Q:
The Rambam says that the sole desire of the Avos was l’haamid umah ovedes es Hashem – to establish a nation that would serve Hashem. So why did Yakov wait until he was in his 60’s to get married?
A:
Why did Yakov Avinu postpone getting married until later in life? And the answer is that when you have to succeed at a very important mission, the preparation for that mission is very crucial for its success. Suppose you have to accomplish something like building a tall office building. You will have to spend a lot of time and effort making the plans for the building. It takes a long time to draw up plans for such a building.
Now, Yakov Avinu getting married and having children was immensely more important than building a skyscraper. His getting married and having children was an accomplishment adei ad. He had to accomplish the building of a nation and therefore he had to prepare himself with the utmost shleimus.
A young man of twenty-one gets married and he makes all kinds of mistakes. He doesn’t have the experience needed because he didn’t learn too much about it. But little by little, by trial and error and some troubles, he is able to settle down after a while. But all types of trouble come up.
Yakov Avinu couldn’t afford trial and error. He couldn’t afford such a thing because he was building – he was creating – a nation. Because his kavanah was li’haamid umah ovedes es Hashem that’s exactly why he had to make himself as perfect as he could be. And therefore he spent all the time that he could preparing for his role as the progenitor of the Holy Nation.
TAPE # E-258
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About the Author: Toras Avigdor
