This1 week’s Torah reading tells of how one solitary Jew made his way to a foreign land. When he set out he had thought that he would arrive with his possessions, but by the time he arrived he saw that he was left with nothing. As he later said, “With my staff [alone] I crossed the Jordan.”2 Regardless of that, he went on his way with a light heart and in high spirits,3 because he had trust in the One Above.

Arriving in Haran, he saw that he could rely on no one, even his relatives. Even his uncle, Lavan, cheated him. Yet despite all that, his trust in G‑d remained intact.

What was the outcome? True, he toiled for long and arduous years in Haran: “Scorching heat ravaged me by day and frost by night.”4 But ultimately, having toiled with trust in the One Above, he left that place with considerable wealth. More importantly, “his bed was perfect”5 — all of his children grew up properly and perfectly.