Study Sanhedrin folio 95B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
דכתיב: ״ויצא יעקב מבאר שבע וילך חרנה״, וכתיב: ״ויפגע במקום וילן שם כי בא השמש״. כי מטא לחרן אמר: אפשר עברתי על מקום שהתפללו בו אבותי ואני לא התפללתי בו? בעי למיהדר. כיון דהרהר בדעתיה למיהדר, קפצה ליה ארעא. מיד – ״ויפגע במקום״.
is as it is written: “And Jacob departed from Beersheba and went to Haran” (Genesis 28:10), and it is written after that, ostensibly after he arrived in Haran: “And he encountered [vayyifga] the place, and he slept there, for the sun had set” (Genesis 28:11). This means that when Jacob arrived at Haran, he said: Is it possible that I bypassed a place where my forefathers prayed and I did not pray there? He sought to return to Beit El. Once he contemplated in his mind to return, the land contracted for him, and immediately: “And he encountered the place,” indicating that he arrived there unexpectedly, sooner than he would have arrived without a miracle.
דבר אחר: אין פגיעה אלא תפלה, שנאמר: ״ואתה אל תתפלל בעד העם הזה ואל תשא בעדם רנה ותפלה ואל תפגע בי״.
Alternatively, encounter means nothing other than prayer, as it is stated: “And you, do not pray on behalf of this nation, and do not raise on their behalf song and prayer, and do not encounter [tifga] Me, for I do not hear you” (Jeremiah 7:16).
״וילן שם כי בא השמש״. בתר דצלי בעי למיהדר, אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: צדיק זה בא לבית מלוני, יפטר בלא לינה? מיד בא השמש. והיינו דכתיב: ״ויזרח לו השמש״. וכי לו בלבד זרחה? והלא לכל העולם כולו זרחה! אלא אמר רבי יצחק: שמש שבאה בעבורו, זרחה בעבורו.
It is written: “And he slept there because the sun had set” (Genesis 28:11). After Jacob prayed and he sought to return to his travels, God said: This righteous man came to My inn. Will I allow him to take leave without sleeping here? Immediately the sun set, not at the proper time, and that is the meaning of that which is written with regard to Jacob: “And the sun shone for him when he passed Penuel” (Genesis 32:32). The Talmud asks: And did the sun shine only for him? But didn’t the sun shine for the entire world? Rather, R' Yitzḥak says: The sun that set not at the proper time exclusively for him shone not at the proper time exclusively for him in order to rectify the disparity created by the premature sunset.