Transforming flight into a meaningful journey

Listening to his mother's advice, Yaacov runs away, being afraid that his brother Esav, out of resentment and jealousy, will kill him. A straight reading of the Torah tells us that he left Beer Sheva and on his way to Haran, he had a very meaningful dream. Our Sages have a different narrative; before his journey toward Haran, his mother's homeland, he spent 14 years learning. Maybe this "internal" journey was needed in order to have him give a different meaning than "escaping" to his exile.

Maybe this teaches us that we have the choice of redefining the meaning of events and decisions, if the original reason doesn't fit our values.

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Shabbat Shalom to all,