Vayeitzei 5766- Rabbi Shmuel Zucker

Rashi comments that the word vayifga is a language of Tefilla indicating that Yaakov instituted Maariv. In addition, Rashi points out that the word vayifga teaches us that Har Hamoriah was uprooted and brought to Yaakov. If these two things are both learnt from the word vayifga, they are probably connected. What’s the link between Maariv and Har Hamoriah moving to Yaakov?

One could perhaps offer the following explanation: Yaakov Avinu, who had dedicated his whole life to immersing himself in Torah, is now told to leave his beloved Beit Midrash to begin a life of wandering, with years and years of hard work for the wicked Lavan. This transition must have been traumatic for him. Yaakov is to be called Yisrael; he represents the Jewish people. His wandering, his journeys correspond to all the journeys to be traveled by the Jews throughout the long, long years of darkness in the various exiles. The day suddenly became night- “the sun was going down,” indicating that not always will there be light. Just as Yaakov had to suddenly leave the light of the Beit Midrash to begin his journeys, so too the Jews will leave the light of the Beit Midrash to journey through the dark exiles. There are to be periods where the light suddenly disappears and the dark ages begin. However, Hashem appears to Yaakov amidst this darkness with a calming and comforting dream, as the Midrash relates that the Angels alighting and descending the ladder correspond to the Angels of the nations that will exile the Jews, their climbing is their success, the descending, their demise. Eventually they are all to be destroyed. Hashem continues that even amidst the darkness of exiles: “I am here with you and will guard you wherever you go” (Bereishit 28:15). Hashem is always with us even though it doesn’t seem so because it’s dark all around us; nevertheless, Hashem is always there, to hear our prayers, to connect to. Whichever period we are in or whichever place, however remote and forsaken we are, if we try hard enough, we can attain the very same dvakus as the glorious era of the Beit Hamikdash. This is the message to Yaakov both for him personally on his travels and for the Jews during their travels.

We can now understand why Yaakov instituted Maariv, because it represents closeness to Hashem even in the darkest periods. Whatever hester panim we are experiencing, we can close our eyes and say Baruch Ata Hashem, feeling Hashem in front of us. Tefilla is equivalent to avoda in the Beit Hamikdash. Therefore Maariv is equivalent to avoda even in the darkest period of time, to teach us this point.

We can now understand the connection between Maariv and Har Hamoriah being brought to Yaakov. They both in fact represent the very same idea, that wherever we are in time or place, the Beit Hamikdash and its avoda always accompanies us. It’s very ironic that many of our glorious periods in history took place during the most difficult exiles- the best example being the spreading of Torah Ba’al Peh. The Gemara, both in Megilla and Sanhedrin, states that all braitot follow the opinion of Rabbi Akiva. As we know, Rabbi Akiva lived through one of the darkest periods of our history under the wicked Roman Empire, just after the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash. Rebbe Yehuda Hanasi, who compiled all mishnayot, lived through the wicked Greek Empire. Nevertheless, both Rabbi Akiva and R’ Yehuda Hanasi were responsible for the greatest era of Torah learning.