Home: Where the divine becomes family

Source: The God of Jacob: Why not the God of Abraham and Isaac?

And Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of the verse, "And many peoples shall go and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,' etc."? The God of Jacob, and not the God of Abraham and Isaac? Rather: Not like Abraham, of whom "mountain" is written, as it is said, "As it is said to this day: On the mountain of the Lord He will be seen"; and not like Isaac, of whom "field" is written, as it is said, "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field"; but like Jacob, who called it "house," as it is said, "And he called the name of that place Bethel."

(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Pesachim 88a)

Explanation: The three places: Mountain, field, and house

Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat explains God's preference for our forefather Jacob over the two preceding patriarchs. In his view, the difference between Abraham and Isaac and Jacob lies in the name Scripture gives to the place of prayer: Abraham ascends the mountain to sacrifice his son, Isaac went out to meditate (to converse—that is, to pray) in the field, and Jacob favored the house.

Perspective: From the universal to the familial: Jacob and the foundation of the Jewish home

The God of Abraham looks down from above, beyond reality, watching and examining, while Isaac sees God within the whole world, out in the open expanse. Both Abraham and Isaac perceive a universal God, but Jacob sees a familial God—One who has a home and a tangible presence. In Abraham's home, Ishmael and Hagar are also present, and in Isaac's home, Esau lives too; whereas in Jacob's home, the people of Israel are formed: twelve tribes and four wives whose sons are all part of the family. The home is the foundation of the Jewish family, and Jacob is the one who designates God's place as a house.

Going Deeper: The Temple as a unifying national center

Rabbi David Levi, "The National Role of the Temple," Tzarich Iyun

The unifying force of the people of Israel is their being the people of God, and therefore the center of Israel is the pilgrimage up to the House of the Lord. The importance of designating a single place for spiritual worship is national rather than religious. Thus, in the desert, when the people were united by the very nature of camp life, every person was permitted to worship God as they saw fit—if one wished to offer a sacrifice, one sacrificed; if not, one stayed at home. However, the need for national cohesion and the fear that a person might detach from the rest of the people and become isolated on their own estate gave birth to the obligation of pilgrimage: "You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or your flock, or any of your vow-offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand. Rather, you must eat it before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God chooses—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake." The connection between eating sacred foods in the Temple and including the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow is no coincidence. The shared pilgrimage strengthens national solidarity and mutual responsibility. It turns out, then, that the importance of the House of the Lord is not merely religious, but primarily national. The significance of the Temple lies in the fact that the Jewish people unite around the House of the Lord.

Culture: The culture of 'home' in Hebrew and Israeli life

The word bayit (house or home) serves as a prefix for countless terms in Hebrew. In Israel, dozens of communities have names beginning with 'Beit'—from the city of Beit Shemesh to the moshav of Beit Gamliel. Many institutions also begin with the word beit: beit sefer (school, literally 'house of the book'), beit cholim (hospital, 'house of the sick'), beit mishpat (courthouse), beit hamikdash (the Temple), beit malon (hotel), beit mirkachat (pharmacy), beit bubot (dollhouse), beit defus (print shop), and even beit zikuk (oil refinery) or beit Chabad, among others. There are also cultural landmarks like Beit Ariela in Tel Aviv, Hansen House (Beit Hansen) in Jerusalem, Beit Loewenstein in Raanana, and thousands more. In English, for instance, a hospital is named after hospitality—a place of lodging, not a home. In Hebrew, there is a desire to make every place a 'home.' In the Bible, the root B-Y-T appears more than 2,240 times. By comparison, in the Quran or the New Testament, the word 'house' appears roughly a tenth of that number.