"And Jacob departed from Beer-Sheba and went toward Haran."

In our parsha we find Jacob forced to flee from his brother Esau, heading
down to the city of Haran - outside the Land of Israel - the home of his
mother's brother. The commentaries teach us that Jacob was just about to
reach Haran, meaning that he had already left the Land of Israel, when he
said to himself: "Could it be that I have passed the place where my
forefathers prayed, and not offered up a prayer there?"  He set his mind to
return to the Land of Israel to pray at the spot where Abraham and Isaac
prayed, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

At that moment, when G-d saw that Jacob wanted to pray at the Temple Mount
He hastened Jacob's journey, and Jacob miraculously was able to return to
the Land of Israel and get to Jerusalem in a very short time. It was here at
the "House of G-d" that Jacob had his dream. "And he dreamt and behold, a
ladder was set earthward and its top reached heavenward, and behold angels
of G-d were ascending and descending on it."

As a general rule, G-d does not perform miracles unless they are utterly
necessary. In Jacob's case, why didn't G-d just awaken Jacob to pray at the
Temple Mount when he first left Israel on his way down to Haran? This way,
Jacob would have prayed and spent the night at the Temple Mount, had his
dream, and then the following morning continue on his journey to Haran, and
G-d would not have had to perform the miracle of speeding Jacob back to the
Land of Israel, once Jacob was already in Haran (after forgetting to pray at
the Temple Mount on his way down there).

Our Rabbis point out from here that G-d does not awaken a person unless that
person first awakens himself.  He must first show that he desires to do G-d's
will; only then will G-d lend a helping hand. As the famous saying goes:
"G-d helps those who help themselves." Originally, when Jacob did not awaken
to pray at the Temple Mount as his forefathers had, G-d did nothing, and He
let Jacob leave Israel without praying there and without receiving his dream
and vision. It was only after Jacob had awakened his desire to pray at that
special spot and started to do an action by returning to the Land, that G-d
lent a helping hand and miraculously returned Jacob to Israel.

Imagine if Jacob would not have awakened to return to the Land of Israel: He
would have never received the vision of the ladder and would never have
received the promise that the Land of Israel would belong to his descendents
forever! All of this came about only because Jacob made the first move to
return to the Land.

The holy Shelah points out that even though the fire on the Altar in the
Temple descends from the heavens, we mortals must first bring it before it
can. "For the fire that we bring from below awakens the spiritual fire from
above".

The commentator "Sforno" writes how the Holy One, Blessed be He, complained
to the prophets Chaggai, Zecharia, and Malachi about the Jews who did not
awaken to return to the Land of Israel and remained in Babylonia. He
explained to them that since the righteous men stayed in Babylonia and only
the wicked ones came, He was unable to let His Divine Presence rest among
them. Therefore, He requested that they try to convince the remaining Jews
there to ascend to the Land of Israel so that He can rest His Holy Presence
there among his people. But it was not to be - the Jews of Babylonia did not
awaken to come home.

It was for this reason many years later that we find in the Talmud, Resh
Lakish calling out to a famous rabbi from Babylonia:  "How I hate you, for
you (the Jewish people) did not ascend to Israel and stayed in Babylonia,
and because of this the Second Temple was doomed from the start.
Rav Ya'acov Emden (Germany, 1700) wrote how in his generation, not one in a
thousand awaken to return to the Land of Israel, and because of this he saw
dark clouds rising on the horizon.

Today, too, so many of our brethren are waiting for salvation to come to
them - waiting for that knock on the door to tell them it's time to come
home to the Land of Israel. But without making that first move in the
direction of the Land of Israel, they are doomed. It is only when we first
awaken ourselves to make that first move, that Hashem will help.