"How good are your tents, O Yaacov, your dwelling places, O Israel." (24:5)
The names "Jacob" and "Israel" also refer to the ways different kinds of Jews fulfill the commandment to study the Torah. "Jacob" refers to those of us who are principally involved in worldly matters; for these people, learning is a part-time venture, just as a tent is a part-time structure. "Israel," in contrast, refers to those of us for whom study is a full-time occupation, their full-time dwelling place. The Torah informs us here that both the "tents of Jacob" and the "swelling places of Israel" are "good" and beloved by G-d. But this is only true when our learning is imbued with selfless devotion. [This being alluded to by the fact that the word for How "mah" that begins this verse indicates selflessness (cf. exodus 16:7; Tanya, ch. 19 [24b]).] Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Shneersohn of Lubavitch
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