Musar su Genesi 28:11

Therefore, anticipating this, he fled to Shem and Ever and studied Torah there with great diligence for fourteen years. For all of these years he did not once lay down to sleep a full sleep, as Scripture testifies about him (Ibid. 28:11): "And he slept in that place," as Rashi explains there. And, with such learning, though he remained in the house of Lavan afterwards for several years, nothing could harm him. [According to our words, the figure of fourteen years is very apt. For since they were meant to offset the years that he would have to remain in the house of Lavan, and it is known that this would be fourteen years, Jacob knowing that he could not return to his house so long as Joseph had not been born, he [Joseph] being as "flame" and Esav as "straw" [see Ovadiah 1:18], and as it is written (Bereshith 30:25): "And it was, when Rachel bore Joseph, that Jacob said to Lavan: "Send me away, etc.'", (as Rashi explains), and it is known that Joseph was in the fourteenth year, as it is written (Ibid. 31:41): "I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, etc." — therefore, Jacob first learned Torah fourteen years without interruption, so that the merit of these fourteen years would stand for him in the house of Lavan, as mentioned above.]

We have another allusion to Jacob in the course of the Torah's report of Eliezer's journey, when the Torah describes Eliezer thanking G–d in that verse with the words: אשר הנחני בדרך אמת, "who has guided me on the path of truth." He referred to the קפיצת הדרך he had experienced i.e. the telescoping of the distance from Kiryat Arba to Charan into a single day's journey. Something similar happened to Jacob on his journey to Charan in Genesis 28,11 (see Rashi). Eliezer told his hosts that if they were prepared to do a חסד and אמת for him all well and good, seeing that Jacob would be destined to "redeem," i.e. justify G–d's having saved Abraham from Nimrod's furnace. This is the deeper meaning of חסד ואמת. When Jacob, whose children were all loyal to the tradition founded by Abraham and Isaac appeared on the scene of history, the whole universe became rejuvenated. Jacob personified the purpose of Creation which is intended to be fully good and to continue indefinitely as symbolized by the tree of life in the center of the garden of Eden. Ishmael, who represented the קליפה, the husk, preceded Isaac; it is in the nature of things for the husk to appear before the fruit, the kernel.

Bereshit Rabbah 68,11, on Genesis 28,11: ויקח מאבני המקום, "He took from the stones of that place," comments that Jacob made an experiment. He took 12 stones and said to himself, that seeing that neither Abraham nor Isaac had founded the twelve tribes, if those stones were to fuse, it would signify that he, Jacob, was slated to do so. When he awoke he found that the stones had fused. The Torah writes: "He took the stone which he had made into his pillow" (28,18). By this he was convinced that he would become the founder of the Jewish nation. The letters of the Torah are alluded to in these stones. We read in Sefer Yetzira chapter 4, section 17: "Two stones build two houses; three stones build six houses; four stones build twenty four houses, etc." The stones are hyperbole for letters.

The meaning of the name "Israel" in the future envisioned would not only denote the fact that he had prevailed in a struggle between the forces of evil and of good. At that time, Israel would not compete with evil but with the most highly placed angels. The position of Israel then would be so exalted that angels would address halachic enquiries to Israel. Rashi has mentioned this in connection with Numbers 23,23: כעת יאמר ליעקב ולישראל מה פעל השם, "At such a time Jacob and Israel will be spoken to about what G–d's works are." [my translation reflects the commentary mentioned. Ed.] The name "Israel" also denotes something of eternal value. We have already explained that the first two letters 310-יש, refer to the 310 worlds that every צדיק and צדקת will inherit in the Hereafter, [based on להנחיל אוהבי יש, Proverbs 8,21 Ed.] The remaining letters רלא, are an allusion to the superiority of Israel over the angels, seeing that Israel possesses the merit of having observed the Torah which is based on 22 letters, (alphabet) These 22 letters are 231 gateways, i.e. the permutations constructed from the alphabet as explained in the Sefer Yetzirah. [The second Mishnah in the fifth chapter of the book explains how these permutations are worked; you combine the first letter א, for instance, with all the other 21 letters. The second letter ב, is combined with the remaining 20 letters. The third letter ג, is combined with the remaining 19 letters, etc. By continuing in this fashion you will arrive at a total of 231. Ed.] The name ישראל is a composite of יש+ראל. Jacob had seen an allusion to this already in his dream of the ladder, during the course of which he glimpsed the highest domain of holiness, a dimension of the World to Come. When he lay down, i.e. וישכב, the letters in that word are a composite of יש+כ"ב, the 22 letters of the Aleph Bet. We have elaborated on that theme in its place. When Samael named Jacob ישראל, however, that was not what he had in mind, and that is why Jacob had still suffered from the "touch" (ויגע) during the struggle with Samael even after he had obtained his blessing. This effect also expressed itself in the word וישכב, with which Shechem's rape of Dinah is introduced in 34,2 [It would have been sufficient to merely mention ויענה, "he violated her against her will," the word following וישכב. Ed.]. The same word וישכב is repeated in the Torah's description of Reuben's relations with Bilhah, his father's concubine, in 35,22. Subsequently, however, there was no longer any Nachash (in the sense of serpent) attached to Jacob [play on words of Numbers 23,23 כי לא נחש ביעקב where Bileam describes the virtues of the Jewish people], seeing the name Jacob referred to the World to Come ever since Jacob's spirit was resurrected. This in turn represented an additional spiritual level over and above the one where G–d called Jacob "El," in 33,20. When G–d called Jacob "Isra-el," we must view the "Isra" as an additional dimension to the title "El" that He had already bestowed on him. The numerical value of the word א-ל, is 10% (מעשר) of the numerical value of the word 310) יש).