.וַיִּירָא֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר מַה־נּוֹרָ֖א הַמָּק֣וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה אֵ֣ין זֶ֗ה כִּ֚י אִם־בֵּ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְזֶ֖ה שַׁ֥עַר הַשָּׁמָֽיִם
Filled with reverence he [Jacob] said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.”
—Genesis 28:17
This verse from this week’s Torah portion is inscribed above the ark in our Sanctuary. It was carefully chosen. Our Temple and our Schools are—and always should be—places of awe and wonder; places of creativity and exploration; places of spirituality, study, and prayer that bring us closer to God and to living our lives in ways that, as it were, would make God proud.
Interestingly, the original text from our Torah doesn’t tell us exactly where this special place was. It’s somewhere between Beer Sheva and Haran, but there is much scholarly debate about where precisely this might be. Ours is not the only synagogue in the world that has chosen to use this verse in its sanctuary and this sends a very clear message: We can—and must—build dwelling places for the Divine wherever we find ourselves. This beautiful mountaintop of ours is a particularly fitting place with its expansive views that inspire and uplift us, but wherever we are, our central task as Jews is to construct for ourselves and our community a Beit Elohim, an abode of God that can open us to heaven. It doesn’t have to be a physical structure. Jacob, after all, says these words in the wilderness as he wakes up after having spent the night using a rock as a pillow.
We build a Beit Elohim in the values we carry, the community we cherish, and the acts of loving kindness that we perform day by day.
This is indeed an awesome place, a Beit Elohim, a gateway to heaven.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yoshi