[Avodah] The principal place of the Shechinah is on earth.

Yitzchok Levine Larry.Levine at stevens.edu
Fri Nov 28 07:43:14 PST 2008


The following is from the new translation of 
RSRH's commentary on the Chumash, Bereishis 28:10

10 Ya’akov left Be’er Sheva and set out for Charan.

Ya’akov goes forth in order to establish a Jewish home, and to achieve
this he needs only the resources inherent in his own personality. Thus
begins the story of Ya’akov, for everything that follows revolves around
the establishment of that home. Ya’akov was the first to give expression
to the idea that God is to be sought within the home. He was the first
to articulate the profound idea of beis elokim (below, v. 17), Beis El (below,
v. 19 and 35:15), “the house of God,” which essentially means: The
sphere in which man blossoms and thrives, the place to which he brings
all that he acquires and in which he acts and builds his life — that sphere
is the greatest and nearest place for the revelation of God.

Ya’akov fulfilled in his life what Noach had envisioned at the new
beginning of human history: Whereas the culture of Yefes ennobles
men’s souls through the sense of beauty, the mission of Shem is “to
pitch tents in which the Shechinah may dwell.”

The Sages of Israel have expressed an idea that contains within it a
complete worldview: Ikir Shechinah b'tachtonim, 
“the principal place of the Shechinah
is on earth” (Bereshis Rabbah 19:7); or: “The angels laugh at
those who raise their eyes toward heaven, imagining they have to seek
God up above” (Sefer Chassidim, 18, end); or: “He who is walking out of
doors while studying, and interrupts his study and says: ‘How beautiful
is that tree!’ or ‘How beautiful is that field!’ (thus revealing that, for
him, the study of human life and its beauty when lived in accordance
with God’s Will does not overshadow the beauty of nature) is regarded
as though he has forfeited his own soul” (Avos 3:9).

These and similar statements are a legacy to us from the spirit of
Ya’akov. Under the influence of the culture of Yefes, man flees from
ordinary, “prosaic” life and takes refuge in the beautiful “poetry” of
nature. The heirs of Ya’akov find God and His Shechinah first and
foremost in the home. Herein lies the difference between the spirit of
Judaism and non-Jewish culture. 
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