בס”ד
By Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
Painting by: Baruch Nachshon z”l
In this parsha Yakov dreams of angels ascending to heaven, when sleeping at Mount Moriah. This painting seems to touch on a similar theme, as we see angels ascending to heaven and the city of Jerusalem, which surrounds Mount Moriah, next to a dancing Hasid. We see seventeen angels ascending, seventeen being the numerical value of the word “tov,” which may hint to the word “tov” as in the word “Har Hatov” – the “good” mountain – used in the context of Mount Moriah. Each angel carries a shin, which hints to the Divine Name, as found in tefillin and mezuzot, and in regard to angels Hashem says “my Name is within it” (Shmot 23, 21). If we count the number of prongs of shins altogether, we find they amount to fifty three, the number of parshiot of the Torah, suggesting that the study of Torah ascends upon high as the angels. Interesting as well, is another connection to this parsha Vayetze where Yakov sleeps at Mount Moriah, place of the Holy Presence, on a rock – “even” – which has the numerical value of fifty three. We see here a kind of burning bush that takes a form of the Menorah. This matter seems to indicate Moshe Rabeinu’s first encounter with the Holy Presence through the burning bush at Mount Horeb/Sinai. This encounter later progresses to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and later to the Torah being housed in the Mishkan where Hashem talks to Moshe in continuation of Mount Sinai. Thus, the Beit Hamikdash, the continuation of the Mishkan in a permanent state essentially represents the continuation of Mount Sinai and the burning bush. Our Sages say that the Holy Presence is hinted to by the Menora, and this may explain the image of the Menora specifically here. Also, the Menora is described in theTorah in vegetative terms, having “flowers and stems.” This painting also emphasizes how this bush has roots at Mount Moriah, but its “lights” ascend to heaven, similar to the ladder seen by Yakov at Mount Moriah, with its bottom at the earth and its top in the heavens, hinting to how heaven and earth are connected at this location.
Hebron also stands for uniting heaven and earth, being the threshold and gateway to the Garden of Eden. Also Hebron can be seen as a precedent to Mount Moriah, for here our Patriarchs first settled, and King David first ruled. Indeed, according to the Arizal it is through the spiritual development of Hebron that spiritual development in Jerusalem was achieved. Therefore, yet today may we go in this pathway of spiritual development.