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A City Called Luz...

In pasuk 28:19, we learn that Yaakov gave the name "Beit El" to the location where he experienced his dream. Then, almost as an afterthought, the Torah mentions that originally this place was called "Luz." R' Hirsch notes that "Luz" means hazelnut.

What do we learn from this apparently insignificant aside?

From the standpoint of the inhabitants of this city it was a "physical" place no different than any other. Indeed, aptly named "Luz" since "food" is the very epitome of the "material" world - we eat food to sustain our physical selves.

But man's job on Earth is to invest the "material" with the "spiritual," and thereby elevate it. So Yaakov renamed the place "Beit El" - "House of G-d" - to symbolize that through his encounter with Hashem at this place he had elevated it from a simple physical location to something more sublime and holy.

This is our job as well - to find opportunities in our lives to sanctify the mundane - see further thoughts at this earlier post.

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