Parshas Vayetzei: Beis El and Luz – Defining Immortality

וַיִּקְרָא אֶת שֵׁם הַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא בֵּית אֵל וְאוּלָם לוּז שֵׁם הָעִיר לָרִאשֹׁנָה

He named that place “Beis El”, however, Luz [was] the name of the city originally. (28:9)

Several times throughout the Chumash we find places that are renamed to mark significant events. In this instance, however, the Torah makes a point of also mentioning what the place was called before it was renamed. But why is that relevant given that that original name has now been replaced?

The Midrash[1] informs us that the city of Luz had a most unusual property: its inhabitants were beyond the reach of the angel of death. Those who stayed in the city lived forever. It was at this place Yaakov arrived and had his famous dream with the ladder whose legs were embedded in the earth and whose top reached heavenward. That dream gave him not only an assurance of Divine guidance and protection, but also a vision of the type of life that can be led by Man – “embedded in the earth” while at the same time, “its top reaching heavenward”.

In light of the revelation he had experienced, upon awakening from his dream, Yaakov bestowed a new name to that place, “Beis El”, introducing, thereby, a new definition of immortality to the world. Yaakov was teaching us that immortality is not defined by the quantity of one’s years, but by the quality of one’s days – whatever their span – living them in the way through which one reaches out from within the temporal and touches the infinite and eternal.

Indeed, we live within the framework of time. However, Yaakov’s renaming teaches us that by devoting and dedicating ourselves to exalted goals and ideals, we are able to tap into the realm that transcends time, thereby bestowing that elevated quality upon all that we do.[2] 

[1] Bereishis Rabbah 59:8.

[2] Heard from my father, Rabbi Isaac Bernstein zt”l.