In This World, One Must Work and Toil
What is the complaint against Yaakov for asking to dwell in peace? He went through so many situations – with Lavan, with Eisav, with Dina, and more. He had such a full cup of suffering. How could there possibly have been any justification to give him more suffering?! And the peace he sought was not like someone who had eaten a sumptuous meal and wanted to put his feet up on a luxurious couch and rest! He wanted to sit and learn Torah. This was what he considered to be peace, as Rav Dessler explains. So what was the complaint against him?
This is as the Alter of Kelm explained: A tzaddik is not someone who is perfect, whose heart is completely in his own control. A tzaddik is someone who toils on and on without stopping, and who always continues working on himself.
The yetzer hara is not impressed by any heights that a person attains. Yaakov Avinu thought he had reached a level of bitachon and pure yiras Shamayim so that he no longer had to worry about nisyonos or a loss of yiras Shamayim. But Hashem showed him otherwise.
We learn from here that peace is not the purpose of life. The true purpose of life is the nisyonos we experience, which give us the opportunity to forge a path toward the great banquet that will come after our years in this world are up. Every person must strive toward this, and he will achieve it only by standing up to nisyonos consistently, without seeking peace and serenity. (Degel Hamussar)
One Should Be at Peace with How He Is Being Treated from Above
This is difficult to understand. Wasn’t this world created for tzaddikim, and don’t they have a part in it? Isn’t a person obligated to say, “The world was created for me”?! (Sanhedrin 37a). Who more than Yaakov Avinu deserved peace in this world?
The way the midrash can be understood is not as a question but as a statement. Indeed, it is not enough for the tzaddikim that their place in the World to Come is prepared for them; this world belongs to them as well. Thus, in truth, Yaakov should have dwelled in peace and serenity in this world as well.
It was only because he asked for peace that the problems with Yosef came upon him. If he had not asked for peace, then he would have received it from Shamayim. The complaint against him was that he asked for it. (Shemuos Yitzchak)
One Should Not Make Peace with His Tzaros
Tzaddikim ask to dwell in peace in this world – the righteous adapt to the galus and the difficulties, but Hashem tells them: No! It is not enough for the righteous that your place in the World to Come is prepared for you. In truth, this is not enough. You should try to arouse mercy so that Hashem will save you from tzaar now! (Eish Kodesh; related in the year 1940, in the midst of the Holocaust)
