창세기 32:11의 Musar

קטנתי מכל החסדים . Jacob was afraid that his merits had decreased due to the many favors G–d had already showered upon him. If even our patriarch Jacob felt that way, what shall we sinners say, who are so much inferior to our patriarchs? A person must therefore live very frugally so that he does not squander the few merits he has accumulated, even if he performed a lot of charitable deeds, etc.

“Say not to yourselves, when the Lord your God has thrust them from your path, saying, ‘The Lord has enabled us to possess this land because of our virtues, etc.’ It is not because of your virtues and your rectitude, etc.” (Deuteronomy 9:4-5). We are warned with this not to imagine to ourselves that our success is from our righteousness and the rectitude of our hearts, but rather that we believe and know in our hearts that our success is from the kindness of the Most High and His great goodness - and like the matter that was said by our father, Jacob (Genesis 32:11), “I am unworthy of all the kindness and all the truth.”

Jacob attained the distinction of ים, seeing that he said of himself כי במקלי עברת את הירדן הזה, "Originally I crossed this river Jordan with no more than my walking staff." Bereshit Rabbah 76, 5 states that the crossing of the Sea of Reeds by the Israelites became possible through the merit acquired by Jacob when he crossed the Jordan on his way to Laban, relying only on G–d for he was bereft of material possessions. Jacob merited the horizon of the sun, (רקיע), that the sun set or shone especially for him, as we know from Genesis 32, 32: "The sun shone for him." Jacob also merited a special relation with the "throne" of G–d in that we have a tradition that his features were engraved on it.