No Detours, One Straight Path: Learning from Yaakov and Rabbi Akiva

Rav Chaim Shmulevitz explains that Parashat Vayeitzei has no breaks—no parsha petucha and no setuma—because Yaakov Avinu didn’t see his life as shattered or interrupted in broken pieces. (Rashi to Bereishit 28:10; Sichot Mussar, Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, 5731, Ma’amar “Parashat Vayeitzei.”)

From the outside, Yaakov’s life looked like it swung from one extreme to the other—running from Eisav, sleeping out in the open, being tricked by Lavan, working with frost biting him at night, and burning heat by day (Bereishit 31:40).

But Yaakov himself didn’t see “ups and downs.”
He didn’t experience life as a roller coaster.
He saw one straight path from HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
If Hashem put him in a........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)