A though on Parshas Vayetze
"...v'ulam Luz shem ha'ir l'rishona...""...however, Beis El had been named Luz originally..." (28:19)
We all know about Yakov's dream, the ladder and the site of Beis El, which represented Jerusalem in both its terrestrial and supernal forms. Yet, one may wonder why the Torah must inform us that this spot where Yakov alighted had once been called Luz.
I remember when my second son, Akiva, was very young and he learned this verse. He approached his rebbe and asked, "If people from New York are called New Yorkers, were people from Luz called Loosers?" Fortunately, the rebbe laughed with him, not at him and the rest is history. Meanwhile, back to our question: what is important about the earlier name of Beis El? Why does the Torah want us to know an erstwhile title of that as-of-then isolated spot in the Judean hills?
Rabbeinu Bachya asks this very question, wondering not only "why is it necessary to tell us that it was once named Luz?", but also "what is the benefit we get from knowing this?"
He educates us: what is a "luz"? A luz is an almond (look ahead at 30:37). The almond, also known as a shkedia, is a fruit which is quick to blossom and takes on a sequence of forms as it matures from flower to seed to husk to hard round fruit. In the Holy Tongue, shakud means "industrious", which is a description of the almond's unique maturation process. Its more gentle term luz means "flowing" which is a fluid way of perceiving that maturation process.
Chazal refer to the round nut-like bone at the base of the spine as luz shel shedra - the spinal almond (identical to its Greek-based medical term amygdala or "almond.")
Now, before we go nuts, let's go further. We have nothing to luz. Rabbinic tradition has it that techias ha'meisim, the ultimate stage of our national rebirth and resurrection, will involve the reformation of each deserving body, blossoming out of that spinal luz. The body will mature and be borne out of that remaining bone which seems to linger long after much of the skeleton has corroded and turned to dust. The "almond-like bone" is not only shaped like an almond, but has that almond-like property of developing in a progressive sequence leading to the techias ha'meisim revival (not the sixties group). All of our faithful ones will become "re-formed" Jews.
Now we understand. Long before Jerusalem was Jerusalem, long before Beis El was Beis El, that spot in the universe was named Luz. HaShem considered that spot on Earth to be the luz of creation. It is the base of the entire cosmos. It is the source of all creation. It would become the fountain of Torah and Avoda as our people earned nationhood under G-d, and that spot would later justify the advent of a future techias ha'meisim for those who followed the banner of Torah. The world matured in a healthy spiritual direction because of all that was associated with that "luz" and because of all that emanated from there. This is why the Torah must inform us that Yakov called the place Beis El or "House of G-d" however, Luz was its name from the Beginning!
Everything and anything that had or would have eternal worth would blossom out of that spot!Wishing you a good Shabbos. D Fox
We all know about Yakov's dream, the ladder and the site of Beis El, which represented Jerusalem in both its terrestrial and supernal forms. Yet, one may wonder why the Torah must inform us that this spot where Yakov alighted had once been called Luz.
I remember when my second son, Akiva, was very young and he learned this verse. He approached his rebbe and asked, "If people from New York are called New Yorkers, were people from Luz called Loosers?" Fortunately, the rebbe laughed with him, not at him and the rest is history. Meanwhile, back to our question: what is important about the earlier name of Beis El? Why does the Torah want us to know an erstwhile title of that as-of-then isolated spot in the Judean hills?
Rabbeinu Bachya asks this very question, wondering not only "why is it necessary to tell us that it was once named Luz?", but also "what is the benefit we get from knowing this?"
He educates us: what is a "luz"? A luz is an almond (look ahead at 30:37). The almond, also known as a shkedia, is a fruit which is quick to blossom and takes on a sequence of forms as it matures from flower to seed to husk to hard round fruit. In the Holy Tongue, shakud means "industrious", which is a description of the almond's unique maturation process. Its more gentle term luz means "flowing" which is a fluid way of perceiving that maturation process.
Chazal refer to the round nut-like bone at the base of the spine as luz shel shedra - the spinal almond (identical to its Greek-based medical term amygdala or "almond.")
Now, before we go nuts, let's go further. We have nothing to luz. Rabbinic tradition has it that techias ha'meisim, the ultimate stage of our national rebirth and resurrection, will involve the reformation of each deserving body, blossoming out of that spinal luz. The body will mature and be borne out of that remaining bone which seems to linger long after much of the skeleton has corroded and turned to dust. The "almond-like bone" is not only shaped like an almond, but has that almond-like property of developing in a progressive sequence leading to the techias ha'meisim revival (not the sixties group). All of our faithful ones will become "re-formed" Jews.
Now we understand. Long before Jerusalem was Jerusalem, long before Beis El was Beis El, that spot in the universe was named Luz. HaShem considered that spot on Earth to be the luz of creation. It is the base of the entire cosmos. It is the source of all creation. It would become the fountain of Torah and Avoda as our people earned nationhood under G-d, and that spot would later justify the advent of a future techias ha'meisim for those who followed the banner of Torah. The world matured in a healthy spiritual direction because of all that was associated with that "luz" and because of all that emanated from there. This is why the Torah must inform us that Yakov called the place Beis El or "House of G-d" however, Luz was its name from the Beginning!
Everything and anything that had or would have eternal worth would blossom out of that spot!Wishing you a good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 9:59 PM
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