We find ourselves at a unique moment, between Parashat Noah and Parashat Lekh Lekha. It is the ideal time to explore a profound question that links these two portions.

To understand this Mishnah, we must first establish where the biblical events took place. When Hashem created Adam, where did He place him?

Adam was created upon the Even HaShtiya (the Foundation Stone), at Har HaMoriah (Mount Moriah), the future site of the Beit HaMikdash, in the Land of Israel. The entrance to Gan Eden was in Hebron, at Me'arat HaMakhpela.

Expelled from Gan Eden because of the Keruvim and the lahat hacherev hamithapekhet (the revolving flaming sword), Adam was buried with Chava at the entrance to the Garden, in Hebron.

From Adam to Noah: ten generations in the Land of Israel. Cain and Abel were born there; Noah's Ark was built there; the Flood began there. Only then did the Ark float across the waters to the mountains of Ararat, in present-day Turkey.

Upon leaving the Ark, Noah immediately builds an altar.

"And Noah built an altar to Hashem." The plain reading seems obvious: Noah exits the Ark at the mountains of Ararat, so he builds the altar in Turkey.

A beautiful answer is found in a commentary by the Radal (Rabbi David Luria) on Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer: the concept of the two Jerusalems.

There is Yerushalayim Shel Ma'ala (ירושלים של מעלה), the celestial Jerusalem, the upper spiritual reality, and Yerushalayim Shel Mata (ירושלים של מטה), the earthly Jerusalem, the physical reality here below.

"I will not enter the Jerusalem above until I enter the Jerusalem below." As long as the Beit HaMikdash is not rebuilt, the Divine Presence itself is in exile in the upper dimension.

Here is the solution: physically, Noah built an altar at the mountains of Ararat; spiritually, his intentions ascended toward the celestial Altar, which corresponds exactly to the altar of Mount Moriah. The Rambam and the plain sense therefore do not contradict.

How do we know this mystical reading is rooted in pshat? Because nothing in sod stands without a basis in the plain meaning.

The answer is brilliant: bamizbe'ach with the definite hei means "on THE well-known Altar" — the Altar of Mount Moriah. The verse subtly reveals that although Noah physically built in Turkey, his offering rose toward THE Altar of Yerushalayim Shel Ma'ala, the future location of the Beit HaMikdash.

Let us return to the Mishnah: "Ten generations from Noah to Abraham, all angered Hashem, until Abraham came and received the reward of them all."

Terach intended to return to the Land of Israel, where Adam, Cain, Abel and all their ancestors had lived, but he did not complete his mission: he stopped at Haran. This is why the generations "angered" Hashem — they never returned home.

Abraham, by contrast, "went out to go to the Land of Canaan, and he arrived in the Land of Canaan." He received "the reward of all" because he accomplished what no one had achieved for ten generations: returning to the sacred land where humanity had begun.

The Land of Israel is not merely a geographic place: it is the spiritual center of the world, where Heaven and Earth meet. Like Abraham, we must complete what we begin, and not stop halfway as Terach did.

Even when we cannot physically be where we wish, our intentions and prayers can reach the upper dimensions. Every action here below has an impact in the worlds above.