culminated. Esoterically, chesed on the right and gevurah on the left--lovingkindness (Abraham) and justice (Isaac)--come together as tiferet in the center in a harmonious balance and are personified through Jacob, as Truth and Torah. His life marked the point in history in which was the beginning of the Nation--the Tribes of Israel.

Jacob's dream was a prophecy of the future of his children--the children of Israel. As he slept he saw a ladder from the ground to heaven, on which angels ascended and descended. Midrash Tanhuma says that the he saw the angel of Babylon ascend seventy rungs then descend. He then saw the angel of Persia ascend and descend, and likewise the angel of Greece ascended and descended. However, when he saw the angel of Rome ascend, he did not see it come down and was terribly frightened. These ascensions and descensions foretold the exiles his children would endure. The last seemed unending, and he was sorely afraid.

This is very similar to the covenant between the pieces of Abraham, in which the various elements symbolized the four empires that would take the people of Israel into exile. Then, too, Abraham was said to have been frightened, as "a great dark dread descended upon him" (Gen. 15:12).

However, in both cases, G-d promised an eternal covenant that would pass from generation to generation. Even through the enslavement in Egypt and the four exiles, He would go with the people of Israel, in accordance with the covenant with the Patriarchs. He also promised that the Land of Israel would be a perpetual inheritance--regardless of the exiles--that He would bring the people back to the Land on which Abraham walked and on which Jacob was sleeping. There is a midrash that says that G-d miraculously compacted the Land underneath Jacob, so when He promised: "the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and to your offspring", it was the whole Land.

I heard a very interesting idea from a friend of mine. The prophets of old had a practice of concentrating on the place between the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant to go into the prophetic state. Of course, the Ark stood in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. From this he said he believed that the place that the bottom of the ladder in Jacob's dream touched the earth was the place that the Holy of Holies would be build. This was a place that was a gateway between heaven and earth. David bought the threshing floor from the Jebusite, Ornan, when he saw an angel, who told him to build an altar to G-d in that place (I Chron. 21:18-22:1). That place was like no other. It was the place that G-d had said he would choose as the only place for sacrifice (Deut. 12:13-14).

When the northern tribes broke from Judah, they set up other places of worship with golden calves in Bet El and Dan. The practice, breaking with the command to restrict sacrifices only to the place G-d would choose--Jerusalem--opened the door for blatant idolatry that would condemn the northern kingdom of Israel to exile. The haphtorah in Hosea elaborates this as he says: "They are wont to kiss calves!" And the punishment, the horror of the impending conquest and exile, is also described in detail. Yet there is a note of consolation and hope at the end, if only there will be repentance.

In the days of the Maccabees, the Hellenists had convinced many of the Jewish people that it would be better to let go of all that Covenant stuff that made the Jews separate from other people. Alexander the Great wanted to create a world society of Grecian culture, in which national traditions would be set aside and all would be similar to each other. The idea of living in peace with the other nations and enjoying the sophisticated culture of Greece was very appealing to many of the Jews, who decided obedience of the Torah was simply too difficult a lifestyle. For these, the idea of turning the Temple into a house of idolatry was not only acceptable, it was preferable.

Interestingly, all the stories of the dreams of the Torah take place during the readings of the month of Kislev, in which falls Chanukah. Chanukah, like no other holiday, centers on the specialness of, and the dedication to, the Temple. It is the dream of the Jewish people, which will bring to fruition the dream of blessing to all the nations of the earth--just as G-d promised Jacob in his dream. It is the dream of Redemption, of our connection to heaven, of heaven's connection to our earth. As Jacob dream of the angels touching the earth, so do we all dream of such blessing. And in this place is the gateway--forever assigned by divine promise to the people of Israel, the children of the Patriarchs and heirs to their everlasting Covenant.