Bereishis, 28:16: “And Yaakov awoke from his sleep and said, ‘but Hashem is in this place and I did not know’.”
Rashi, Bereishis, 28:16. Dh: Veanochi: “Because if I had known, I would not have slept in this holy place.”

During his journey to Lavan, Yaakov lies down to sleep. He is unaware that this place is Mount Moriah where the Akeidah (Binding of Isaac) took place, and the location of the future Temple. While he is asleep, he receives the famous prophecy of the Angels going up and down the ladder and receives promises from God, assuring him of future success. When he wakes up, his immediate response is that the fact that he received such a prophecy here indicates that this is a holy place, and had he known of Its holiness, he would not have slept there. The Brisker Rav, Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, explains that he was concerned that he had inadvertently transgressed the law of respecting the location of the Temple (which even applies when the Temple is not built), whereby it is forbidden to act in a casual way in the location of the Temple and sleeping there is included in that prohibition.¹

At first glance this account does not appear particularly noteworthy. However, the Brisker Rav says that if one contemplates more deeply the context of the dream and his reaction to it, we learn an astonishing lesson. Yaakov was in a very precarious situation when this dream took place; he had escaped for his life from his angry brother, Esav, who wanted to kill him. On his way, he was confronted by Esav’s son Eliphaz, who took all of his belongings. He was leaving the holy Land for the first time in his life, alone with an uncertain future awaiting him. When he finally lays down to rest, he receives wondrous promises from God; that he will have numerous offspring, they will inherit the land upon which he slept, and that he will be protected in his upcoming travails.

The Brisker Rav points out that it would be expected that Yaakov would be overjoyed at hearing such good news at such a precarious time. However, this is not the case and his immediate reaction is to say that had he realized this was such a holy place, he would not have slept here, in order not to transgress the halacha of respecting the location of the Temple. The Brisker Rav understands that had Yaakov not fallen asleep at that place at that time, then he may never have received this prophecy, and would not have merited all these wonderful assurances². Accordingly, an amazing idea emerges: Yaakov would have preferred to forego this dream and everything that went with it, in order to avoid even inadvertently transgressing halacha. We learn from here that adherence to halacha overrides all other considerations, even when the consequences seem to indicate that keeping the halacha would have negative ramifications.

The Brisker Rav applied this attitude throughout his life: In the early days of the State of Israel, a certain decree that the leading Torah Sages believed seriously threatened the spiritual well-being of the Jewish people, was on the verge of being enacted. The Chazon Ish and the Brisker Rav, and other Torah leaders, instructed that this decree must be fought by the Torah community with all its might. However, some pointed that if they fight too hard in this area, then their opponents might react by fighting back in another area that was also essential to the Jewish people’s spiritual survival. Accordingly, it was suggested that it may be prudent to avoid fighting too hard to prevent the decree, in order to not suffer in this other, vital area.

When this point was suggested to the Brisker Rav, he totally dismissed it, arguing that since he understood that the halacha stated that they must fight this decree, they were obligated to do their utmost to resist it. As to the argument that there might be serious negative ramifications in other areas, he argued that it is prohibited to stray from the halacha for the sake of “strengthening” the Torah, and that it was God’s ‘responsibility’ to deal with the outcome. He brought a support for this reasoning, based on the Gemara that at the time of the destruction of the Temple, the Kohanim climbed up to the roof carrying the keys to the Temple and threw them heavenward, and the image of a hand appeared to catch them. The Brisker Rav explained that the message from Heaven was clearly that they had acted correctly. He learnt from here that, “in our case too, if the only way to fulfil the Torah is through permitting the prohibited, we are better off casting the upholding of the Torah back to God. Let Him take responsibility for His promise, of ‘For it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed’³.”

This is a very important lesson. A person may fully believe in fealty to Jewish law, but there may be times when it seems that strictly observing the law may have adverse consequences. For example, if a person has a superior at work who often speaks lashon hara (negatively), the person may feel the need to join in or at least listen intently to the lashon hara in order to protect his livelihood. However, there is no permit in Jewish law to transgress lashon hara in order to keep one’s job.

Likewise, there may be times where a person feels that strict adherence to the halacha may upset certain people. There are guidelines in Jewish law as to if and when any leniencies may be relied upon in various situations, but if a person has any doubt about the validity of being lenient in such circumstances, he must ask a qualified Rabbi who can decide if any leniencies do not cross over the boundaries of halacha.

The Brisker Rav teaches us that the idea of ‘the means justifies the ends’ does not apply in Divine Service – rather the means of keeping the law determines one’s actions, and the consequences are in God’s hands.

1. Toras Brisk, Bereishis, 28:16.
2. One could argue that had Yaakov not slept there, he would have received these promises at a different time. However, it seems that the Brisker Rav understood that he could only receive such a prophecy at such a holy place, so had he not slept there, he would not have received this prophecy at all.
3. Brisker Rav, Chelek 3, pp.49-50.