A Thought on Parshas VaYetzae
A Thought on Parshas VaYetzae
"...va'yifga ba'makom..."
"...and Yakov encountered a place..." (28:11)
Something mystical happened as Yakov approached the border of the Promised Land, as he took flight towards the country of his mother's family. He chanced upon a spot which proved to be a place of encounter with the Divine word.
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel cites some midrashic observations, familiar to many of us. We note the verse's use of the word makom in introducing the "encounter." The midrash tells us that one might ponder the theological quandary of how there can be a nexus for the Infinite One with the abstract yet mortal concepts of time and place. How can a "place", a makom, be a point of encounter with the Divine?
He explains that the word makom should be understood as Makom. The Omnipresent is everywhere, yet even the concept "everywhere" is a limiting concept. HaShem cannot be everywhere since HaShem cannot be anywhere. Rather, here, there, everywhere and any-where are encompassed within the Divine Presence. This is why HaShem says (Shmos 33:21) hinae makom Iti - I have a place with Me. This is why Dovid HaMelech proclaims (Tehillim 90:1) HaShem ma'on Atah - HaShem, You are the "Place" within which the entire universe is suspended.
Now, when Yakov arrives at the "place", Chazal teach us that he prayed there, and in fact, he established our practice of Aravis - the nightly prayer. Rabbeinu Chaim Paliel notes that the Torah says, as explained by Chazal, that Yakov rested at this spot because the sun was setting. This is when he prayed there at that moment in time, at the close of daylight.
If that is so, he asks, our custom should be to recite our tefillas Aravis near the time of the setting sun. If the prayer was instituted at that time, this should be its fixed point for all of us. How is it that our custom has evolved, generally and preferably, to wait until it is dark before beginning the evening prayer?
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel reminds us that for a dvar mitzvah - for the sake of fulfilling a mitzvah - one is permitted to begin the evening prayer before nightfall. Yakov our patriarch recognized that this spot was a nexus: the moment in time and the place in space were converging with a higher reality. There was a sense of the sacred in that place at that time. Yakov had a numinous encounter with the Divine Presence at that moment, there and then..
There is a mitzvah to pray when one is in a sacred place. When one senses the Divine Presence near, there is a mitzvah to capture that moment through reaching forth in prayer. Yakov's inaugurating the tefilla of Aravis was instructional for us, as it set in place the practice of a nightly prayer, just as his father Yitzchak established an afternoon prayer, and his grandfather Avraham introduced the morning prayer. The circumstance of this first Aravis, however, was both time and place contingent. Whereas the ideal time for evening prayer is at night, when place is a factor, such as when one is in a sacred place, or when there is an available quorum of men present, or when the Holy Shabbos is nigh, we follow the time/place factor instructed by Yakov and begin the tefilla with the setting of the sun.
Here and now, there and then, time and space: Good Shabbos. D Fox
"...va'yifga ba'makom..."
"...and Yakov encountered a place..." (28:11)
Something mystical happened as Yakov approached the border of the Promised Land, as he took flight towards the country of his mother's family. He chanced upon a spot which proved to be a place of encounter with the Divine word.
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel cites some midrashic observations, familiar to many of us. We note the verse's use of the word makom in introducing the "encounter." The midrash tells us that one might ponder the theological quandary of how there can be a nexus for the Infinite One with the abstract yet mortal concepts of time and place. How can a "place", a makom, be a point of encounter with the Divine?
He explains that the word makom should be understood as Makom. The Omnipresent is everywhere, yet even the concept "everywhere" is a limiting concept. HaShem cannot be everywhere since HaShem cannot be anywhere. Rather, here, there, everywhere and any-where are encompassed within the Divine Presence. This is why HaShem says (Shmos 33:21) hinae makom Iti - I have a place with Me. This is why Dovid HaMelech proclaims (Tehillim 90:1) HaShem ma'on Atah - HaShem, You are the "Place" within which the entire universe is suspended.
Now, when Yakov arrives at the "place", Chazal teach us that he prayed there, and in fact, he established our practice of Aravis - the nightly prayer. Rabbeinu Chaim Paliel notes that the Torah says, as explained by Chazal, that Yakov rested at this spot because the sun was setting. This is when he prayed there at that moment in time, at the close of daylight.
If that is so, he asks, our custom should be to recite our tefillas Aravis near the time of the setting sun. If the prayer was instituted at that time, this should be its fixed point for all of us. How is it that our custom has evolved, generally and preferably, to wait until it is dark before beginning the evening prayer?
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel reminds us that for a dvar mitzvah - for the sake of fulfilling a mitzvah - one is permitted to begin the evening prayer before nightfall. Yakov our patriarch recognized that this spot was a nexus: the moment in time and the place in space were converging with a higher reality. There was a sense of the sacred in that place at that time. Yakov had a numinous encounter with the Divine Presence at that moment, there and then..
There is a mitzvah to pray when one is in a sacred place. When one senses the Divine Presence near, there is a mitzvah to capture that moment through reaching forth in prayer. Yakov's inaugurating the tefilla of Aravis was instructional for us, as it set in place the practice of a nightly prayer, just as his father Yitzchak established an afternoon prayer, and his grandfather Avraham introduced the morning prayer. The circumstance of this first Aravis, however, was both time and place contingent. Whereas the ideal time for evening prayer is at night, when place is a factor, such as when one is in a sacred place, or when there is an available quorum of men present, or when the Holy Shabbos is nigh, we follow the time/place factor instructed by Yakov and begin the tefilla with the setting of the sun.
Here and now, there and then, time and space: Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 9:13 PM
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