A Moment with Rabbi Avigdor Miller Zt"l #838 (Why was Yaakov Avinu punished?)
Why was Yaakov Avinu punished for remaining away from his parents for 22 years?
He was thereby fulfilling the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who sent him away; he had no other option. Why was he punished? It says, "Therefore, Yaakov lost his son, Yosef, for 22 years, because Yaakov himself deprived his parents of his presence for 22 years." So the question: why is he punished? He was sent away, and he couldn't come back before?
And the answer is, Yaakov Avinu certainly wanted to come back, but he was punished because he should have wanted more, that's all. He wept because he couldn't see his parents, he should have wept more.
I told you once, in Slabodka they asked a kasha: when Yaakov didn't want Eisav to marry Dinah, so he put Dinah in a box. So the question is, why was he punished for that? He's punished for that; why was he punished? Did he want to have Eisav for a son-in-law?
Answer is, he was right. Yaakov had to conceal Dinah from Eisav. When he was putting on the lid of the box to conceal Dinah from Eisav, he was banging the nails in the lid, he banged them with too much kavono. He should have banged in the nails and wept, "Ah, I wish my brother was worthy to be my son-in-law." He wept; he didn't weep enough, however.
The following Dvar Torah is taken from "The Beginning"
ויגד לרבקה את־דברי עשו בנה הגדל ותשלח ותקרא ליעקב...
(תולדות כז:מב)
AND THE WORDS OF ESAV HER OLDER SON WERE TOLD TO RIVKAH, AND SHE CALLED TO JACOB...
(Toldos 27:42)
We see that if not for Esav's threat to kill Jacob, Rivkah would not have sent Jacob to seek a wife in Haran. A messenger would have been sent to bring a wife, just as was done for Isaac. But the messenger would certainly have brought only one wife, whereas Jacob gained both Rachel and Leah, and Bilhah and Silpah.
If the messenger would have brought Rachel alone, all the tribes that came from Leah would have been lacking, including Judah who became eventually the Jewish people ("Judeans"). Moshe and Aaron would also be lacking. Therefore, on looking back, Esav's threat against Jacob was the cause of Moshe, David, the future Meshiach, and the entire people of the Jews. When Jacob fled from his brother, it was Hashem's contrivance to bring upon him all the blessings that came true for Jacob's posterity, including the Giving of the Torah which resulted from the strife between the sons of Leah and the son of Rachel (see below 37:4).
Good Shabbos to all!