Мидраш к Берешит 28:13

And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre (Gen. 18:1) May it please our master to teach us: How many benedictions must a man pray each day? Thus do our masters teach us: A man must pray the eighteen benedictions (of the Amidah) each day. Why eighteen? R. Samuel the son of Nahman stated: This number corresponds to the eighteen instances in which the names of the patriarchs are mentioned simultaneously in the Torah.¹Cf. Y. Berakhot 84c, Y. Taanit 82b. The first being: And God will surely remember you, and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob (Gen. 50:24), and the last: The Lord said to me: This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob (Deut. 34:4). However, if someone should insist that the patriarchs are actually mentioned nineteen times, since it is written: God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it (Gen. 28:13), inform him that this verse is not counted, since Jacob’s name is not included (in the verse).

If a man should dare say to a person more important than himself, “Why did you treat me so badly?” he would be held guilty of a serious offense, yet Moses said: For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath dealt ill with this people (ibid., v. 23).¹Moses expresses doubt as to God’s ability to save the people from further anguish and is rebuked. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Alas for those who have perished but are not to be found! I revealed myself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the Lord Almighty, but I never disclosed to them that My name is YHWH,²The name employed when speaking of God’s merciful aspect. as I did to you, yet they never criticized My ways. To Abraham I said: Arise, walk through the land in the length thereof (Gen. 13:17), yet though he searched for a burial place for Sarah, and was unable to obtain one until he paid four hundred shekels of silver for it, he did not disparage My ways. I told Isaac: Sojourn in this land …for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these lands (ibid. 26:3), but even when he sought water to drink and was unable to find any, And the herdsman of Gerar strove with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying: “The water is ours” (ibid., v. 20), he did not criticize My ways. I told Jacob: The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed (ibid. 28:13), yet when he sought a place to pitch his tent, and could not obtain any land until he purchased it with a hundred lambs, he found no fault with My words.

Jacob was the first-born of the Holy One, as stated (in Exod. 4:22): ISRAEL IS MY FIRST-BORN SON. How happy he was! He saw a ladder, and (according to Gen. 28:12) THE ANGELS OF GOD WERE ASCENDING AND DESCENDING, as they looked at him with the Holy One standing above it. It is so stated (in Gen. 28:13): AND BEHOLD, THE LORD STOOD UPON IT…. Then he went to Laban, fled from Esau, became Laban's servant for twenty years, and in the end became wealthy, sired children, and returned in peace. He also met Esau, was saved from him, and paid his vow. But in the end he did not remain in his happiness. Instead (according to Gen. 34:1): NOW DINAH < THE DAUGHTER WHOM LEAH HAD BORNE TO JACOB > WENT OUT…, < and was raped >. There also came upon him the trouble over Joseph. Now surely if Jacob the Righteous, one to whom the Holy One had said: In whom I will be glorified, as stated (in Is. 49:3): ISRAEL, IN WHOM I WILL BE GLORIFIED, did not remain in his happiness, how much the less will the wicked < so remain >! [It is therefore stated (in Ps. 75:5 [4]): I SAY TO THE MERRYMAKERS: DO NOT MAKE MERRY.]