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PARSHAT VAYETZE - OUR PLACE - THEIR PLACE

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TorahZionist:
BS"D

YESHIVAT HARA'AYON HAYEHUDI
Jerusalem, Israel
HaRav Yehuda Kreuser SHLIT"A, Rosh Yeshiva

PARSHAT VAYETZE
7 Kislev 5768/16-17 November 2007



OUR PLACE - THEIR PLACE

Our parsha opens up with Jacob fleeing before his brother Esau and
heading into the warm embrace of good ol’ Uncle Lavan. But as Jacob arrives
in Charan, he remembers that he had passed by the holy Temple Mount without
offering up a prayer and without bringing a sacrifice. He thought to
himself: Could it be that I have bypassed the very foundation of creation,
the place where my father Isaac and grandfather Abraham prayed - without
taking the time to enter?

Immediately, he set his mind to return to the Land of Israel, and go up
to Mount Moriah. “And he encountered the place” - Rashi enlightens us as to
which place the Torah is talking about: “The verse does not mention which
place, but it means “the place” that has been mentioned elsewhere. This is
Mount Moriah, of which it has been said: 'And he perceived the place from
afar'.”

Clearly, when the Torah mentions “the place” it could only be talking
about the site of our Holy Temple. For there are many “places” in this world
but for the Jew “the Place” could only mean the Temple Mount. After spending
the night there and receiving a Divine prophecy telling him, “I am Hashem,
G-d of Abraham your father, and G-d of Isaac, the ground upon which you are
lying, to you will I give it and to your descendents”, Jacob awoke startled
and said: “Surely Hashem is in this place, and I did not know! How awesome
is this place! This is none other than the House of G-d, and these are the
gates of Heaven.”

The Sfat Emet comments that Jacob, being the humble person that he was,
could not fathom for a moment that a Divine prophecy would come to him;
rather, he thought it must have been caused by “the Place”, being that it is
the “gates of Heaven”, and anyone who passes over “the Place” can receive
Divine inspiration there. In truth, it was both the greatness of Jacob and
the holiness of the Place. Our Rabbis, of blessed memory, teach us in the
Mishna that there are ten levels of holiness that descended into the world:
One came to the Land of Israel, making it holier then the rest of the world,
and the other nine levels lead up from Jerusalem to the Temple Mount. One
cannot begin to imagine the holiness of the site - making this truly a
gateway to Heaven.

The nations of the world also enjoy their own place - quite different,
though, from our place. As the parsha teaches us, when the time had come for
Uncle Lavan to give his daughter Rachel over to Jacob, Lavan called up his
good drinking buddies to make a feast, as the Torah tell us: “So Lavan
gathered all the people of “the place” and made a feast.” Our Rabbis teach
us that all the people of Charan were in on the secret of exchanging Leah
for Rachel, and they all took part in the charade. No one stood up for
Jacob. This, then, is their place, Lavan’s house -a "white house" - a place
of deception, and as unholy as it can be.

The nations of the world are now preparing to assemble at “their place”
in Annapolis to discuss, plan and mobilize how to take away from us “our
Place”. It is only when we know “our Place” the greatness that lies there -
the gates of Heaven - that we will be able to stop them from trying to take
over our Place. For Jacob did not come all the way back from Charan in order
to pray at a Kotel, the foot of the Temple Mount, but rather, went all the
way up the mountain, to the site of the altar. And when all of this holiness
and greatness of G-d’s Divine promise to His people await us, how is it
possible that today, still, some 2/3 of the Jewish people have not come home
to live in this great holiness and prefer to live in places of
uncleanliness – "Tumah"? Today we cannot say, like Jacob did, “Surely
Hashem is in this place and I did not know”! For today, we know of the
Place, of the greatness and holiness - only when we, like Jacob, return to
her will the nations stay in their place and leave G-d’s House in the hands
of the Children of Jacob.


With love of Israel,
Levi Chazen


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