Kislev 10, 5768/November 20, 2007
With nothing but the clothes on his back and a wooden staff in his hand, Ya'akov Avinu - Jacob our patriarch - prepared his bed. He gathered twelve stones together and fashioned them as a pillow. Bereft of home, destitute, and facing the unknown, he laid down his head. By the time he was startled awake by his awesome dream, he was the most blessed man on earth. Where exactly did he make his bed? In "the place," (hamakom) (Genesis 28:11). This was the very same "place" that Avraham built an altar and bound his son Yitzchak upon it. And it was here that G-d spoke to Avraham, saying, "I will bless you, and I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have hearkened to My voice.'" (Genesis 22:17-18)
This was "the place" to which, Midrash tells us, Yitzchak (Isaac) took Rivkah (Rebekah), in order to pray for a child (Genesis 25:21). And on this "place" G-d made the following promise to Ya'akov:
Comments