וַיִּפְגַּע בַּמָּקוֹם וַיָּלֶן שָׁם כִּי־בָא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וַיִּקַּח מֵאַבְנֵי הַמָּקוֹם וַיָּשֶׂם מְרַאֲשֹׁתָיו וַיִּשְׁכַּב בַּמָּקוֹם הַהוּא׃
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.
—Gen. 28:11
In the second verse of this week’s Parasha, we find a verse that stands out in a big way. In one verse, the word makom or “place” is mentioned three times: Jacob has stumbled upon a place, has taken a stone from this place, and lays his head upon that stone in “this very place.” The third iteration of makom uses the definite article as well as a secondary definitive article, almost as to exclaim, “THIS PLACE, THIS PLACE RIGHT HERE!”
When I was reading this text, the word makom stood out to me for two reasons. For one, the word makom is a rabbinic “nickname” for God. God as place is a wonderful metaphor, as it allows God to be both foundational and aspirational. A place is grounding, and it can also represent a goal or trajectory. The second reason that the thrice-repeated word stood out pertains to the dream sequence in the following verses, in which Jacob sees the angels ascending and descending this thing we have decidedly translated as a “ladder.”
A mere six chapters earlier, Abraham is guided by God “el ha’makom Asher amar lo haElohim” — “to the Place which God had told him.” That place is Har HaMoriah — the traditional locale of God creating the universe, the location upon which the First and Second Temples were built. It is the location of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, and—according to Rashi and myself—the place where Jacob saw the angels, the place that Jacob would appropriately name upon his awakening: Bet El or House of God. Through some deduction and a slight leap, the stone Jacob removed to lay his head upon could very well have been from the same altar upon which his grandfather Abraham nearly sacrificed his father Isaac.
Finally, the word makom is etymologically connected with the word LaKum or “standing.” Perhaps this text might serve as a reminder that each generation comes to this place to stand on the shoulders of the generations that came before for a sturdy foundation. It also reminds us that we must forge our own path forward and our own relationship with God such that we might aspire to carry the next generation to a new place, to a renewed relationship and covenant with God.