He came upon the place, and he spent the night there, because the sun had set. (28:11)
One Small Step from Man
This week's parshah begins with Yaakov Avinu heeding his parents' directive and leaving his hometown of Be'er Sheva en-route to the home of Lavan. The Torah here tells us that on his way there, at הַר הַמּוֹרִיָּה, the sun set early, thus forcing Yaakov to remain in that place overnight.
The Gemarah (חולין דף צא.) teaches that, whilst travelling, Yaakov first passed by Har Hamoria, but did not stop to daven there. Only once he reached Charan Yaakov thought to himself, "is it possible that I passed by the place where my fathers have davened and I did not stop to daven there?" He then immediately decided to head back there. Noting Yaakov's intentions, Hashem performed a special miracle, saving him the journey and bringing הַר הַמּוֹרִיָּה to where he was.
Upon arrival, Yaakov established and davened the tefilla of Maariv. Thereafter, Hashem said "צַדִּיק זֶה בָּא לְבֵית מְלוֹנִי וְיִפָּטֵר בְּלֹא לִינָה?" - "this tzaddik came to my 'abode', and I should let him leave without sleeping there?" Hence, Hashem made the sun go down before its time so that Yaakov should be forced to sleep there, an elevated sleep, where he merited lofty revelations and received prophecy from Hashem with blessings for him and his future generations.
Rav Dessler zt"l identifies a very important lesson from this episode of kefitzas haderech. Often, one may be inspired to reach out to Hashem, but seeing how far he is from reaching his goal, gets discouraged at the same time. However, one must know that once he shows a sincere desire to draw close to Hashem, he can experience his personal 'kefitzas haderech'. Hashem will extend His hand and bring the person's destination closer, enabling him to reach his goal easier than he thought it to be. Yaakov Avinu merited this form of Divine assistance for simply deciding to go back. All these miracles and revelations were brought about through Yaakov's initial intentions.
(מכתב מאליהו מאמרי התשובה ע' תנה)
We find this encouragement from Chazal in numerous sources. To cite one, the Mishna (אבות פ"ב משנה טז) says in the name of Rabbi Tarfon: לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לְהִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה - it is not up to you to finish the work, and you are not 'a free man' to exempt yourself from it.
The Mishnah is referring to our obligation in This World, of performing as many Mitzvos as possible. True, the sheer magnitude of a person's obligations could seem overwhelming at times. Therefore, the Tana says, it is not up to you to 'finish the job'. You only have to do your part, as much as is within your reach. However, along this statement the Mishna also cautions us not to take this as an excuse to be lax in our work. We have to do our part and Hashem will do the rest.