ושב שם. An invitation to prepare himself mentally and spiritually before beginning to build the altar that he had in mind to erect. This corresponds to what our sages have described as being the manner in which they prepared for prayer and subsequently unwound before pursuing mundane activities. According to Berachot 30 they spent an hour “gearing up” before commencing their prayers and then spent an hour unwinding before going about the business of earning their daily bread.

ועשה שם מזבח לא-ל הנראה אליך בברחך, in order to give thanks to G’d Who has kept His promise which He gave you on that occasion. We have a long standing tradition that when one passes a location where one had once experienced G’d’s help in a clearly supernatural format one is to recite a special benediction giving thanks to G’d for having done so, even though the event may have taken place a long time ago. (Berachot 54).

הסירו את אלוהי הנכר, which you have taken from Shechem. Even though the adherents of these idols had already disowned them, (the surviving females of the city of Shechem), and we know from Avodah Zarah 43, and 52 that such items are subsequently permitted to Jews, Yaakov commanded his household to get rid of them before proceeding to Bet El. He wanted all his people to mentally completely dissociate themselves from anything connected wit items formerly used in idolatrous pursuits.

ויטמון אותם יעקב, he buried them instead of destroying them. Seeing that they no longer had the halachic status of being idolatrous artifacts they did not need to be destroyed

They began their journey. As long as they were behind the walls of Shechem they were safe, but now they were in need of the “terror of Elokim”.

ויקרא למקום, to this inn for wayfarers where he had spent the night on his way from home some 34 years ago when the Torah had referred to it as ויפגע במקום (28,11)

א-ל בית א-ל, “the sanctuary of Bet El.”

אלון בכות. Mourning results in the withdrawal of the Divine Presence as we know from Shabbat 30. Until Yaakov had passed this tree after mourning Deborah the Divine Presence did not return and accompany him. [He was deprived of such a Presence during all the 22 years that he was mourning for his son Joseph, thinking him dead. Ed.].

וירא אלוקים, after the mourning had concluded.

The Torah, in retrospect, by using this formulation, tells us that the dream Yaakov had had when in flight, on the way to Charan, had in fact not been merely a dream but a vision.

בבאו מפדן ארם. G’d only appeared to him after leaving Lavan. While he was in Lavan’s city he did not rate such visions. The fact that G’d had spoken to him by means of an intermediary, an angel even while still in Padan Aram, is not to be confused with the level of a vision described as “G’d appeared to him.”

שמך יעקב, at this time I make your name Yaakov an eternal name, i.e. after all the other nations will have perished you alone will remain. This will give a positive meaning to the word עקב, “heel,” meaning something that will survive all that precedes it. Compare Jeremiah 46,28 כי אעשה כלה בכל הגוים ואותך לא אעשה כלה, “when I shall put an end to all the nations, I will not put an end to you.

לא יקרא עוד שמך יעקב, when the time will come when Yaakov will be the only surviving nation on earth as Bileam said in Numbers 25,9 הן עם לבדד ישכון, “this is a nation which will dwell in solitary splendour,” there will no longer be any significance to the name Yaakov. [as there are no others to relate its meaning to. Ed.]

כי אם ישראל יהיה שמך, seeing that you will rule, תשתרר over the remnants of all the nations that have ceased to exist as such. This also corresponds to the previous prophecy of Bileam in Numbers 24,17 וקרקר כל בני שת, “he (Yaakov) will smash all the foundation of the sons of Seth (mankind.)

ויקרא את שמו ישראל, He blessed him in that the predictions which were meant for the end of time, were beginning to be implemented already from that time on, and not only while Yaakov was on holy soil in the land of Canaan, but even when he would be outside (as in Egypt). From this time on no one who would attack Yaakov and his family would meet with success. This was the meaning of what our sages said in Sanhedrin 76 that ”wherever Yaakov and his family walked on they became princes over their masters,” and this is what the prophet Jeremiah bewailed in Lamentations 1,1 as what the Jewish people lost as a result of the destruction of the Temple.

אני א-ל שדי, I swear by My own name when I swear an oath. One such example is found in Deut. 32,40 ואמרתי חי אנכי לעולם, “as I have said, I, the One Who lives forever.” G’d’s oaths to Yaakov were always by the attribute Shadday.

Be fruitful and increase. Do not be afraid that your offspring will be destroyed, even if they are imperfect, because the name “Almighty Shakkai” indicates that I keep My word even to the unworthy.

ומלכים מחלציך יצאו. This blessing means that the Jewish people would always possess persons who are fit to occupy the throne, as opposed to the Edomites who, as we know from 36,36-37, had to rely repeatedly on outsiders to become their kings.

ולזרעך אחריך אתן את הארץ, in due course, at the end of time, I will give your descendants the entire globe, not only the land of Israel. This was the real meaning of 28,14 “you will spread out to the west to the east and to the north and to the south.” This is also what Bileam prophesied when he said in Numbers 24,17 that Yaakov would uproot all the descendants of Seth, i.e. all of mankind.

במקום אשר אתו, when he was on his way to Charan (34 years earlier) at that same inn. There G’d appeared to him (verse 9) and there G’d’s Presence departed from him. This is why he erected a monument at that very site.

ויסך עליו נסך, he poured a libation of wine on it. Thereby he completed paying his vow in which he had vowed to make out of the stone which had served as his pillow a monument, meaning “a house of G’d.” (28,22). By anointing this monument he had, so to speak, laid the foundation of the house of G’d to be built there in the future. What he did here was similar to what David did in his time when he prepared the foundation for the Temple his son Solomon was to build after his death in accordance with what the angel had told him at the threshing ground of Arona the Jebusite.

אל תראי, do not be afraid that the infant about to be born will be a girl although your pains are so great that there is reason for suspecting this. The Talmud in Niddah 31 claims that the birth pangs associated with the birth of female children are greater than those associated with the birth of male children.

כי גם זה לך בן, even though you are experiencing all these pains, the child is a male.

מצבה על קבורתה, this was for protection against the grave being damaged or exhumed by people doing this for nefarious purposes, as it was located at the crossroads where there is a lot of traffic. [I presume it could not be in a field as Yaakov would not violate private property to bury his dead. Ed.]

And Yisrael heard. Nevertheless, he did not cease to count Reuvein among his sons because he had no doubt that he repented immediately.

בכור יעקב ראובן, as far as Heaven was concerned Reuven did not suffer consequences because he had repented forthwith. He also did not suffer really in this world, i.e. on earth, until on his deathbed Yaakov punished him by depriving him of the material benefits enjoyed by the first born in that he inherits an extra share of his father’s estate. This punishment was withheld in accordance with the principle that anyone guilty of being ostracised by the community is not actually ostracised until the leading sage of the generation declares him to be so. (Moed Katan 16) This is based on Judges 5,23 where Devorah, the ruling judge of Israel, curses the inhabitants of a certain place called מרוז who had failed to answer her call to arms against the army of Siserah, general of Yavin, King of the Canaanites who had been oppressing the Israelites. The מלאך ה' she quotes in that verse is the leader of the generation, herself in this instance.

Where Avraham and Yitzchok lived. Righteous forebears stand a person in good stead among his neighbors.