א"ר יוחנן משום רבי יוסי כל המענג את השבת נותנין לו נחלה בלי מצרים שנאמר (ישעיהו נח, יד) אז תתענג על ה' והרכבתיך על במתי ארץ והאכלתיך נחלת יעקב אביך וגו' לא כאברהם שכתוב בו (בראשית יג, יז) קום התהלך בארץ לארכה וגו' ולא כיצחק שכתוב בו (בראשית כו, ג) כי לך ולזרעך אתן את כל הארצות האל אלא כיעקב שכתוב בו (בראשית כח, יד) ופרצת ימה וקדמה וצפונה ונגבה (שבת קיח)
What is the connection between עונג שבת and meriting a נחלה בלי מיצרים? What is the נחלה without boundaries? Why is the beracha associated with עונג שבת said explicitly in the dream of Yaakov? Why is it said to Yaakov specifically?
As explained in 'Two Yaakovs', the beginning of Veyetzei marks the transformation of Yaakov, the איש תם יושב אוהלים, into Yaakov, who is now engaged with the world at large. Yaakov takes the years of his involvement in purely holy work, and it gives him the ability to bring kedusha into חרן. It is at this juncture that Yaakov experiences his dream. The ladder is the ladder of connection between this world and the higher worlds, between Yaakov on earth and Yaakov of the כסא הכבוד, between kodesh and chol. The message to Yaakov is that it is time for him to take the spiritual heights he has developed and use them to transform the greater world. Chazal connect the סולם with סיני (minus the ו it is the same gematria.) The סולם alludes to Sinai, the giving of the Torah, and the connection of heaven and earth. The Torah is the ladder that connects heaven and earth; the ability to bring kedusha into the chol stems from the Torah. Yaakov is the Av associated with Torah. He sees the vision of the ladder; he is instructed to spread the kedusha through his power of Torah.
The Zohar says that the beracha of a person's week stems from Shabbos. Shabbos is the point of kedusha that can elevate the chol of the week around it. The Bnei Yissachar cites the Alshich, who states that it says מענג את השבת, not המענג בשבת, for it is the appreciation of the oneg of Shabbos that brings this reward. It is not about having oneg one the day of Shabbos, but that the Shabbos adds oneg to one's activities. One who can appreciate the kedusha of Shabbos and use that to enhance the physical needs of the person, to incorporate their actions as part of Shabbos, by turning it into an act of עונג שבת, is following in the footsteps of Yaakov, of taking the point of kedusha and using that to enhance the physical matter. The נחלה בלי מיצרים is that one's life will not be limited by boundaries of where kodesh ends and chol begins, but will become a seamless life guided by the boundless kedusha that is innately within a person.
(See Likutay Sichos volume 15, Beis Yishai derashos #12, sicha of Rav Rav Zalman Baruch Melamed.)
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