Post date: Dec 14, 2013 10:22:43 AM
A brief torah: The perasha, Vayetzei, begins with saying Jacob "left". The first word, Vayetzei, "And he left..." comes from the same Hebrew root word "Yetzia" which we know familiarly as "Exodus". Think of yetziat mitzrayim, going out of Egypt.
On the first night of Jacob's journey, he sleeps outside, resting his head on a rock. God speaks to Jacob, reiterating the promise of a great nation, living in that land, coming from his (Jacob's) seed. In the morning, Jacob exclaims, "Ma nora hamaqom hazeh," "How awesome is this place!"
But "hamaqom" (literally 'the place') is also a name for God, reflecting God's infinite presence. It is a term for God that reflects God's protection and comfort, wherever we may be. So, read another way, the phrase can say, "How awesome is God."
Wherever we recognize God, that is a holy place. Whenever we recognize God, that is a holy moment. It can be in the middle of the desert on a pile of rocks, it can be in GAC 375, or it can be where you are, right now.