Netvort Parshas Vayeitzei 5772:                      What Means These Stones?

By Rabbi Joshua (Rockily known as the Hoffer) Hoffman

Yaakov on his run to Beis Lavan to escape Eisav’s attempt to kill him, stops off at Beer Sheva as the sun sets, and takes some rocks to set his head down as he goes to sleep. He has a dream of a ladder which is set in the earth and extends to heaven, with God standing over him, perhaps providing protection from Eisav.  When Yaakov wakes up, he takes from those stones and builds an altar and pledges to be loyal to God, as God had pledged to protect him. Interestingly, however, the Ramban brings a Midrash to provide a completely different explanation as to what these stones represent.

The midrash says that the stones came from the place of the Akeidah where Avraham went to sacrifice his son. What possible connection could there be between these stones from the Akeidah that Yaakov found, and his flight from Eisav?  Moreover, what connection do they have to the future life that Yaakov was to have in the house of Lavan? A look at the teachings of Rav Kook can provide an answer.

Rav Kook writes in his Olas Reiyah that one of the purposes of the Akeidah was to preserve enthusiasm for religion, that had somewhat been lost through Avraham Avinu’s campaign to bring the world to believe in the one true God. The forces of idolatry, while full of moral indignity and falsehood, still had within them a force of enthusiasm, as followers were worshipping forces within themselves, while Avraham was promoting a God outside of them. Through the Akeidah, God wanted Avraham to bring back that enthusiasm for divine worship, within the context of monotheism. By reminding Yaakov of the Akeidah through having the stones from that event appear to him here, as Yaakov makes his way to Beis Lavan, God was encouraging him to bring this message with him, as he builds Klal Yisrael.

We ask that you have in mind in your tefillos R. Yehoshua ben Yonina, for a refuah sheleimah bimheira bisoch shear cholei Yisroel.