Extending Holiness

Rashi at the beginning of the parsha (28:12) says that the angels of Eretz Yisroel don’t leave Eretz Yisroel and therefore, they took leave of Yaakov before he exited the border.  However, as Yaakov is coming back, Rashi says (32:2) that the angels of Eretz Yisroel came to escort him.  Why were the angels allowed to exit the holy land to accompany Yaakov?   The Rebbe explains (Likutay Sichos volume 25) that when Yaakov came back, he was bringing Eretz Yisroel with him.   When a chassid asked the Tzemach Tzedek about moving to Eretz Yisroel, he said “make this land Eretz Yisroel.”  When one serves Hashem in a manner in which he is מברר בירורים, where he elevates the place that s/he lives in, it becomes a holy land.  Yaakov was able to extend the kedusha of Eretz Yisroel and thus the angels weren’t leaving Eretz Yisroel when they came to escort him. In Likutay Sichos volume 3 the Rebbe points out that we find that Yaakov’s meeting of the angles coming back was a greater experience than that the experience he had when leaving.  When leaving, Yaakov had to travel back to the place of the mikdash to see the angles and he only saw them in a dream.  Upon his return, the angles came to greet him and he saw them in an awaken state. We see from here that it was the avodas haberurim that led to the greater spiritual experience of Yaakov.