הר שדה בית • מה ידעו אבותינו? | הרב אליהו ובר

We read yesterday about our forefather Abraham, who said: "As it is said to this day, on the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen." There is a Gemara well-known in Tractate Pesachim, and in Tractate Chagigah The Gemara says: "And many peoples shall go and say.""Come, let us go up to the House of the God of Jacob." The Gemara asks: What is special? What is this " God of Jacob" that exists? Abraham our forefather has three, the Temple Mount has three names, for one place. Abraham our forefather called it "Mount," as it is said, "On the Mount the Lord will be seen"; Isaac our forefather called it "Field," we will read this in the upcoming weekly Torah portion, "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening"; and Jacob our forefather called it " House." So they will come to the House of the God of Jacob. There is another Gemara in Tractate Chagigah: "The nobles of the peoples are gathered with the God of Abraham." Not because Jacob called it "House," nor Isaac, but rather Abraham our forefather called it "Mount." However, Abraham our forefather, it is not written there exactly in the language of the Gemara in Pesachim, but there is some aspect here of it being called "Mount," and one needs to understand these three names. What is Mount, Field, House? The Gra, in his commentary "Aderet Eliyahu" on Isaiah, on the verse "to the House of the God of Jacob," and it is also found in the sayings "They shall call there the sacrifices of righteousness" in "Zot HaBracha"—I don't know exactly, the Gra didn't write these two books, so he said it and it was written in these two places—and it says there that the Temple Mount has three parts. Mount which is the entire mountain. The "Field" is the courtyard, and this corresponds to Isaac, who represents " Gevurot"(strength), and that is where the slaughtering of most of the sacrifices takes place in the north; and there is the Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, which is "House," and there lies the aspect of Jacob our forefather. And the Gra continues that the world stands on three things: on Torah, on service, on acts of loving-kindness. In the Holy of Holies is the Book of the Torah, the service is the courtyard, and acts of loving-kindness is the Temple Mount, which is the place of prayer. The entire Temple Mount is the place of prayer. And why is it called acts of loving-kindness? Because on the Temple Mount, they pray for grooms, and King Solomon made a gate for grooms and mourners, and a whole order. The Gra builds a lot upon this concept that it is a place of prayer, and prayer is essentially acts of loving-kindness. Indeed, today we have already prepared to bless even a bride and groom who have not yet arrived here, but that is how we prepared from here to send the blessing , the blessing of God. In the weekly portion it is mentioned: " Isaac went out to meditate in the field ." And ostensibly, whoever reads the verse , reads it a first, second, or third time, will not exactly find the Temple Mount there. It is explicitly stated there that Isaac was in Beer-lahai-roi, and Isaac came from the way of Beer-lahai-roi, and he was dwelling in the land of the Negev. And if he truly returned to Hebron, where Sarah was buried, then there is really no logic for him to continue all the way to the Temple Mount to the north . And if we assume that he truly continued north to look for...I don't know, maybe the servant sent some letter that he was arriving? I don't know, back then there were no cell phones or faxes, I don't know exactly how he sent it, maybe it was a carrier pigeon? I don't know, it seems to me that even a carrier pigeon didn't exist in that period either. Ah ...I don't know, he sent it, that he sent before him. So Isaac came from Beer-lahai-roi and he continued north, met them on the way, it's possible. But for anyone reading the verses, really, where...where did the Sages get this principle that it refers to Mount Moriah? Abraham our father called it a mountain , concerning Jacob it was called a house , that is a topic in itself, how is it the house of God if it ostensibly refers to Bethel? But it seems to me that the answer to both is the same. Isaac came from...the Sages explain that "Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening," meaning Isaac, yes, the Mincha prayer they pray. The Sages say: Where is it possible to pray? Where does a person pray? He prays in the field, he prays on the Temple Mount, and Isaac our father called it a field. This means that for the place of prayer, which is the mountain, he called it a field. Where can a person pray? And this goes back to what the Gra speaks about regarding the idea that the entire place of prayer is here. And an interesting point that I wanted to observe, especially in our time. Where did he come from? From Beer-lahai-roi. Where do we know Beer-lahai-roi from in the Torah? We know it from one other time. Hagar, Ishmael, the whole story there at Beer-lahai-roi. This means there is a future prophecy here that the Sages, when they speak here, a future prophecy that there will yet be strife over this field with the seed of Ishmael. The prayer that we pray here is a prayer meant to uproot the seed of Ishmael from this place. And I think that Isaac our father truly established the Mincha prayer, every day we have here—we remember now in recent years—that every day there is a Shacharit prayer here, this is the Mincha prayer. The Shacharit prayer is to uproot the morning part, "and Abraham rose early in the morning"—he established the Shacharit prayer— "and took bread and a skin of water" to send away Ishmael. So, uh, there is also the rectification of the Mincha prayer. The Mincha prayer, its rectification is that Isaac established the Mincha prayer and established "meditating in the field toward evening," and this is to rectify the matter of Beer-lahai-roi, which is to bring the people of Israel here. The people of Israel are also in Beer-lahai-roi, and to rectify this matter that follows in the passage, at the end of the passage, "and they dwelt from Havilah to Shur," the matter of Ishmael. So may the Holy One, blessed be He, help us that we merit to be a continuation of Isaac our father, to rectify the matter of the field and the prayer. I just want to end here with one point that is very important. They raise it in the name of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. His son Rabbi Shmuel, may he live, raises the issue that a synagogue needs to be made here. And the Temple Mount, and I also heard arguments of "what do you mean, a synagogue?" I think the things do not conflict. Certainly, who wants a synagogue here? The house is there, we want a field. We want a mountain, and truly, well, one must manage with the rain, to make shelters here somehow on rainy days or alternatively on very hot days. But the principle of fixing a place, And the Sages say regarding Abraham our father, "And Abraham rose early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord," that Abraham our father fixed a place for his prayer. There is an issue: what I understood is that Rabbi Eliyahu is afraid that if a place for prayer isn't established, eventually there will be a mess here. He wants there to be a permanent place. If there is a permanent place, then it’s fine by him, and that is what Rabbi Shmuel said. So the things do not contradict each other. We are not looking to build synagogue buildings here. We are looking to build many things here —to pour concrete, to construct, to build walls, to build swimming pools. We have a lot, a lot of work plans here. I am not so familiar with architecture and planning, so I don't know how many plans I have, but I am sure everyone knows we have such a plan. But on the other hand, we are planning here and we want to create a synagogue here, a place of prayer where we can also continue Abraham our father, on the mount of the Lord, where he shall be seen, Abraham’s morning prayer, yes, the Shacharit prayer. We also want in this place, we want to continue here with Isaac’s prayer, towards evening, as soon as evening begins to set in, to start praying here . But we don't want to stop at that, we also want to pray the Arvit prayer here . May the Holy One, blessed be He, help us to be worthy to pray here Shacharit, Mincha, and Arvit, every single day, every week, seven days a week. Amen, may it be His will.