ספר בראשית

An alternate approach to ‎אנכי הא-ל ביתאל‎; when we say in ‎our daily shmoneh esreh, three times daily:‎הא-ל הגדול הגבור ‏והנורא א-ל עליון‎, we refer to how G’d manifests Himself to us in our ‎present state when we are in exile. At the same time we look ‎forward with profound longing to the kind of manifestations of ‎G’d’s greatness which the prophet has described as ‎עין לא ראתה ‏אלוקים זולתך‎, “which thus far no human eye has beheld, only G’d ‎Himself;” (B’rachot 34 based on Isaiah 64,3) Using the ‎parlance of our sages, these as yet unrevealed manifestations of ‎G’d’s loving kindness will serve as garments that the pious will ‎wear in the future after our souls have left our bodies. In our ‎verse above, G’d assures Yaakov that there are dimensions to His ‎attribute of loving kindness that have not yet been revealed to ‎man. The parts revealed to man thus far in this world are merely ‎to serve as an introduction to additional dimensions reserved for ‎being revealed to our souls in the afterlife. [G’d chose the ‎first opportunity after He had assisted Yaakov to acquire material ‎wealth in spite of his uncle’s constant efforts to thwart him, to ‎acquaint Yaakov with this insight. Ed.] This is the reason ‎why the sages added the attribute ‎א-ל עליון‎, “the G’d in the ‎highest regions,” to our daily prayer, to remind us that there is ‎such an as yet unexplored dimension to G’d’s attributes.‎