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I want to try to show you tonight how one pasuk in Chumash With a whole bunch of different Rashi's And I want to try to unpack with you together to show you how every word in Chumash is so precious, and every word tells us something so deep. And to take what appears to be a bunch of disjointed Rashi's and show you how it's really all one thing that's leading towards one story. So the pasuk in this week's parsha says, "Vayitey Yaakov mi Be'er Shava." The Yaakov Avinu left Be'er Shava. Vayel leCharona, and he went to Charon. He's running away from Esav, who's going to kill him. Vayifka ba makom. We're going to see what that word vayifka means, but for now, it means he arrived at the place. Vayol en shem, and he lodged there. He lied down there. Kibah Hashemesh because the sun had set.
Ve'yikach me'avnei hamakom and he took the stones of that place. Vayasa meiro Shosav and he placed them at his head. Vayishkav b'makamahu and he lied down at that place. So what's the story? Yaakov Avinu is running away from Esav. He leaves Beer Shava. He goes to Charon. He arrives at the place. He lodged there because the sun had set. He took some of the stones and placed them at his head, and he laid down in that place. That's what the pasuk says. Seems to be a pretty innocent pasuk. Let's take a look now at some of the Rashi's and see what questions come up. So far so good. First Rashi, Rashi says, "I'm skipping the beginning." And the rabbis explain lashem tefila. We said when we were interpreting the pasuk, we said vayifka b'mako means and he arrived at the place. That's the first pshat in Rashi. But the medrash says, what does it mean that he arrived at that place? It means he davened at that place. Vayifka means that he davened.
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Vilamadnu shetiken tefilas arvis, and that means that Yaakov Avinu at that time established the tefila of myrev. So Avram Avinu established Shachris, Yitzchak established Mincha. When Yaakov Avinu arrived at that place, it means that he davened the first Maariv and he established Maariv as a tefillah. This is the pasuk of Maariv. This is the pasuk that teaches us the chiyuv of Maariv. He says, "Veshina hakasa velokasa v'yispalal." Obvious question: If it meant that he davened there, why does it say vayifka? It should be v'yispalal that he davened at that place. To teach us an interesting thing, what happened That the earth sprang towards him. What does this mean? This concept called kfitzah saderich. What happened? So Chazal teach us, even though Rashi doesn't say this explicitly, the Medrash teaches us that what happened. Yaakov Avinu was journeying, running away from Esav. And he traveled past the makom hamikdash. He traveled past the place of Akedas Yitzchak.
And he said to himself, "Oyvay, how could I have not gone to Daven at the place that was so important to Avraham and Yitzchak, my father and grandfather?" Once he realized that he made a mistake, he turned around. That he's going to travel back now to Har Moria. And what happens? The earth folds in on itself. This concept called kvitza zadech. So normally it takes a long time to travel from point A to point B, but the Earth folds in on itself. He has kvitza zadech. He jumps from one place to the next and immediately arrives there. So we have two things so far we learned from this Rashi. Number one, vayifgad doesn't mean that he arrived. Rather, what does it actually mean to arrive, to daven? And what davening? Marif. That's the first thing we learned. The second thing we learn is how he arrived there.
He arrived there in a way that the Torah doesn't reveal to us. It also says it in this word vayifka, that really he traveled past that place. Then he had regret that he didn't daven at the place that his father and grandfather had. So what does he do? He turns around. What happens the moment he turns around? The world folds in on itself. He takes one step. He's already at Har Amoria, and now the rest of the story begins. So two things: number one, tefillas arvus. Number two, kfitzus adarach. So far, so good. Now we move on to another innocent couple of words. I'm sure you've heard of this Rashi before, but we'll study it together as adults and hopefully learn something new. Vayasam meiro shosav. He placed them at his head. He placed these stones around his head. I'm sure you all know what's coming. Because you're little. You learned the little medrash says. So you learned this Rashi. So what does Rashi say?
He arranged them in the form of a drain pipe around his head. And what happened? I'm sorry, because somehow placing these stones around his head was going to protect him from the wild animals that were there. So he was afraid; animals are going to come. So he surrounds himself with stones. Already, I'm sure you have a question, which is: How's that really going to protect you? As you build a house, you build a door. But yeah, you're surrounded by a bunch of stones. I don't know exactly what type of chaos rules we're talking about, but I imagine that the snakes could go over it. I imagine that the bugs could go under it. I imagine that the bears wouldn't be stopped by it. This is what he does. We'll have to see if we can understand why. And now what happens? His chilo meriva zu esu.
The stones started arguing with each other. Right? This is the gemara in Chulin. The stones started arguing with each other. This one said, 'I want the tzaddik to rest his head on me,' and this one said, 'I want the tzaddik to rest his head on me.' What happens? Hashem immediately says I'm going to turn all these different stones. How many stones were there? Twelve. Very good. Twelve stones. I'm going to turn these twelve stones into one stone. And he took in the singular the stone. What does it mean? He took the stone. Didn't he take many stones? He took many stones that became one stone. So now we have another interesting detail in this pasuk. He came there. What did he do? He davened. How did he get there? Kvitza saderach. What does he do when he gets there? Miracle. Twelve stones become one. Now you see how all these things appear to be disjointed.
These don't seem to have anything to do with each other. But as Ratzah Hashem, we're going to see it's all one story, and we're going to try to show you the theme and the lesson that comes from this one story. So far, so good. Ayeve, I'm so sorry. I skipped the Rashi. Can we go back one Rashi? Kibah Hashemesh. Rashi says, 'Kibah Hashemesh.' What does it mean that he lied down? He lodged there because the sun had set. So remember, at this point in the pasuk, we know two things: Tefilas Arvus, Kvitzas Haderek. Now we know that he lodged there because the sun had set. Rashi says, "Haylo Lichdav Vayavo Hashemesh Vayalon Shem." The pasuk should have said, "And the sun set, and he stayed there overnight." What does it mean, "Kibah Hashemesh"? Rashi explains, "Mashma. Sheshakalochama pitem shalob baonasa kedei sheyalen sham." It teaches us that the sun set early, not in its proper time, in order that he should stay there.
That's a wild one, no? It's a wild one. In other words, we are always growing up. What did we think if we didn't learn Rashi? What did we grow up thinking? Yaakov Avinu arrived there. The sun set, so he built lodgings for himself. The sun set because he arrived there. And why? So that he shouldn't leave to go elsewhere. Isn't that interesting? Yes. So far we have four details of the story that we know. Number one, I know I'm repeating myself, but I want to make sure we all get it. What's the first thing we learned? Ve'Yefka means really what? He davened. Excellent. He davened Ma'ariv. The second thing, how did he get there? Kfitza Saderah. Very good. The third thing is, why did the sun set? Because he got there. In order to keep him there, the sun set early. And the fourth thing is, there's the fight of these stones. And all the stones become one.
Last Rashi VeYishkav b'Makamahu, and he lies down in that place. Rashi tells us another interesting thing. This is a restrictive expression. What does that mean? BeOso makam shachav. It means he lied down in this place. There were fourteen years that are not here in the Torah. Fourteen unaccounted for years. Where did Yaakov go when he was running away from Esav? He ran before he got to Lavan. He ran to Yeshivas Shem Ve'ever. And Rashi tells us for the 14 years that he was there, he never lied down. 14 years he never went to sleep. He was learning Torah the entire time. He never went to sleep. Unbelievable. And now, why does the Torah highlight vayishka vamakamahu that he lied down in this place? He lied down here because up until now he had never lied down. The entire time that he was in yeshiva, he never went to sleep. It's a pretty intense yeshiva guy.
Never go to sleep. So we now have five things that we learn from this pasuk. Five things that Rashi brings. If we were reading the simple explanation of the Torah, we might never know. Tfilas Arvis, Kfitzas Haderech. The sun set in order to keep him there. The stones fought and became one. And this is the first time he's lied down in fourteen years. If you read these Rashi's, you would say these are very interesting details. But they don't seem to have one flowing narrative that ties them all together. They seem to be five separate things. I'm going to show you Bezrat Hashem tonight. This is the power of learning Torah well. How these five details are all one story. And in order to do that, let's start to ask ourselves some very basic questions. With me? You look locked in. I love it. It's an interesting thing.
When does Yaakov Avinu daven the first Maariv? Fourteen years in Yeshiva Shem Be'Ever, he never davened Maariv. When does he daven the first Maariv? Only when he passes by the Makom HaMe'udos and doesn't daven And then he turns around. And then he arrives at the base of Mikdash. And then he daven's the first myrav. So the first question is What is the nature of this tefillah that you passed by the thing that you were supposed to do and then turned around so you davened? What does that tell us about this type of tefillah? And question number two, specifically, what does it tell us about the nature of myrav? You understand the questions? You getting what I mean? It seems like a very specific tefillah that Yaakov Avinu davened. He davened a tefillah of I missed the opportunity. And then I doubled back and davened. That seems like it's a certain type of tefillah.
What is the nature of this tefillah? What does it teach us about davening? And specifically, because it was the first myrav that was ever davened, what does it teach us about the nature of myrav? That's the first two questions. Another one. Rashi tells us that the sun set in order to keep him there. Any questions about that? Why? Why? Like it sounds like it's very important that not only does he go there, he has to stay there. I understand he passed by. He made a mistake. He should have davened at the place of the Akedah. He should have davened at the future Machamah Mikdash. He should have davened at the place that the world was created from. Noach brought the first carbon on this mountain. Of course, he should have davened there. Say there, he made a mistake. He came back, he davened. So now he davened. So now what do you do?
Wait there. But you got to make it to love and sales, right? You got to marry Rachel. You got to marry Leah. You got to start Klal Yisrael. Let's get the story going. Kodesh Rachel says, "No, stay." Why? Why does he have to stay? Didn't he do what needs to be done? Why does he have to stay? Why specifically at this point does this miracle happen and the stones all become one? Isn't that a little bit of a funny miracle? The stones all became one because the stones were fighting with each other. It sounds like something specifically happened at this point that caused Yaakov Yenu to miss the opportunity, and then he came back and stayed the night. Now the stones become one. And obviously the last question is going to be why he didn't sleep for fourteen years? What was going on in yeshiva that he couldn't sleep, and why now that he left yeshiva does he go to sleep? Does he like, I don't mean to speak this way obviously about one of the avos, but is it like he's on benes manim now? It's like now he can go to sleep. Sometimes yeshiva guys struggle to wake up in the morning after yeshiva's not in.
So why does Yaakov Venu now go to sleep? Because he's not in yeshiva. Sounds like a funny thing. Of course, when Yaakov Venu does go to sleep, what does he dream of? He dreams of the malachim going up and down the ladder. It's one of the greatest. He's one of the greatest nevuas in all of the Torah. So it's an interesting thing. Specifically at that time, he has this unbelievable dream of the malachim going up and down the ladder, which is literally the Beis Hamikdash, right? That this is the place where heaven and earth are joined. So it's dafke in this place that he has the most unbelievable mara nevuah, where he's able to see that the makom hamikdash comes from this place that mamish heaven and earth kiss exactly in this place. Okay, So I want to share with you the following idea. I think it's a beautiful idea. I'm so excited to share it with you.
There are two different types of davenings. There's the davening of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Please guide me in my life in a particular way. That's like a shachris type of tefillah or even a mincha type of tefillah. Shachris is like giving me the strength and energy to have this type of day. Mincha is like giving me the ability to continue doing the thing I'm supposed to be doing. The nature of Ma'ariv is that it's a tefillah of uncertainty. As opposed to the clarity that comes from the daytime, Ma'ariv is the time that engages the lack of certainty. That's why it's the emunahs chabalilos. It's dafka at night that a person needs to have their faith. A person needs to have their emunah. In the night is when we make all of our mistakes. So the first ma'ariv is a ma'ariv of what? It's not a ma'ariv of give me the strength to do the right thing. It's this is a tefillah of what happens when I did the wrong thing.
You understand the nature of this tefillah. The nature of myrav is I did the wrong thing. And I went past where I was supposed to go. We're gonna get deeper into this in a second, but you start to see the first move. There's a type of tefillah that says Rebbe Nachman, guide me on a good path. There's a type of tefillah after the mistake. What happens after I do something that I can't believe I did. What makes it that it feel like that's how a person is inclined to feel or the actual feel? The actual, no, the actual words of Ma'ariv. Not the words of Ma'ariv. The first Ma'ariv that was ever davened was after Yaakov Avinu made a very bad mistake. But I'm saying I understand that part. What makes it like A person feels that way. That's what I'm saying. It's just because of Yaakov. Because Yaakov Avinu.
Created the foundation of Ma'ariv from this place, it becomes the nature of Ma'ariv. That's why it's dafka at night. It's dafka, like when things are difficult, when things are dark, when I'm making mistakes, bumping into things, doing things that I shouldn't do. Let's think about this for a second. From Yaakov Avinu's perspective. Yaakov Avinu spent 14 years in Yeshiva Shem Be'iver. He's a serious person. How did he miss it? This is where the world was created. This is where Nach brought his carpet. This is where Akedah Zitschok happened. I imagine that if you're traveling, it's like you ever see these road trips of people planning out their road trips if they're going to go cross country. I'm going to stop by the big block of cheese in Nebraska. Like the biggest block of cheese in America. People come and they take their picture outside the biggest block of cheese. If you're Yaakov Avinu and you're traveling to Lavan.
And you're planning out your route. You probably say something like this Oh, I'm going to be passing the site of Akedah Yitzchak. I can't wait to dive in there. And all of a sudden, he ends up somewhere and he's like I just traveled past it. I just traveled past it. This is a big deal. You just went by the holiest place in the earth. I know to us it sounds funny because we're a stone's throw from the Kotel. We go there all the time. But could you imagine somebody coming to your shulayim? Exactly there, Mamushin Harabays. So that's why it's such a makom kadosh to us. So imagine somebody walked through your shalayim, walked by the kotel, and didn't even realize they were by the kotel. He went right by the mountain. It's a crazy thing. Yakovin goes. Fold again, like that's what I'm thinking. That the world folded. Everyone was walking by. He mamush walked right by it.
It only became dark after he arrived. When he went in the light of day. He, and once he got by, What did I just do? By the way, he wasn't close. The world had to fold in on itself in order for him to come. Meaning, he had gone a ways past before he even realized he made a mistake. Then he realized he made a mistake. He goes, 'Hey, what did I do?' He turned around, kfitsa saderch But Yaakov Avinu did go by it. So the nature of Ma'ariv is I walked by a ma'om kadosh and I missed my opportunity. I allowed it to slip through my fingers. That's the nature of Ma'ariv. So far, so good. Why does he have to stop there? Why does a kadosh baruch hu say no, no, no? You need to be here. It's not enough for you to come and daven here. You need to be here.
Sometimes. Hashem has to hold us still. So he can show us something that we missed when we were moving too fast. You ever have a moment like that where you're moving very quickly through life And because you're going so fast All of a sudden you're missing things. Like imagine Like a husband. I'll put it on the men for a second, so it's easier for you. Imagine a husband who's Working so hard that he forgets that the reason he's working so hard is because he wants to have a relationship with his children. He's so busy financially supporting his children that he loses out on having a relationship with them. Sometimes you're moving so fast that what happens? You miss the opportunities that are right in front of you. So Yaakov Avinu for 14 years in Yeshivah Shem Ve'Ever. Is absolutely disciplined and focused. But now he's on a journey.
I have to love him. I have to get married. I have to build wealth because eventually I am going to have to come back to Eretz Yisrael and I am going to have to confront Esav. Life is happening. And in his speed to get to his destination He lost out on a tremendous opportunity. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu says Once you realize you made the mistake. An unbelievable thing happens. All you have to do is turn around. And once you turn around, there is no more journey. The world folds in on itself, and you are immediately exactly where you need to be. But just because you go there and now you daven in that place, which is a beautiful thing, the tefilla of the b'chovah The tefilla of I made a mistake, but I know how to turn this around. That's myrith. But more than that Now you have to fix the mistake.
It's not enough just to daven at that place. You have to fix the mistake. What do you have to do? Stay. Build a home. Build a lodging there. And ultimately, what does Yaakov Avinu do for the first time in the history of the world that nobody had ever done before? He says, 'Ein zeki im beis Elokim.' What is this place? It is the house of Hashem. Up until then, had anyone ever called the beis hamikdash a house? No. Avraham Avinu called it a mountain. Yitzchak called it a field. Yaakov Avinu was the first person to establish lodging there to say this is the point of arrival. It's not just a point that you visit; it's the point where you come. This is very difficult for us to understand because in our world nobody ever arrives anywhere. You ever noticed that nobody in this world ever arrives anywhere? Because the moment you arrive somewhere, what do you do?
What's next? Or you get off the plane. What do you do? You get in an Uber and go to the hotel. When you get to the hotel, what do you do? You unpack and then what do you say? What are we doing today? The reason is we never arrive because ours is a world of doing. That's why Shabbos is very hard because Shabbos is about arriving. So in our generation, specifically as we're preparing for Yom Shikulo Shabbos, we're preparing for the time of Mashiach, which is going to be a thousand years of Shabbos. So in our last moments before Mashiach comes, what do kids struggle with? I don't know how to sit still on Shabbos. I have to be on my phone because we don't know how to just be. That's why everyone in psychology now is talking about mindfulness and presence. And there's this very big meditation, this Jewish meditation movement of like everybody needs to know how to still themselves.
What is that? Hisbodedus, right? There's a very big notion of I have nowhere to go. So what does Yaakov Avinu have to learn? I was moving so fast to get to my destination that I forgot the place that's actually my destination. The destination is not the house of Lavan. What's the real destination? The base hamikdash. That's my home. I have to go to Lavan's house because that's part of my journey. But ultimately, what's this whole journey bring me back to? This whole journey is bringing me back to base hamikdash. This whole journey is bringing me back to Mashiach. So Yaakov Vino, for sure, you have to end up at Lavan's house at this stage of the journey. But imagine if you're going to build the Beis Hamikdash. How do you miss stopping at the Beis Hamikdash? You understand? That was Yaakov Avinu's cheshev here. Yaakov Avinu's cheshev was I'm moving so fast to get to the next stage that I forgot the actual destination.
It's like people work so hard for 40 years. And then they retire, and by the time they retire, all the things that they worked for, they already missed it. It's like I retired at 67 years old. And now I'm going to get my full pension, and now I'm going to get my full social security. Where are your kids? They're married. They're out of the house. What are they doing? Moving too fast, right? And so you turn around. You're 67 years old, and you reach out to your kids. Hey, you want to hang out? And they start playing the song and the cats and the cradle. You know that song? The saddest song in the entire world, right? If you don't know that song, it's kaddish to listen to that song. Beautiful song.
It's about a father that spends his entire life saying no to his son because he has to go work and he has to go do things. He's too busy to be a dad, and then one day he turns around and he goes to his son and he says, "Hey, I'm ready to be a dad now." And his son says, "I'm so sorry, I can't do it. I've got a million things going on." And he's doing the same thing to his son. It's a very powerful thing to know that this one pasuk contains this unbelievable story. You're moving too fast through life. That's how you make mistakes. You make a mistake. All you have to do is turn around, and you've already arrived. There's a certain type of tefila that you have to have. When you're moving too fast in life, it's a tefilla that grounds you. It's a tefilla of I made mistakes. Help me turn this thing around. It's not like shachris. Shachris is help me go straight. Mincha helps me stay the course. Ma'ariv is I made a mistake.
Turn this thing around. You turn it around, you're already there. But you have to daven. You have to make that real. I have to turn around. But now once you turn around and you daven, that's great. But now what do you have to do? Rectify the mistake. Build. Stop here. Build the home here. Recognize this as the home of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is the destination. So far, so good. Let's take this a step further. And by the way, I should mention. What happens once Yaakov Vino actually stops here and builds a house and falls asleep? What does he have? He has the ultimate dream. He has the ultimate nevuah. That's what happens when you stay still and you don't move too fast. You become prophetic about the future. It's a beautiful thing. Only by staying still can you actually be prophetic about the future. If you're moving so fast into the future, you never arrive in the future. But if you stay still, you actually have a vision of what the future could be. That's a very sophisticated point.
Does that make sense? Why dafka here? Do the stones become one? Seems like a totally disjointed part of the story. When we're moving too fast in life, what happens? Our life is fragmented. Doesn't work. Explain what I mean. We want to live a life of unity. I have one thing. I have one thing. One thing only. Right. When you keep your eye on the prize and you have a goal All the other things fit into that goal. So let's go back to our example of the husband who's working too hard and missing the opportunity to build his family. If the husband is leading a unified life and he says the reason I'm working is to bring home a paycheck to support my children. Now his boss comes to him and he says, "Listen, I know that we said that in this job it's a nine to six job" But actually I'm going to need you here till nine o'clock at night.
If you're a husband who says, and don't ask me theoretical questions. But let's say the case is I'm making the case. Let's say the husband says "All right, well, I guess the job is nine to nine. And now, because the job is nine to nine, what doesn't he get to do? Spend time with his kids. So he's a really good bank. He's not a really good father. If he has his eye on the prize, what would he say? He would say I can understand that this is the job requirements. I'm going to go find a job that allows me to leave the office at six so that I could be home at seven so I could spend some time with my kids every night before they go to sleep. Don't come back to me and say, 'But let's say he can't find another job.' It's a theoretical thing. Let's say he can find another job. I'm just making up a story. The point is that let's say he takes. He said, 'Let's say he says, "Okay, fine. I'm here till nine o'clock at night." So now you see how everything in his life is very disjointed.
Because the whole reason he has the job. It's to support the family. But now he's not supporting the family. All he's doing is being a bank for the family. He's not the father for the family. You understand? So his life is very all over the place. Everything is scattered. And that's what people talk about. Do you ever hear this phrase, "work-life balance"? What does work-life balance really mean? Work-life balance means I've forgotten what my primary goal is. So now I don't know how to balance these two things. Once you know what your primary goal is. It almost becomes obvious how you balance these things, because any time it's going to take away from my primary goal, I'm not going to do it anymore. Imagine you have a company that says We have two different divisions. One division makes more money than the other, and the other division is losing money. Let's spend more time building up this other thing at the expense of the first thing that's making money. That's ridiculous. It doesn't move the company forward. You got to keep moving the company forward to its goal.
A good dad says, "I've kept my eye on the prize. My job is to be a father. Part of being a father is to be a provider. Part of being a father is I'm available to my children. I'm a dependable person. I can. I'm available to talk to them. You understand? From the perspective of unity, work-life balance becomes much more obvious. When does work-life balance start to become less obvious? When you start to lose sight of your goal." So Yaakov Avinu, because he's moving so fast towards the house of Lavan, what did he forget? He forgot the destination. So he moves really fast. What's the state of his life right now? Fragmented, separate, no unity. Aivay, tshuva. I went too fast. I missed my destination. I went so fast that I missed being at the base of Miktah. She turns around, fits a seder. He's already arrived. What do you got to do in that stage? You got to daven. You got to dive in. You got to start thinking about things in a new way. That's what tefillah is all about. You have to rectify the mistake. Hashem says, "I'm setting the sun. We're not moving."
We have to make sure we are locked in. Locked in. We stay. What happens when we stay? Now we started putting things back in order. Everything is unified. Twelve stones that are all separate stones. What are they saying now? What are they arguing about? I want to be under the tzaddik's head. Each one of them is clamoring to be part of the tzaddik. Meaning Yaakov Avinu has achieved his state of tzedkus. Now in this moment, he's achieved this unbelievable state of righteousness from this life of turning it around and doing that tshuva. Each one of these separate stones all wants to be under his head. Immediately, what does Hashem do? The fact that you all want to be connected to the tzaddik means you're all one. So all of a sudden, twelve stones become one. It's a reflection of Yaakov Avinu's unity in his life. Since Yaakov Avinu is leading a unified life He's called the tzaddik. And now, what does the tzaddik do? He unifies everything around him. Everything starts to become one.
That's what it means to be in the presence of a tzaddik. In the presence of a tzaddik, we remember what we're here in this world for. And once you know what you're here for, you start to get focused, and things start to become unified in your life. That's why I hope I'm not going to hit too close to home. That's why there are times in our lives when we're acting in a very fragmented way. Times in our life where we're betraying our highest self Not acting in a unified way with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Doing things that maybe we're not so proud of. And then sometimes all it takes is coming to Yerushalayim Yerakodesh And what starts to happen in this place of unity that is Yerushalayim Yerakodesh All of a sudden things start to become clear. The same Torah that we learned in Brooklyn and Five Towns and Montzie and Lakewood and L.A. and Chicago and Toronto and New Jersey.
All of a sudden, what starts to happen? I start to feel a sense of alignment because I've come in contact with the tzidkus of Yerushalayim. Isn't it interesting? That sometimes just being in this, like when you get off the plane in America, the air feels a little bit different. You know what I'm saying? Like when you pull up Shalaim has a certain type of air. Tzfat has a certain type of air. There's a certain type of avira here, and it aligns you. It keeps you in a state of unity. It keeps the main thing. Can we do one more? One more. It's the first time that Yaakov Yenu sleeps in fourteen years. Why? In the beis medrash Meaning there's a period of your life that's called the fourteen years of Yeshiva Shem Ve'iver. It's the beis medrash period. And then there's a baderech period. When you're in yeshiva When you're in seminary The clarity of life comes from learning.
So you go to shiurim, you think about things deeply, and you start to say, this is the type of person that I am. I'm thinking about things in a new way. I used to think about it this way, now I'm thinking about it this way. I'm in a state of alignment. Things now seem different than they were before. But there's a different avoda when you're on the road. After seminary, after yeshiva Now all the things you learned about you have to put into practice. As long as you're in yeshiva, you don't need to dream. What's the avoda? The avoda is not to go to sleep. The avoda is to learn. So you learn as much as possible. Once you're on the road And on the road, things start to become more complex. Life right now is theoretical. We're in the seminary bubble.
We are. It's like a beautiful thing. I'm learning about life. I go to shiurim. I think about things in a new way. I'm getting it. I'm locked in. It's like you're trying to download all the information right now. What are the questions I'm going to want to know in ten years that I'm asking myself right now? Teach me everything. I'm not going to sleep. I've got toothpicks open. I'm keeping my eyes open. Because I'm not going to leave anything. Just teach me everything. And you get this rabbi said this, and this rabbi said this, and everything is conversations in the dorms. It's all thinking. But the moment you leave Remember in the summer, the moment you left, and you stepped back off the plane into LAX or JFK or Newark, right, or wherever you went. Remember the second you stepped off the plane, and all of a sudden I wasn't going to say it, but let's say all of a sudden life became a bit more uncertain.
And all the things that you had clarity about. All the things that you absolutely knew to be true just 12 hours ago or 15 hours ago, depending on where you landed. All of a sudden, what happens? It's like wait a second. The path actually looks much more dangerous than I learned about. Because I can teach you about the path, but it's very different to walk on the edge of the cliff. You know those Tui Lim the sharkmen take you on. Does Mrs Fold go on those Tui Lim? Life or death is like the first one, and it's like it's no, there's no harness. You're just holding onto those metal things on the side and going like, if I fall. And if you fall, you die. I don't understand how no one's died yet. Baruch Hashem. Baruch Hashem. Baruch Hashem. But it's one thing for your tour guide to come and teach you all about the cliff.
It's one thing to learn about the cliff. It's quite another thing to walk on the cliff. What happens when you're on the way and you find yourself making mistakes and tripping up? Now the avodah is not learning. Now the avodah is dreaming. Because I have to keep in mind the image that I've set for myself. Because in seminary we learn about who we want to become And when we're actually leaving, we have to keep dreaming about the life that we want. Because as long as we dream about the life that we want, as long as we can dream that there is a place and the ladder is going up, the ladder has angels going up and down. This is the place where heaven and earth kiss. As long as you can dream that You can stay on course. But the moment your dreams start to shift That's when things really fall apart.
So when you're in sem, you're learning about this is the type of life I want to lead. And then you go out into the world, and all of a sudden, you start dreaming different dreams. And maybe in seminary you were like Materialism is important, but only to support my family, not because I want to give my family generational wealth. But the moment you step out into real life, and all of a sudden you go Tuition costs, and then you go like, Sign me up. Who's an investment banker? I want to marry an investment banker. Sign me up. Anybody here into nursing homes? And all of a sudden, the value systems, like, anybody into hard money lending? I'm looking for a hard money lender. And it's like, before I wanted a learner earner, now I want an earner. And like all of a suddenly, the value systems start to shift because the dreams start to shift.
Now all of a sudden, the dream is the size of my house and the fanciest car and the most glorified Pesach program. And you go where your dreams take you. Because the thing you dream about at night is the thing you act out during the day. So Yaakov Avinu, he's told to stay and dream in this place. Have this unbelievable dream that this is where we're going. This is the destination. And now, when you leave this place, you take that dream with you into the house of Lavan. And that's why, at the end of your time and your stay in Lavan, what are you going to say to Esav? In Lavan Garti. V'tari agmitzvah shamarti. I stayed with Lavan, and I kept all six hundred thirteen mitzvahs. How did he do that? How did he walk into the place of Lavan, who was the biggest Russia in the world, even worse than Paro? Because remember, the Hagada says Paro wanted to kill the males. Lavan wanted to wipe out all of Klal Yisrael. How does Yaakov Yenuh show up at the house of Lavan, and not only does he stay strong?
But he says, 'I was able to fulfill all 613 mitzvos in that place.' How does he do that? He wasn't in the Beis Hamikdash. How was he able to do that? The Targum says that the entire time he was in Lavan's house, he was at the Beis Hamikdash. The dream never left him. Everything that he did, the entire time that he was there, was with the purpose of coming back. He dreams in order to keep the dream alive. So it's a big mussar for us. This pasuk, this one pasuk with these five Five different questions, these four different Rashi's. They tell us the story of every one of us. We're all going to be on the road. Heading somewhere, losing sight of our destination. We can always turn it around. And when we do turn it around, that's already the whole journey. We have to daven because we have to make sure that we're staying calibrated. We have to make sure that we're constantly in a state of tshuva, especially because we know things are going to get difficult.
And then we need to be more still. Stop. Stop moving so fast through life. That's how you got to this problem to begin with. So many times I see guys and they're already like in their shabbat and they're like, "Rabbi, I need to discuss my ten-year plan with you." It's like, why do you need to discuss your ten-year plan? Just be here now. That's like a very healthy psychological thing. Stop. Be here in this place. Remember, this is the be-all and end-all. This is the home you want to build. Once you remember that this is the home you want to build, and you have everything solidified, now all of a sudden everything becomes one. Everything in your life is in perfect balance. Everything attaches itself to the tzaddik. And what do you do in that place? Dream. Dream big, so that Beis Hashem, when you leave, you take that dream with you, and that's how you stay strong. Makes sense, girls? Have a beautiful Shabbos.
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