Shabbat Vayetze  1 Kislev 5768, Nov 17, 2007

Efrat, Israel – Monuments or MATZEVOT are a common and sensitive aspect of religious ritual when we ceremoniously erect them over the graves of our loved ones. The origin of such monuments is to be found in next week's Torah reading, when Jacob places a MATZEVAH on the grave-site of his beloved Rachel, who has tragically died in childbirth. But in this week's Torah reading, VAYETZE, Jacob erects the first monument in Jewish history. Until this point, the great Biblical personalities have erected altars (mizbeah),to G-d: Noah when he exited from the ark, Abraham when he first came to Israel, Isaac when he dedicated the city of Beersheba and Jacob on two significant occasions. An altar is clearly a sacred place dedicated for ritual sacrifice. What is a monument? An understanding of the first monument in Jewish history will help us understand the Biblical attitude towards life and death - and even the true significance of the land of Israel.

Our portion opens with Jacob leaving his Israeli parental home and setting out for his mother's familial home in Haran. That night he sleeps in the fields outside of Luz - the last site in Israel he will occupy before he begins his exile - and dreams of a ladder standing (MUTZAV-matzevah) on land with its top reaching heavenwards, "and behold, angels of G-d are ascending and descending on it" (Genesis 28:12).

G-d is standing (nitzav) above the ladder, and promises not only that Jacob will return to Israel but also that this land will belong to him and his descendants eternally. Upon awakening, the Patriarch declares the place to be "the house of G-d and the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:17). He then builds a monument of the stones he has used as a pillow and pours oil over it. The message is indubitably clear: a monument is a symbol of an eternal relationship, the ladder linking heaven and earth, the land of Israel which connects the descendants of Jacob to the Divine forever. A monument is in effect a gateway to heaven, a House of G-d on earth. The land of Israel, with it laws of tithes, Sabbatical years and Jubilee, magnificently expresses the link between humanity and the Almighty; the promise of Jacob's return from exile bears testimony to the eternity of the relationship between the people and the land of Israel.

Two more aspects bear mention. The monument is made of stone - the Hebrew word for stone being "even", a contraction of "father-son" (av-ben, the eternity of family continuity). And the monument is consecrated with oil, as will be the King-Messiah (lit. anointed with oil), the ultimate herald of peace and redemption for Israel and the world.

Jacob then spends two decades with his uncle Laban, who does his utmost to assimilate his bright and capable nephew-son-in-law into a life of comfort and business in exile. Jacob resists - escaping Laban's blandishments and secretly absconding with his wives, children and live-stock for return to Israel. Laban pursues them, and they agree to a covenant - monument. "And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a monument" (Genesis 31:44). Here again, we have the expression of an eternal promise: Abraham's descendants will never completely assimilate - not even into the most enticing Diaspora. The text continues: "And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stone, and they took stones and made a heap.. And Laban called it (the matzevah) Yegar -Sahaduta, but Jacob called it Gal-Ed " (Genesis 31:44-47). The wily Laban wants the monument to bear an Aramean name, a symbol of the Gentile part of Jacob's ancestry; Jacob firmly insists upon a purely Hebrew-inscription of GAL-ED.

When they take their respective oaths at the site of the monument, the deceptive Laban still endeavors to get in his licks: "The G-d of Abraham and the god of Nahor, the G-d of their father judge between us" (Genesis 31:53). Jacob refuses to give an inch: this monument is a witness to the eternity of his commitment to Israel, the faith and the land: "But Jacob swore to the fear of his father Isaac" (Genesis 29:53). Jacob's response is a polite - but emphatic - rejection of Laban's assimilationist lure.

Since this monument with Laban is erected in the exile, however, it is not anointed with oil. Whatever important role the diaspora may have played in the history of Israel - as long as we refused to assimilate and remained true to our unique values and life-style - the oil of redemption will only emerge in the land of Israel. When Jacob returns to Bet-El, the House of G-d, he obviously erects another stone monument - the symbol of G-d's faithfulness which he anoints with oil. (Genesis 35:14,15)

In the next sequence, tragedy befalls Jacob's family, when the beloved Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. "And Rachel died, and she was buried on the road to Efrat which is Bethlehem. And Jacob erected a monument on her grave, it is the monument of the grave of Rachel until this day" (Genesis 35:19,20).

All of our commentaries question why Jacob did not travel another relatively short distance - perhaps twenty miles - and bury his beloved wife in Ma'arat HaMachpela in Hebron, the ancestral burial place. The midrashic response, cited by Rashi, is that when the Jews would be carted off to their first exile in Babylon, they would pass by the monument at Rachel's tomb and pray that the matriarch's spirit intercede on their behalf before the Almighty. G-d promises Jewish return:"... Rachel weeps for her children ... So does G-d say: 'Stop your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears. There is a reward for your deeds. a hope for your future: the children shall come back to their border'" (Jeremiah 31: 15,16).

Rachel's grave is a truly fitting place for a monument, a link between heaven and earth. It represents the eternity of the Jewish spirit and our eternal relationship to the land of Israel. Max Nordau became the leader of World Zionism after the death of Theodore Herzl. He was a Viennese physician who was not at all an observant Jew and had no previous connection to the Zionist movement. What made him a committed believer in Jewish return? He writes in his diary that a Hassidic family whose young daughter had been stricken with a mysterious disease came to him for a diagnosis. He diagnosed the malady and discovered the cure. The grateful family returned, promising - despite their poverty - to pay whatever they owed him because he had saved their daughter's life. He smiled and suggested that she kiss him on the cheek as a fitting payment. The young girl, who had just reached the age of 12, blushed as she explained that she could not kiss a grown man. He then suggested that she give over to him the Torah lesson she had learned that morning as substitute payment. She cited the midrash I have just brought about Rachel's grave site. Max Nordau writes in his diary that if after 2000 years of exile Jewish children still learn about and believe in Jewish return to Israel, the Jews will certainly return.

Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel

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