Connecting Humanity to its Creator

By Moshe Feiglin

Illustration Courtesy of The Temple Institute

And he dreamed and behold a ladder planted on the ground and its top reaches the heavens, and behold angels of G-d were ascending and descending upon it. (From the week's Torah portion, Vayeitzei, Genesis 28:12)

That's it. No doubts remain. Now that G-d has revealed Himself to Jacob, it turns out that his mother, Rebecca, was right all along. The Kingdom of Priests, the holy nation that testifies to the existence of the Creator and His message to the world hinges on Jacob - not Esau.

This does not mean that now Jacob can rest on his laurels. On the contrary - the significance of G-d's directive means that now Jacob has to actualize the potential that he carries within.

"In the World to Come, they will not ask me why I was not Moses. They will ask me why I was not Zusha," said Rabbi Zusha of Anapoli. Jacob understood Rabbi Zusha's message. Now that he has received the Divine promise, he has no doubt as to his role in the world. The only question that remains is if Jacob will actualize all his Jacob potential. To foster this goal, Jacob vows:
"And this rock that I have set up for a pillar will be the House of G-d." Jacob declares that he is committed to his destiny.

What is Jacob's destiny?

The entire depiction of Jacob's dream begins and ends with the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. "A ladder planted on the ground and its top reaches the heavens."
The Temple is the connecting point between heaven and earth, between the physical and the meta-physical.

"G-d is truly in this place," says Jacob. It is entirely possible to live here in the Land of Israel with G-d in our midst. Judaism is not about Christian asceticism or Moslem animal lusts. At the Temple, we can naturally connect the mundane with the holy.

"This is none other than the House of G-d and this is the gateway to Heaven," Jacob continues. I am setting out on a long and exhausting path, strewn with obstacles. I will have to work hard, establish a family, establish a nation and stave off swindlers and murderous enemies. But I will always remember my destiny:

"And this rock that I have set up for a pillar will be the House of G-d."
This is my role in the world; from this place I must connect the plug to the socket; from this place I must connect humanity to its Creator.

Shabbat Shalom