This week’s parshah begins with Yaakov setting out on a journey that will shape the rest of his life. Leaving the safety of Be’er Sheva, he heads toward Charan, where numerous challenges await him. For 21 years he dealt with Lavan’s deceit. Then, on his way back to Eretz Yisroel, his life is threatened by Esav. After all this, just when he thinks he’s earned a moment of peace, he is shattered by the heartbreak of Yosef’s disappearance. His journey will ultimately lead him—and his entire family—down to Mitzrayim, setting the stage for 210 years of exile and slavery.
Drawing Up Strength
Yaakov begins his journey from his father’s home in Be’er Sheva—a name that literally means “seven wells,” referring to the wells Yitzchak dug there. Spiritually, a be’er represents a deep, life-sustaining source. Before the soul sets out on its journey to earth, it is nourished—soveia—with all the spiritual strength it needs to fulfill its mission. It also recalls the promise, shavua, the soul makes before descending: to be a tzadik and not a rasha. Sheva also represents the seven middos which are drawn down into malchus.
Yaakov’s journey isn’t just a story from the past. It’s a symbol of the soul’s descent to earth and our collective journey through galus. The struggles he faced mirror the challenges we confront in our lives, and the strengths he carried with him still sustain us today as we work toward the ultimate revelation of Moshiach.
Before the soul sets out on its journey to earth, it is nourished—soveia—with all the spiritual strength it needs to fulfill its mission.
Before stepping into the unknown, Yaakov makes a promise of his own. He prays: “If Hashem will be with me, and He will guard me on this way upon which I am going, and He will give me bread to eat and a garment to wear; and if I return in peace to my father’s house, then Hashem will be my G-d.” This isn’t just a plea for survival. It’s a vision of returning whole, having transformed every challenge into a step forward.
Gathering Stones
Yaakov places a stone as a monument, vowing that one day he will build a home for Hashem in that very spot. These are the same stones that Yaakov had placed around his head, which then miraculously merged into one. The merging of many stones into one symbolizes Yaakov’s avodah—his mission to enter a world full of division, where everything seems separate, and to unify them into one by recognizing the Creator in all things.
These three actions—1) Yaakov’s departure from Be’er Sheva to Charan; 2) the placement of the stones around his head; and 3) the transformation of the stones into one, which he then sets as a monument for a future house for Hashem—represent stages in our own spiritual journey.
The first step, “Vayetzei Yaakov,” symbolizes the soul’s descent to this world. Before the soul embarks on its earthly journey, it is fortified with spiritual strength, as the possuk says, “Tzaveh yeshuos Yaakov”—Hashem commands salvation for Yaakov. Even before the soul descends, it is assured that it will return in peace and completeness.
The soul’s journey to earth has two primary purposes: one is to elevate the soul itself through Torah and mitzvos, and the other is to elevate the physical world by performing all of our worldly actions for the sake of Heaven.
Of the two missions, the primary one is not to elevate the soul itself. The soul is already holy, already one with Hashem. It doesn’t need to descend to this world to be elevated; there is nothing novel in the fact that a holy soul desires holy things. The true chiddush lies in transforming the physical body and the physical world into vessels for Elokus. This is symbolized by Yaakov “taking the stones of the place and placing them around his head.”
Finding My Place
The term makom (place) refers to a state of concealment, where we perceive ourselves as limited by time and space. We ask, “Where is Hashem?” as if He is distant, when in truth, Hashem fills all of creation: “He is the place of the world, and the world is not His place.” From the “place”—the ultimate in concealment—Yaakov took stones, which represent domem, the inanimate, the least spiritually sensitive of all creations, and placed them around his head. This act symbolizes our mission to elevate even the lowest aspects of creation, transforming them into a home for Hashem.
When the stones merge and Yaakov puts it under his head, this represents the peak of avodas habirurim, when not only does the world not interfere with our avodas Hashem but actually raises us up to a higher level. Avodah on the level of domem is when we have no understanding, no feeling, but we serve Hashem with complete bittul and mesirus nefesh. This type of avodah raises us up and reveals the etzem haneshamah.
When our life feels scattered, when we feel overwhelmed by too much going on, too many different viewpoints to juggle, too many different tasks to attend to—it’s in these moments that we need to reconnect with our inner strength as children of Yaakov.
The revelation of our yechidah is what gives us the power to take the “many stones,” the divisiveness of the world, and to turn it into one stone, by using each and every object for a Divine purpose and revealing the yechidah in it.
When our life feels scattered, when we feel overwhelmed by too much going on, too many different viewpoints to juggle, too many different tasks to attend to—it’s in these moments that we need to reconnect with our inner strength as children of Yaakov. These challenges are not just obstacles—they are opportunities to uncover our yechidah, the deepest part of our soul, and to bring unity to the world amidst its diversity.
Returning Home
The completion of our avodah leads to the returning in peace to our father’s house. But it’s not clear. What’s the point of all this wear and tear of galus only to end up in the same place as we were before? The idea of returning, v’shavti, is not just to return ourselves, but to bring back everything that we elevated during our journey to earth. This leads to returning to “my father’s house,” the house of Yitzchak, who represents the ultimate joy and laughter of the future. Hashem’s greatest pleasure is not from the avodah of a tzadik but the avodah of the baal teshuva, who has the power to transform the world and turn it into a home for Hashem.
The ultimate peace will be in Yemos Hamoshiach. But we don’t have to wait for long. Even now, we can experience a state of true peace, when the world does not oppose us but actually assists us in completing our shlichus. Our avodah in these final moments of galus accomplishes the “return in peace,” an end to all wars and suffering. Yaakov gives us the koach to withstand the struggles of the final moments of galus and to come home in peace, leaving no one behind.
(Based on Maamar V’shavti B’shalom, Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5738)