{"id":297,"date":"2024-03-03T02:37:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T02:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/?p=297"},"modified":"2024-03-03T02:37:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T02:37:33","slug":"yaakovs-pillow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/03\/yaakovs-pillow\/","title":{"rendered":"Yaakov’s Pillow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My wife and I spent last Shabbat in Teaneck with her family, and with my recently engaged brother in law and his fianc\u00e9 present, all conversations gravitated towards wedding registries.  I learned a lot about bedding: thread-count, cotton vs microfiber, that there are different pillowcases for twin and king pillows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at the beginning of our parsha Yaakov Avinu doesn\u2019t have any of these luxuries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e4\u05b0\u05d2\u05b7\u05bc\u05a8\u05e2 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u059c\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05a4\u05dc\u05b6\u05df \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05dd\u0599 \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05d9\u05be\u05d1\u05b8\u05a3\u05d0 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e9\u05b6\u05bc\u05c1\u0594\u05de\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e7\u05b7\u05bc\u05d7\u0599 \u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b7\u05d1\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05a3\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u0594\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u0596\u05e9\u05b6\u05c2\u05dd \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05ea\u05b8\u0591\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05b4\u05bc\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b7\u05bc\u0596\u05d1 \u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05bc\u05e7\u05a5\u05d5\u05b9\u05dd \u05d4\u05b7\u05d4\u05bd\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u05c3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night, for the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The commentators struggle with the word \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05ea\u05b8\u0591\u05d9\u05d5.  <\/em>We would expect taking a stone or stones and placing it\/them under one\u2019s head to be described as vayasem tachat rosho.  What is meant by \u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b7\u05bd\u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u05ea\u05b8\u0591\u05d9\u05d5 ?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rashi quotes from the Midrash that Yaakov was not simply the stones as a pillow under his head.  He was placing the stones around <\/em>his head:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

 \u05d5\u05d9\u05e9\u05dd \u05de\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5.<\/strong> \u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d0\u05b8\u05df \u05db\u05b0\u05bc\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05d6\u05b5\u05d1 \u05e1\u05b8\u05d1\u05b4\u05d9\u05d1 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b9\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05b9, \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d9\u05b8\u05bc\u05e8\u05b5\u05d0 \u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d7\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea \u05e8\u05b8\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AND PUT THEM FOR A RESTING PLACE FOR HIS HEAD \u2014 He arranged them in the form of a drain-pipe around his head for he was afraid of wild beasts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Yaakov found himself in the dangerous wilderness.  He did not lie down looking for a comfortable rock to rest his head; he looked for stones to form a barricade.                                                                                <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his Ohr Rashaz<\/a>, the 19th<\/sup> century Rabbi Smicha Zisel Zev, better known as the Alter of Kelm, asks an obvious question.  Have you ever gone camping?  If you found yourself in close proximity to dangerous beasts, would you simply place something around your head to protect yourself and go to sleep?  Of course not!  Yaakov should have built a fortress!  At the very least he should have placed the stones around his entire body. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the Alter suggests that Yaakov lacked the resources to properly fortify himself.  He did the best he could, and with the rocks he could find, he built a makeshift fence around his head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reasonable answer, but I wonder what I would do in that same situation.  I don\u2019t know that putting rocks around one\u2019s head accomplishes anything; an attacking animal would probably go for the torso.  I would probably cover the sides of my body or maybe put all the rocks on one side to make a wall or hide myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Yaakov was doing something different.  Sometimes we ask ourselves or each other theoretical questions to consider our values.  If you could bring one item with you on a stranded island, what would you bring?  If you could save one item from a burning building, what would you save? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If an animal attacks a sleeping man in the wilderness, he doesn\u2019t stand much of a chance.  But Yaakov thought to himself, if I can protect one part of my body, what will I choose protect?  What is the most important part of my body?  He chooses his mind.  Yaakov has no physical possessions with him as he flees his home, but he realizes he carries everything he needs with him in his head.  Stored within it rest the traditions of his parents and the Torah that he learned for fourteen years in the Yeshiva of Shem and Ever (see the final Rashi on last week\u2019s parsha.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yaakov understood that survival during the next chapter of his life would require him to protect his mind from external threats.   He places the stones around his head not only to ward off physical danger, but to remind himself of what must be protected from spiritual dangers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We live in a world where materialism becomes part of our identity and our virtual lives become part of our reality.  We must always remind ourselves that what we hold most dear to ourselves must be our selves.   As we go to sleep at night, we can enjoy our pillows and threads, but we must always remember that what is most dear to us and what defines us is our experiences, our relationships, and our values, and we must strive to protect them at all costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My wife and I spent last Shabbat in Teaneck with her family, and with my recently engaged brother in law and his fianc\u00e9 present, all conversations gravitated towards wedding registries.  I learned a lot about bedding: thread-count, cotton vs microfiber, that there are different pillowcases for twin and king pillows. But at the beginning of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,20],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions\/298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}