Parshas Vayeitzei begins: ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע וילך חרנה – “Yaakov departed from Be’er Sheva and traveled to Choran” (Bereishis 28:10). Since the Torah does not use even a single letter unnecessarily, wouldn’t it have been more succinct to relate the information by stating לחרן ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע, effectively eliminating one seemingly unnecessary word (וילך)? Why is the pasuk written in this manner?
The Medrash relates (Bereishis Rabbah 75:8) that prior to Yaakov’s departure, Rivkah blessed him (Tehillim 91:11): כי מלאכיו יצוה לך – “Hashem will command His angels for you (to protect you on your journey)”. Rav Chaim Volozhiner explains that the reason she specifically blessed him with this pasuk is because the last letters of the first four words in it spell יוהך, which the mystics teach is the name of the angel who is responsible for accompanying travelers along their journeys.
The Gemara in Eruvin (64a) advises that when a person takes leave of his friend, he should do so by mentioning a devar halachah [legal matter]. Whenever one of the Vilna Gaon’s talmidim had to go someplace, the Vilna Gaon would consistently share the same legal teaching: רביםכ לכהה רביםו חידי– “when one Rabbi argues against a number of sages, the law is in accordance with the opinion of the majority” (Berachos 37a). The reason that he specifically used this seemingly mundane and not particularly relevant legal ruling is because the first letter of each word spells יוהך, the name of the angel that he was indirectly blessing them should accompany them on their travels.
With this introduction, we can now understand why the Torah did not relate Yaakov’s journey in a more succinct manner. The seemingly superfluous letters required to write ה חרנ ךל וי instead of simply לחרן are anything but unnecessary, as they may be rearranged to spell יוהך, which is the Torah’s way of hinting that Rivkah’s blessing was fulfilled and this angel indeed guarded him during his travels. (R’ Ozer Alport)
