368. And Behold, the Lord Stood Over Him
November 1979
“And behold, the Lord stood over him and said, ‘I am the Lord, God of your father Abraham… This land on which you lie, to you I will give it and to your descendants.’”
RASHI interpreted about the question, Why are the four cubits where he lies important? He brings the words of our sages, “The Creator folded all of the land of Israel underneath him, implying to him that it will be as easy for his sons to conquer as four cubits, which is man’s place.”
We need to understand the words by intimation. Eretz [land] is called Malchut, which is the kingdom of heaven. The whole of the land of Israel, meaning the Creator folded the whole of the spiritual land under the kingdom of heaven, like the verse, “What does the Lord God require of you? Only fear.” That is, we need nothing more than to accept the burden of the kingdom of heaven. By this we can be rewarded with the whole of the spiritual land, called “land of Israel,” as our sages said, “Anyone who has fear of heaven, his words are heard” (Berachot 6b).
In other words, a person who has been rewarded with the kingdom of heaven can control all his thoughts and desires. This is regarded as his organs hearing the words. This is the meaning of the Creator folding all of the land of Israel underneath him, meaning beneath the land that is called “kingdom of heaven.”
The Zohar interprets “And Jacob departed from Beer Sheba,” meaning departed from the land of Israel “and went to Haran,” meaning abroad. By this he comes to a state of “anger.” In a person, there is the quality of “rising,” when he stands upright, and there is the quality of “lying down,” when he falls from his degree. The falling is called “lying down.”
This is why he was told, “The land on which you lie,” which you feel as lying on the ground, meaning that he could not take upon himself the kingdom of heaven as it should be. Know that this is not merely a land, which is only the quality of Malchut, which is a small degree. Rather, this land is a high degree.
Hence, one should make great efforts for it, since the whole of the merit of the land of Israel depends on this land. The Creator promised, “To you I will give it and to your descendants,” and if you receive the land, everything will be in your hand.
They interpreted that this is why the Creator folded the whole of the land of Israel under the earth, to make it easy to conquer the land of Israel. As it is written (Midrash Rabbah, and presented in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”), “The Creator said to Israel, ‘Be sure, the whole of the wisdom and the whole of the Torah are easy. Anyone who fears Me and does the words of Torah, the whole of the wisdom and the whole of Torah are in his heart.’”
This is the meaning of the Creator folding the whole of the land of Israel underneath him, meaning under this land called “the kingdom of heaven.” If the four cubits, meaning a person’s height, is filled with fear of heaven, called “kingdom of heaven,” it will be easy to conquer it. This is what He promised him, “This land on which you lie, to you I will give it and to your descendants.”