In this week's Torah portion, Vayeitzei

In this week's Torah portion, Vayeitzei, Jacob sets out from Israel and journeys toward Charan. Reaching Mount Moriah, the place where the Holy Temple would one day stand, he decides to spend the night. "And he reached a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun had set."

Our Sages tell us that this was the first time in 14 years that Jacob had slept, having spent his nights as well as his days studying Torah with Shem and Eber.

This raises a very important question. Why, having not slept in such a long time, did Jacob choose the holiest site in the world to finally allow himself to sleep?

In order to understand, we need to examine the phenomenon of sleep and its spiritual significance.

Man's unique advantage over all other creatures is most openly expressed by his upright stature when he is awake. At such times, his head (representing the intellect), is clearly superior to his heart (representing the emotions). At the very bottom are his feet, symbolic of man's capability to perform concrete actions. However, when a person lies down to sleep, his head, heart and feet are all on the same level.

The upper body symbolizes man's spirituality; the lower part, his physical nature. When one is awake, the superior, spiritual component is dominant (and thus physically on a higher level); sleep, therefore, represents a great descent, for the spiritual and the physical are on the same level.

Paradoxically, the phenomenon of sleep also expresses a much higher concept, one which transcends the limitations of the physical world. For from G-d's perspective, there is no difference at all between the spiritual and physical realms; both are identical when compared with Him.

Thus, when Jacob went to sleep on the holiest site on earth, the place where the light of the Infinite G-d illuminates most strongly, the limitations of the physical world (and indeed, the concept of "higher"
and "lower" realms), were negated entirely.

This, then, is the inner meaning of Jacob's decision to sleep when he reached the site of the Holy Temple.

This same theme is also expressed in his dream of "a ladder set upon earth, and its head reached the heavens" - linking and uniting both the physical and spiritual planes of existence.

The power to effect this connection was given to Jacob precisely during his journey to Charan, where he would marry and establish the Jewish people. For in truth, establishing a dwelling place for G-d in this physical world is the essence of the mission of the Jewish people, a mission that will reach its ultimate fulfilment in the Messianic era, "when all flesh shall see that the mouth of G-d has spoken."

Adapted from Sefer HaSichot of the Rebbe, 5752, Vol. I