So does Yaacov follow his brother to Seir? Perhaps he starts down that road. “And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a house, and made Sukkot for his cattle.” This verse marks the only place where the forefathers built houses. And in no other place prior to the Exodus does anybody build anything for their cattle. People don’t build huts in the fields unless they intend to stay in that place. The Sukkot imply a spiritual permanence (see the Sukkot State of Mind), but Yaacov doesn’t stop with Sukkot. In the very next verse, Yaacov comes to Shechem and buys land on which to pitch his tent (also a first).
Yaacov appears ready to enter that middle ground.
Hashem, however, has other plans. Dinah is taken and she is made Tumah – her spiritual potential is damaged – by a man stricken by love. This is the first time the word Tumah appears in Torah – it is a symbolic status. Yaacov responds by entering into an agreement with Shechem. The agreement would have found his family married into the city. Shechem’s drive for this is initiated by a lack of self-control; he is motivated by his love for Dinah. But his reasoning to his fellow citizens is entirely material. Because of the underlying motivations, this marriage would strip away the spirituality, self-control and refinement of Yaacov’s legacy. Nonetheless, Yaacov seems to want to keep this agreement. When Yaacov’s sons intervene, setting them up to infract the symbolic value of circumcision and then killing them city, he curses them. He has been driven from his settled life back into the world of holy wandering. His sons do it because their sister has been made Tumah. Of course, she is not restored through their killings. But the symbolic status of the house of Yaacov is protected.
With this act, Yaacov is no longer on the road to Seir.
Next, Hashem calls Yaacov to Beit El. We can recognize a symbolic name. The place is specifically called Luza later in the reading. Yaacov is being called towards the symbolism of holiness – and it is the journey that dominates the remainder of the reading. Soon after, we encounter the word Tahor (purity), another symbolic value. This is first time the word Tahor is applied to people and the first time it describes a process; the family must Tahor themselves before going to Luza. They must make themselves symbolically ready to encounter G-d. Tahor serves a core role in our later interactions with the divine.
The focus on symbolism continues. When Yaacov buries Devorah he does not do so anonymously. He buries her in a prominent place. Despite her low social standing and her anonymity as a servant, Yaacov promotes her life with this burial. He uses symbolism to raise a worthy woman up. Hashem responds by blessing him once again, and once again assigning him the title of ‘Israel.’ This theme continues in later Jewish law. When we give the half-shekel in the census, we do not assign lower spiritual value to the common man (Kohanim have a different status, not necessarily a higher one).
When Rachel dies, she names her son Ben-Oni, “the son of my impoverishment.” Rachel continually battles unhappiness, and so the name is appropriate. But Yaacov changes it. He changes it from a symbol of sadness to one of hope – of a new generation after many years of life. The name becomes Ben-Yamin – ‘the son of my days’. The first name might be accurate, but the second uses symbolism to supplant a harsh reality. Our laws also reflect this reality; for example, our refusal to charge interest is a symbolic refutation of the reality of risk in our world.