Parshas Vayeitzei 5786 d

Yaakov left Beer Sheva and went toward Charan.

[Yaakov] left. It had only to be written: “And Yaakov went to Charan.” Why, then, mention his departing? But, this tells us that the departure of a righteous person from his place makes an impression, for while a righteous person is in the city, he is its glory, he is its brilliance, he is its splendor. Once he has left there, its glory has departed, its brilliance has departed, its splendor has departed. Similarly, [this applies to the verse] “And she left the place,” which is written concerning Naomi and Ruth.

This tells us that the departure... makes an impression... [Rashi is answering the question:] Why did Scripture write two departures, so to speak? It says, “Yaakov left,” and also, “He went towards Charan,” [which itself implies that he left.]

Answer: One teaches that his person departed, and the other teaches that the brilliance, splendor and glory departed.

He reached the place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took some of the stones of that place, and arranged them around his head, and lay down [to sleep] in that place.

He dreamed, and behold a ladder was set up on the earth and the top of it reached toward heaven; and behold angels of Elokim were ascending and descending on it.

And behold Hashem stood over him, and said, I am Hashem, God of Avraham, your father, and God of Yitzchok. The land upon which you are lying, I will give to you and to your descendants.

Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south. Through you shall be blessed all the families of the earth, and through your descendants.

והיה זרעך כעפר הארץ, ופרצת

Precisely when the Jewish people will have reached a seeming low point in their collective experience (downtrodden by the Egyptian taskmasters, or in later exiles) they will expand and become powerful in a measure never before seen on earth. ימה וקדמה צפונה ונגבה

The final redemption of the Jewish people will come after they have suffered the low point in their history.

Rabbi Yocḥanan says: If you see a generation whose troubles inundate it like a river, await the coming of the Messiah, as it is stated: “When distress will come like a river that the wind of the Hashem drives” (Isaiah 59:19). And juxtaposed to it is the verse: “And a redeemer will come to Zion” (Isaiah 59:20).

§ The verse states: “And the king removed his ring from his hand” (Esther 3:10). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: The removal of Ahasuerus’s ring for the sealing of Haman’s decree was more effective than the forty-eight prophets and the seven prophetesses who prophesied on behalf of the Jewish people. As, they were all unable to return the Jewish people to the right way, but the removal of Ahasuerus’s ring returned them to the right way, since it brought them to repentance.

והיה זרעך כעפר הארץ “and your descendants will be as the dust of the earth, etc.”

The simple understanding of the comparison to dust of the earth is that Hashem is assuring Yaakov that his descendants will be very numerous, comparable to the dust of the earth.

But He could have used another analogy, namely that the descendants of Yaakov would be like the stars in the heavens, a comparison which had been used earlier in chapter 26:4.

The reason Hashem did not choose that particular simile was that he wanted to allude to a second element here, something not connected to a numerical increase.

The reference to dust always evokes feelings of something low, something that one steps on, in other words a reference to periods when the Jewish people would be in exile, treated by their host countries as if they were merely dust to be walked on.

There is another aspect to dust, i.e. a positive, encouraging side. As a result of stepping on dust, the dust frequently rises and covers the person who has stepped on it, or at least his feet. Thus, in due course, after completion of their various exiles the Jewish people will experience that they rise above those who had previously trodden upon them.

Isaiah 14:2 expressed it thus: והיו שובים לשוביהם ורדו בנוגשיהם, “they shall be captors of their captors and masters of their taskmasters.”

This then explains why Hashem compared the descendants of Yaakov to dust.

We have another statement by Isaiah 26:5 in which the prophet makes a similar point: that initially “He leveled Israel to dust in order to eventually orchestrate its redemption.” (compare Rabbi Yochanan in Rosh Hashanah 31 where he explains Isaiah 52,2). We sing the words of that verse weekly in the Lecha Dodi hymn when we usher in the Sabbath [at the time of the author that song had not yet been composed, Ed.] by singing התנערי, מעפר קומי, “rouse yourself and rise from the dust.” In Yaakov’s dream G’d immediately added the words “and you will spread out to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south, to make plain that the mention of “dust” was to be interpreted positively as the dust of the earth endures forever. Similarly, Yaakov’s descendants would endure forever.

Rabbi Elazar says: There are six exiles,as it is stated: “For He has brought down those who dwell high, the lofty city laying itlow, laying it low, to the ground, bringing itto the dust” (Isaiah 26:5). This verse mentions six expressions of lowering: Brought down, laying it low, laying it low, to the ground, bringing it, and to the dust.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: And from there, i.e., from their lowest place of descent, they are destined to be redeemed in the future, as it is stated: “Shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit, Jerusalem” (Isaiah 52:2).

In order to ease the harsh meaning of this verse, in the West, in Eretz Yisrael, they interpreted it with a slight adjustment: “She has fallen but she shall fall no more; rise, virgin of Israel.” Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak adds: Even so, David went and provided support, through divine inspiration. Although King David did not include a verse beginning with the letter nun alluding to Israel’s downfall, he foresaw the verse that would be written by Amos through divine inspiration; and the very next verse, which begins with the letter samekh, reads: “The Lord upholds the fallen and raises up those who are bowed down” (Psalms 145:14). Therefore, through divine inspiration, David offered hope and encouragement; although the virgin of Israel may have fallen, the Lord upholds the fallen.

Yaakov made a vow, saying, If Elokim will be with me, and guards me on this path that I am going, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear;

And Jacob made a vow, saying: If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God (Gen. 28:20–21). R. Berechiah maintained that the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfilled all but one of Jacob’s requests. Jacob said: If God will be with me, and He replied: Behold, I am with thee (ibid., v. 15). Jacob said: And will keep me, and He responded: I will keep thee whithersoever thou goest (ibid.). He said: So that I come back to my father’s house in peace, and the Holy One, blessed be He, replied: And I will bring thee back (ibid.). But when Jacob said: And will give me bread, He did not reply. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: If I assured him concerning bread, what else would he ask of Me? Therefore, He did not promise him bread. The sages insisted, however, that He also replied to his plea for bread, since it is said: I shall not forsake thee (ibid.). The word forsake is employed in Scripture only in reference to bread, as is written: Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread (Ps. 37:25).

Yaakov awoke from his sleep, and said, In truth, Hashem is in this place, and I did not know it.

And I did not know it. For had I known I would not have slept in such a holy place.”