In the beginning of Parshas Vayeitzei, the Torah tells us about the dream of Yaakov Avinu, that he saw the סולם, the ladder, and he saw מלאכי אלקים עולים ויורדים בו. He saw malachim of Hashem going up the ladder and coming down the ladder. And it says in Midrash, in Bereishis Rabbah פרשה ס״ח י״ב, also in פרשה ס״ח י״ח, and also in Yalkut Shimoni, that מלאכים שהם מלוים את האדם בארץ ישראל אין מלוים אותו בחוץ לארץ. And the reason some malachim went up and some malachim went down was because the malachim that go along with a person in Eretz Yisrael cannot go along with him in Chutz Laaretz, outside of Eretz Yisrael. And Rashi on the pasuk makes it even clearer, and he says that מלאכים שליווהו בארץ אין יוצאים חוצה לארץ, that malachim that went along with him in Eretz Yisrael are not allowed to, cannot go out of Eretz Yisrael, therefore ועלו ברקיע, they went up to heaven, וירדו מלאכי חוצה לארץ ללוותו. So then malachim of Chutz Laaretz, of outside of Eretz Yisrael, came down. So we see clearly from here that malachim of Eretz Yisrael are not allowed to go out to Chutz Laaretz, and therefore another group of malachim had to come when he reached Chutz Laaretz. On the other hand, in the end of the parshah, where the pasuk says ויפגעו בו מלאכי אלקים, that after he left Charan, and he was on the way to Eretz Yisrael, so malachim of Hashem met Yaakov, so the Chazal say, in Tanchuma, in וישלח ג׳, and also in Midrash Tanchuma Buber, in וישב ב׳, and we also see it in Midrash Lekach Tov on the pasuk, it says, as Rashi brings it down on the pasuk, that מלאכים של ארץ ישראל באו לקראתו ללוותו לארץ. That when it says that he met malachim of Hashem, these were malachim of Eretz Yisrael that came to greet him to take him to Eretz Yisrael, which means that the malachim came out to חוצה לארץ to go along with him into Eretz Yisrael. And as the Ramban says clearly, שהרי עדיין לא הגיע יעקב לארץ ורחוק היה משם, that Yaakov Avinu did not reach Eretz Yisrael yet, he was far from Eretz Yisrael, and that's when the malachim of Eretz Yisrael came to meet him. The truth is that the Ra'am argues on the Ramban, and the Ra'am holds that Yaakov was already in Eretz Yisrael then. But from the mefarshim of Rashi who discuss this whole matter, it's mashma that they also learn that the malachim came to greet him while he was still in חוץ לארץ. And that's how it's also mashma from רש״י, דיבור המתחיל מחנים, that Rashi says שתי מחנות, that there were two מחנות, של חוצה לארץ שבאו עמו עד כאן, ושל ארץ ישראל שבאו לקראתו, that they still had the malachim of חוץ לארץ, and also the malachim of Eretz Yisrael that came to greet him. So it seems that Rashi learns that this happened while he was still in חוץ לארץ.

So the question is, how do these two things fit? If Rashi in the beginning of the parashah and the Midrash says that the malachim of Eretz Yisrael are not allowed to go out to חוץ לארץ, so how is it that at the end of the parashah it says that while he was still in חוץ לארץ, the malachim of Eretz Yisrael came to chutz la'aretz to greet him? There are different perushim, explanations in the mefarshim, but the simple terutz would be that in the beginning of the parshah, the Torah is talking about Yaakov when he went out of Eretz Yisrael going to chutz la'aretz. So we understand that the malachim of Eretz Yisrael could not continue with him into chutz la'aretz, because מלאכי ארץ ישראל אין יוצאים חוצה לארץ. They're not allowed to go out to chutz la'aretz. But at the end of the parshah, there it's the opposite. There we're talking about Yaakov going from chutz la'aretz into Eretz Yisrael. So since the malachim came to greet him to take him to Eretz Yisrael, so then when they came out to chutzah la'aretz, it wasn't considered that they came to chutz la'aretz, but being they came to take him to Eretz Yisrael, this is part of them being in Eretz Yisrael. When they would go out with him from Eretz Yisrael to chutzah la'aretz, when he was on the way to chutzah la'aretz, this would be considered that the malachim went out of Eretz Yisrael, and they went into chutz la'aretz. But on the way back, when they came to chutzah la'aretz to greet him to take him to Eretz Yisrael, so even though physically it was chutz la'aretz, but being the purpose was to take him to Eretz Yisrael, so this is part of their being in Eretz Yisrael. Especially if we're able to connect this fact that malachim of Eretz Yisrael do not go out into chutzah la'aretz to the din that a person, a Yid, is not allowed to go out from Eretz Yisrael to chutz la'aretz. Because we know the din is that it says in Tosefta Avodah Zarah פרק ה׳ ב׳, brought down in the Gemara Bava Batra צ״א עמוד ב׳, that you are not allowed to go out from Eretz Yisrael to חוץ לארץ. So it's possible that the concept of the malachim of ארץ ישראל not being able to go out to חוץ לארץ is similar to the halachah that a Yid is not allowed to go out from ארץ ישראל to חוץ לארץ. And if it is so, we takeh see in the Gemara in קידושין דף ל״א עמוד ב׳, also in the ירושלמי ברכות פרק ג׳ הלכה א׳, שביעית פרק ו׳ הלכה א׳, in נזיר פרק ז׳ הלכה א׳, etc., that there was a story that, one of the chachamim went out to חוץ לארץ from ארץ ישראל to greet his mother that was coming to ארץ ישראל. And from here, the Meiri learns out and he says clearly that מותר לצאת מארץ ישראל לחוץ לארץ לקראת אביו ולקראת אמו, וכן לשאר מיני כבוד, that you're allowed to go out from חוץ לארץ, from ארץ ישראל to חוץ לארץ to greet your father or your mother who is coming to ארץ ישראל. So we see that al pi halachah, even though there is an issur of going out from ארץ ישראל to חוץ לארץ, nevertheless, if you are going to greet somebody that is coming into ארץ ישראל, you are allowed to go out. So too, concerning the malachim, since they came out of ארץ ישראל to greet Yaakov Avinu, who was coming into ארץ ישראל, that is not considered that they went out of חוץ, ארץ ישראל to חוץ לארץ. And that's why they were allowed to do it, even though in the beginning of the parshah, when Yaakov was on the way out from ארץ ישראל to חוץ לארץ, they weren't allowed to go out with him into חוץ לארץ.

The truth is we could say even deeper. We know that the Rambam paskent in הלכות מלכים פרק ה׳ הלכה ט׳ that even though you're not allowed to go out from ארץ ישראל to חוץ לארץ, but you're allowed to go out ללמוד תורה, או לישא אשה, או להנצל מן העכו״ם, you're allowed to go out to learn Torah or to get married, or to save something, somebody from goyim. Nevertheless, going out of ארץ ישראל to חוץ לארץ to greet somebody who is coming in is even a stronger heter. Because it seems that even though you are allowed to go out for the reasons that the Rambam mentions, but nevertheless, it is considered that you went out of Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz, but you went out with a heter. You went out to learn Torah that you're allowed to do. You went out to get married, you went out to save somebody from the goyim. So even though you went out of Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz, but for this reason, you are allowed to go out from Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz. Concerning going out from Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz to greet somebody who is coming into Eretz Yisrael, it is possible that this is not even considered that you are going out from Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz with a heter. It is not even considered l'chatchilah that you are going out from Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz. Being that you're going out to bring somebody to Eretz Yisrael, so then this is considered that you are still in Eretz Yisrael. And if this is true, this would explain why the Rambam does not mention that you're allowed to go out to meet somebody that is coming into Eretz Yisrael. The truth is that there is a מחלוקת בכלל whether you're allowed to go out for any mitzvah. The Sha'ilot in שאילתא ק״ג, brought down in תוספות עבודה זרה דף י״ג עמוד א׳, and also in בכורות דף כ״ט עמוד א׳, holds that you're allowed to go out for any mitzvah. But obviously, the Rambam does not hold so. The Rambam only mentions these few things. Now the question is: what about going out to greet somebody? So we might also say that the Rambam argues with the Meiri also, the Rambam holds l'halachah that you are not allowed to go out to greet somebody, and that is the reason the Rambam doesn't mention it. But it would be simpler to say that the Rambam does not argue with the Meiri, especially when the Gemara brings this as a maaseh rav, a story that actually happened, that one of the chachamim went out from Eretz Yisrael to greet his mother who was coming to Eretz Yisrael. So it would be better if we would say that the Rambam doesn't argue, but the reason that the Rambam doesn't mention this is because this is very obvious. The Rambam only mentions those things which are considered a yetzi'ah from Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz. They are considered that he left Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz, nevertheless, the Rambam says for these reasons you are allowed to go out. But to go out to greet somebody who was coming into Eretz Yisrael, that is not even considered that you are going out from Eretz Yisrael to Chutz La'aretz, and therefore the Rambam doesn't even mention it. And if we say that, then we don't have to say that the Rambam argues with the Meiri, but the Rambam also agrees that you're allowed to go out from Eretz Yisrael to greet somebody who was coming to Eretz Yisrael. He doesn't mention it because this is not a heter. This is lechatchilah not considered that you left Eretz Yisrael. And this would be the explanation why the malachim were allowed to go out of Eretz Yisrael to greet Yaakov Avinu who was coming into Eretz Yisrael, because it is not considered that they left Eretz Yisrael. This would be the simple explanation in the reason the malachim were allowed to go out of Eretz Yisrael to greet Yaakov Avinu.

The deeper explanation that we could say here is based on the fact that it says in sefarim that when Yaakov went out from Be'er Sheva and he went to Charan, which means he left Eretz Yisrael, and he went to Charan, this is a remez, this is a hint, for the galut of Am Yisrael, as it says in the Midrash concerning these pesukim, in מדרש בראשית רבה פרשה סח יג, and also in another print of Bereshit Rabbah it would be not יג but it would be יט, also hinted in the Zohar, in this week's פרשה, דף קמט עמוד ב, that all the inyanim that happened to Yaakov at the time when he left Eretz Yisrael, Be'er Sheva, on the way to Charan, to Chutz La'aretz, is a remez for the galut. As it also says in a different place in the Midrash, which is in Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer, פרק לה, even though in the Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer that is printed with the peirush of the Radal it is missing, but nevertheless, the Ramban in the beginning of this week's parshah brings that Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer. There it says that הראה לו הקדוש ברוך הוא, that השם showed יעקב אבינו ארבע מלכיות, he showed the four kingdoms, משלן ואבדן, while they are in control and when they're lost. So, he showed him at that time the galuyot that the Yidden will go through. And as the Rambam paskens in his sefer, which we know the sefer of the Rambam, Yad HaChazakah, the Mishneh Torah, is a sefer of halachah, and nevertheless the Rambam brings in this sefer, in הלכות יסודי התורה, פרק ז הלכה ג, that הסולם שראה יעקב אבינו, that the ladder that יעקב אבינו saw, ומלאכים עולים ויורדים בו, and the malachim that were going up and down, והוא היה משל למלכיות ושעבודן, this was a mashal to the malchuyot and the shibud of Klal Yisrael, which means to the galut. So, it comes out that Yaakov Avinu's going out from Eretz Yisrael to Charan is similar to the Yidden's going out of Eretz Yisrael into galut in Chutz Laaretz. Because we know that מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, that what happened to the avot is a siman to the children, and the truth is it's not just a siman that shows what's going to happen, but it's also a נתינת כח, this gave the koach, the power, the strength for the iden to do what they were supposed to do. And we see that just like when Yaakov Avinu left Eretz Yisrael to go to Charan, he didn't only go out of necessity because he had to run away from Esav, which is also true, but even more than that, he also went because over there he would get married, as the pasuk says that he sent him and he said, ״וקח לך משם אשה״, you should take a wife from there, ״והיית לקהל עמים״, and from there you will become a nation. And the truth is, from the Chumash we don't even see that Yitzchak knew that Esav was going to kill Yaakov. As far as Yitzchak was concerned, it seems the only reason he sent Yaakov to Charan was to get married and to build the Jewish nation. So, it comes out that Yaakov Avinu's going to Charan was, first of all, out of necessity, but more than that, it was because over there he would be able to build the Jewish nation. Using the terms of Kabbalah, he would do there the עבודת הבירורים. He came to a place which was far away from Hashem, called Charan, which means חרון אף של מקום בעולם, the place where Hashem was angry about, the worst place in the world, and he was supposed to be mevarer the place, which means elevate, purify the place, and bring the place closer to Hashem. And when Yaakov Avinu worked in the galut to elevate that place, this gave Yaakov the greatest sachar that it elevated him much more. That even though at the time he was there it seems like it's a yeridah, he lowered himself to a very low place, left his father Yitzchak, left Eretz Yisrael, and was in Charan in a very low place, which is a yeridah, a low level, nevertheless yeridah letzorech aliyah, only because he worked there and brought kedushah into that place, this elevated him to a higher madregah that there he accomplished and came to his shleimut. Which is similar to the inyan of galut.

We know that the iden went to galut out of necessity, מפני חטאינו גלינו מארצנו, because of our aveirot we were chased out of our land and we went to galut. We were pushed there, we had to go there. Nevertheless, we know that the reason we're in galut, the true reason, is because while we're in galut, we elevate the world, and this will bring us to a higher madregah than we would be without the galut. This will bring us that when Mashiach will come and we will finish with the galut, we will reach a much higher madregah than if we wouldn't have gone to galut lechatchilah. And as there is a clear מאמר חז״ל in פסחים, דף פז עמוד ב, where it says, ״לא הגלה הקדוש ברוך הוא את ישראל לבין האומות״, that Hashem did not send the Yidden in galut amongst the nations, ״אלא כדי שיתוספו עליהם גרים״, only, the only reason is in order there should be more gerim, there should be more converts. So, here we see clearly that this is the only reason. And as sefarim explain that when it says gerim, we don't find that throughout history there were so many gerim that it was worth for Klal Yisrael to be in galut just for the gerim. So, it says in ספרי קבלה that what it means, the gerim refer to the ניצוצות הקדושה, the holy sparks, the godly sparks that's found in the world, which have to be elevated, those are the gerim. Because while they are in the world, they are in a strange place, and what we have to do is elevate the world and purify and take the kedushah, and bring out the kedushah, reveal the kedushah that's in every place. That is called gerim, and this was the reason for the galut. On one hand, we went there out of necessity. On the other hand, the Gemara says that the only reason we went to galut is כדי שיתוספו עליהם גרים. And we know that this is the job of every Yid, as the famous saying of the Tzemach Tzedek, when someone asked him once that he wants to go to Eretz Yisrael, so he said to him, \"Why do you have to go to Eretz Yisrael? Mach do Eretz Yisrael, make Eretz Yisrael here.\" Which means if you bring kedushah in the place where you are, then you are making this into Eretz Yisrael. Because we know that the reason it's called Eretz Yisrael is that it says in the Midrash, in Bereishit Rabbah פרשה ה, ח, that למה נקרא שמו ארץ? Why is it called ארץ? שרצתה לעשות רצון קונה. That it ran, or it wanted, to do the will of its master. That is the word ארץ, and the word ישראל comes from the pasuk where it says כי שרית עם אלקים ועם אנשים ותוכל, that you overcame the God, the malachim, and you overcame Esav, etc., this is the inyan of Eretz Yisrael. Bringing kedushah and overcoming all the hardships of the galut, this is the spiritual concept of Eretz Yisrael. And as the Meiri says in the end of כתובות, שכל מקום שחכמה ויראת חטא מצויין שם, דינה כארץ ישראל. That wherever there is chochmah, which means Torah, and יראת חטא and יראת שמים, it has a din like Eretz Yisrael. So it comes out that this is the meaning of Eretz Yisrael. And since מעשה אבות סימן לבנים, so Yaakov Avinu's going to Charan, and staying there, and then leaving Charan, is the same as our going into galut, and then finishing the galut when Mashiach will come. So Yaakov Avinu's coming out of Charan was similar to our accomplishing what we are supposed to accomplish in chutz la'aretz during the galut, which means accomplishing of making the galut, the chutz la'aretz into Eretz Yisrael. So when Yaakov was on the way out, it is a siman, a remez to the inyan of finishing the avodah and actually transforming chutz la'aretz into Eretz Yisrael. And therefore, the malachim that came to greet him were allowed to leave Eretz Yisrael into chutz la'aretz, because at that time already ארץ חוץ לארץ was changed into Eretz Yisrael. Because Yaakov's leaving Charan to Eretz Yisrael is the concept of our finishing the avodah in galut, which means actually elevating the galut and changing the galut into Eretz Yisrael. So Yaakov Avinu at that time already did it, so therefore in ruchniyut it was already Eretz Yisrael. So therefore, in the beginning, the malachim were not allowed to leave חוץ ארץ ישראל to chutz la'aretz because chutz la'aretz was still chutz la'aretz, but on the way back, when he finished his avodah and chutz la'aretz was changed into Eretz Yisrael, the malachim of Eretz Yisrael were allowed to go into chutz la'aretz, because really it was Eretz Yisrael already.