RAV KOOK ON Vayishlach Part 2: Pillars and Sanctuaries

After twenty years of hard labor working for his treacherous uncle, Jacob returned safely to the Land of Israel. Jacob was successful in appeasing his brother Esau, and finally made it back to Beth El. Beth El was the place where, as he set out to leave the Land of Israel, Jacob dreamt of a ladder reaching to the Heavens, of angels and God’s promise to watch over him. Now Jacob fulfilled his twenty-year-old promise and erected a matzeivah, a pillar in God’s Name, in Beth El. From the Torah’s account, it appears perfectly acceptable for Jacob to erect a pillar. Later on, however, the Torah specifically prohibits all pillars of worship, even if they are used to worship God: “Do not erect a sacred pillar, which the Eternal your God hates” (Deut. 16:22). What about Jacob’s pillar? The Sages explained that serving God through pillars “was beloved in the time of the Patriarchs, but abhorred in the time of their descendants” (Sifri Shoftim 146). Why did the status of pillars change?