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And Jacob went out of Be’er Sheva and
went towards Ḥaran. Genesis 28:10
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According to the Midrashim, Jacob’s
travel itinerary on his journey to his personal exile was neither as simple nor
as straight-forward as it appears from our verse.
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Rabbi Ḥizkiyah says: Jacob immersed
himself for fourteen years, clarifying his (Torah) studies with his elder
Ever, and then he departed (for Ḥaran). Midrash haGadol
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Since our Sages' tradition is that the Yeshiva of Ever was
located on Mount Moriah, Jacob's actual point of departure was the Temple
Mount.
My father explained that Rabbi Ḥizkiyah's intention
is to stress that it is Torah study which prepared Jacob for his journey to Ḥaran, and the
strength of Torah allowed Jacob to survive in the home of Lavan.
Given that Jacob set out
from the Temple Mount, his trip to Beersheba constitutes a detour of 180
degrees. Ḥaran, Jacob’s
destination is northeast of Jerusalem, while he began his journey traveling
southwest!
Rabbi Hoshaya explains this odd
itinerary:
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Why does the verse state “And Jacob
went out of Beersheba”? Jacob said “my father wanted to depart the Land
[Genesis 26: 1ff], did he not seek (Divine) permission at Beer Sheva? I too
shall go to Beer Sheva, if God gives me permission to leave, I shall depart,
if not I shall not.” Thus, the verse must say “And Jacob went out of Be’er
Sheva”.
Breishit Rabba
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Rabbi Hoshaya tells us that Jacob
reached Beersheba in the hope that he would be denied permission to
leave the Holy Land, as his father was.
The next part of Jacob’s journey is
even stranger, according to our Sages:
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Upon reaching Ḥaran, Jacob said “how is it
possible that I passed the place where my fathers prayed [the Temple Mount]
without myself stopping to pray there?”, and he decided to return.
Babylonian
Talmud, Sanhedrin 95b
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That is, upon reaching his
destination, Jacob returned to his point of origin to pray!
The question which begs
asking was raised by Maharal of Prague: “Indeed, how is it that Jacob passed
the place of his fathers’ prayers without having stopped to pray, and only upon
arrival at Ḥaran does it
occur to Jacob that he should have prayed there?”
Maharal answers that since during his travel to Ḥaran, Jacob feared
that Esau would kill him, Jacob could not pray with the proper intent. However,
upon reaching exile in Haran, Jacob assumed that Esau knew of his exile, and
therefore pursued him no longer. Thus, Jacob could now pray properly and he
returned from Ḥaran to pray on Mount Moriah.
We
may suggest an additional answer. Jacob had prepared himself for his journey
into exile by immersing himself in the study of Torah. This is the means for
achieving the spiritual fortitude to deal with the challenges and travails of
life outside the Holy Land. Perhaps, upon reaching Ḥaran, and actually encountering the
practical problems of Jewish life abroad, Jacob feared that even his fourteen
years of immersion in Torah study may not suffice to protect him from the
spiritual dangers of life outside Israel. Therefore, Jacob returned to pray,
that is, to add the merit of prayer in the holiest of places to the merit of
his Torah study to serve as his spiritual shield in his exile.
Without
question, our Sages’ expansion of Jacob’s travel itinerary is intended to
convey practical lessons. As Sfat Emet comments, undoubtedly, Jacob’s
departure was preparation for his descendants’ exile, that they may be able to
deal with the trials and tribulations of Diaspora life. Clearly, one of these
lessons is the supremacy of the Holy Land as the true venue for Jewish life.
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