We read this week about the journey of Yaakov to build the Jewish people together with Rachel and Leah. On the way to Haran where he eventually marries Rachel and Leah, he stops and has the incredible dream about the ladder with the angels ascending and descending.

When he woke up, the Torah describes how Yaakov realizes that he had been in a holy place and somehow wasn’t aware. The Seforno comments that Yaakov certainly knew it was the place where he would receive prophecy, but he had a certain feeling that he missed out on some aspect of the experience.

What was this? Had he known he would have prepared himself better! He was bothered by this! We must wonder why Yaakov was so bothered by this, after all he received the prophecy which was the main experience he had arrived there for?! 

Once the Vilna Gaon was in the middle of learning a deep topic and had a question on the topic and was not sure how to resolve the issue at hand! The heavenly angels came to provide the Vilna Gaon with the answer, and the Vilna Gaon refused to accept the answer, he wanted to work for it, he wanted to make himself into a receptacle that could receive that answer that would be sent to him from the heaven to make it his own. 
 

The message of Yaakov is that if you want to become great, if you want to become a person that will make an impact as the parsha begins, that Yaakov left the city, and his leaving left a mark on the community he had just been part of. To be more Yaakov-like, we need to embody the trait of preparedness and the reward for such preparation is true greatness and impact on the world!