ספר בראשית

Genesis 31,13. “I am the G’d of Betel to Whom you have ‎vowed, etc.” The spelling of the word ‎ביתאל‎ both here and in ‎‎35,1 suggests that a house may serve more than one function. It ‎may serve a person to dwell in, just as clothing serves the body as ‎a “house” to surround him with a feeling of security and ‎familiarity. When you see the clothes a person wears, this serves ‎as a preparation to making the acquaintance of the personality ‎behind these clothes. When you see the house a person lives in, ‎you get an initial impression of what kind of a person lives in ‎such a house.‎When a person prepares to “meet” his Creator, in prayer, etc., ‎he also has to prepare himself for what to expect, by performing ‎certain commandments that serve his soul, much as his clothing ‎serves his body. One of the most appropriate “introductions” ‎prior to addressing G’d is to do so in a house designated for this ‎purpose, i.e. a synagogue. The type of “preparations” used, ‎depend on the importance of the “interview” one expects to have ‎with one’s Creator. Issues involving life and death, obviously ‎deserve a more careful preparation.‎In psalms 84,2 and 84,3 respectively, the authors (sons of ‎Korach) describe their yearning for entering either the dwellings ‎of G’d on earth, or at least to be allowed to enter the courtyards ‎of these dwellings. They speak of both their body (flesh) and their ‎‎“heart,” (spirit) yearning for this. They hope that admission to ‎these sites will enable them to shout for joy to the living G’d. ‎Their yearnings reflect the fact that they are in exile, and they ‎pray that they not be treated worse than birds that always can ‎return to their nest. They are aware that in order to really come ‎close to G’d, they must first make the appropriate preparations, ‎i.e. build a Temple with the courtyards surrounding it. The ‎psalmist clearly suggests, at the end of verse 3, that only after ‎these preparations have been made can his heart and body rejoice ‎having come closer to His Creator. He can then approach G’d ‎being certain that he, on his part, has made the appropriate ‎preparations.‎Our author sees in the word ‎נכספה‎ at the beginning of verse 3 ‎an additional spiritual plus of the psalmist, as he made plain that ‎he had made the necessary preparations that would entitle him to ‎have the desired “interview” with Hashem, but he ‎emphasizes, that contrary to performing such a commandment ‎as putting on phylacteries, an act that does not involve ‎pleasurable sensations of his body, what he did when building a ‎courtyard and temple for G’d involved him emotionally on the ‎highest level. He was literally yearning for the spiritual ‎experience no less than the body on occasion yearns for satiating ‎physical urges.‎On folio 40 in Kidushin 40, where the Talmud deals with ‎the relative moral/ethical value of appropriate intentions when ‎compared to performance, but not necessarily with appropriate ‎intentions, we are told that if someone planned sincerely to ‎perform a certain commandment but was prevented from ‎carrying out his intention by forces beyond his control, he is ‎credited with having performed the commandment. In ‎emphasizing the value of a constructive attitude, the Talmud ‎adds that planning to commit a transgression, and carrying it ‎out, brings in its wake a penalty only for the execution, not for ‎the planning that preceded carrying out the foul deed. ‎‎[The planning of idolatry is the only exception to this ‎rule. ibid. Ed.]‎This is also the meaning of Deuteronomy 6,6: ‎והיו הדברים האלה ‏אשר אני מצוך היום על לבבך‎, “these matters that I command you this ‎day shall be on your heart.” Even commandments that are not ‎capable of being fulfilled in exile should remain part of our ‎constant consciousness through discussion between father and ‎son, pupil and teacher, so that we are not deprived of receiving a ‎reward for them as if we had actually performed them. The desire ‎to be able to perform the respective commandments in reality is ‎the principal criterion used by G’d to judge our mitzvah ‎performance. Even King David in Chronicles I 22,14 already ‎referred to this when he said (concerning his desire to build a ‎Temple) ‎והנה בעניי הכינותי לבית ה' זהב ככרים מאה אלף כסף וגו'‏‎, “and ‎here through denying myself, I have set aside for the house of the ‎Lord one hundred thousands talents of gold, and one million ‎talents of silver, etc;” what David meant was that the ‎commandment of charity cannot only be fulfilled by the actual ‎handing out of sums of money, but can also be carried out by ‎preparing such monies to be ready when the need arises. David ‎adds that even while he was not able to hand out sums that were ‎needed because he was temporarily short of even bare essentials ‎for himself, i.e. ‎בעניי‎, his sincere desire to be of help would be ‎accounted for him as if he had actually carried out his desire, as ‎we know from psalms 119,106 ‎נשבעתי ואקימה לשמור משפטי צדקך‎, “I ‎have sworn to keep Your just rules.” [As soon as the ‎opportunity will arise. Ed.] Yaakov had similar thoughts ‎when he vowed that if G’d would be with him and grant him even ‎minimal comforts he would turn what is now merely a stone into ‎a building designed to serve G’d. G’d reminds him (31,13) of this ‎vow by describing Himself as ‎אנכי הא-ל ביתאל‎, saying that His ‎presence will not only be with him in his heart, but that he can ‎now carry out his desire to convert the stone he had anointed ‎into a house of G’d.‎