The sicha for parshas Vayetze is in Vol. X of Likkutei Sichos.

On the posuk, “vayetze Yakov m’Beersheva,” the Midrash says, Yakov left Beersheva because he wanted to get away from having to make a treaty with Avimelech, as Avraham, so that Avimelech would not insist , make a treaty with me as did your grandfather. Yakov said, if I made this treaty, then I would delay the joy of my children for seven generations. What that means is that when Avraham made a pact with Avimelech, because of that peace treaty, it says that the Jewish people’s entry into the Land of Israel was delayed seven generations - the seven generations from Avraham until Moshe Rabbeinu fought the war with Og and Sichon, and captured their land.

Then Yitzchak also made a treaty with Avimelech, and delayed the settling into Eretz Israel seven generations, which means he added another generation, since he was one generation after Avraham. So seven generations from Yitzchak, was when Yehoshua finally settled the land. Yakov was therefore afraid that if he stayed in Beersheva, that Avimelech would have him enter into a peace treaty with him, and that would delay the settling into Eretz Israel of his children another generation. That’s what the Midrash says.

Now we need to understand, since both Avraham and Yitzchak did make a peace treaty with Avimelech, and they were not concerned about the Jewish people settling into Eretz Israel seven generations later, and they didn't leave in order to avoid making that peace treaty, why was Yakov was afraid of entering into a peace treaty with Avimelech. And on the other hand, how is it that Avraham and Yitzchak were not worried or concerned with the delay of the settling into Israel, that would put off the joy of their children for seven generations? The difference is in the levels and service of Avraham and Yitzchak compared those of Yakov. And in this distinction, we will understand also why they differed in their approach to Avimelech.

It says that Ishmael came out of Avraham, and Esav came out of Yitzchak, which means that Ishmael and Esav, although they were both children of Avraham and Yitzchak, they “came out”, they went away from their connection to their fathers, and went off on their own, unholy path. That's because the holiness of Avraham and Yitzchak and their manner in which they served G-d did not reach these children, and did not effect change in them for good. But concerning Yakov it says, the greatness of Yakov was that all his children were tzaddikim, meaning that his form of avodah, of service, and his holiness reached and affected all of his children, so that they were all tzaddikim.

Although all of the Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yakov, were the absolute state of holiness and each one of them, their neshamos were untainted by their coming into the world, by their birth, yet there is a difference in how they pursued holiness.

Yakov primarily worked at elevating, refining and purifying the physical world. Whereas Avraham and Yitzchak, their avodah was more a spiritual avodah. And that's why even though Ishmael according to the Gemarrah did tshuva, and according to some opinions Esav also did, that when he kissed Yakov he meant it sincerely, but in both cases their tshuva didn't last.

And although Avraham and Yitzchak also elevated the world and affected the world, Avraham by teaching the people, the passersby, the nomads, about G-d, and Yitzchak, when he dug the wells, it is explained in Chassidus that the digging of the wells meant bringing out the holiness, bringing  up  the   living  waters   in  a  place  that  is  the   desert,  bringing
G-dliness to a desert. Yet their effect on the unholy was that they silenced it, they rejected it, so that the unholy did not interfere with holiness. But no change occurred, no essential transformation happened to the unholy itself and it did not become holy.

So their relationship, Avraham and Yitzchak’s, with unholiness was in that they rejected it and silenced it, so that it did not interfere. Whereas Yakov, he had a more positive and internal effect on the unholy, in that he transformed it, elevated it and refined it and turned it into holiness.

This is similar to the distinction between tzaddikim and baalei tshuva. The tzaddik has no real relationship with unholiness, not even with an unholy thought, which doesn't occur to him of its own as explained in Tanya, whereas the baal tshuva had a relationship, a connection to evil, to unholiness, and turned it into kedusha, through their tshuva, because the sins of the past become like mitzvahs.

And so in the avodah of Avraham and Yitzchak, in rejecting and silencing the evil, the existence of evil was not undone. It continued to exist. It's only its behavior that was changed. It therefore remains possible, since the unholy remains unholy, that eventually in their children, in Ishmael and Esav, should remain also an unholiness that was not elevated or refined through their parent’s holiness. And so there was eventually a rebellion, and “Ishmael came out of Avraham,” and “Esav came out of Yitzchak.”

But what we see is that both Ishmael and Esav didn't do anything to interfere  with  the  avodah,  with  the  service, with  he  mitzvahs,  with  the
G-dliness and the lifestyle of Avraham and Yitzchak. They were respectful of their parent’s G-dliness.

At any rate, the essence of the unholiness itself, of the kelipah itself, when it has no relationship with holiness, brings the benefit that it doesn't interfere with holiness, but at the same time, because it has no relationship, then the holiness does not effect it internally and does not transform it into kedusha.

For example Avraham lived among the bnei Cheis, and they even recognized him as a great man, a holy and G-dly man, and yet we don't find anywhere that his living there and being among the bnei Cheis changed them or transformed them in any way, and they remained bnei Cheis, even after Avraham had been there.

The fact that they sold him the Maaras HaMachpelah in order to bury Sarah, that was only that they didn't obstruct his avodah, not getting in the way  of  what  he  needed to  accomplish.  They allowed  Avraham to be as
G-dly as he wanted but they did not become G-dly at all. Whereas Yakov, the whole purpose of his avodah, the devotion of Yakov’s avodah was to elevate and refine and to bring the unholy to holiness. This means that when he got through with the unholy, there was no kelipah left, no unholiness left and that reflected in his children, in that all of his children were tzaddikim.

This can explain why Avraham and Yitzchak made a peace treaty with Avimelech, Avimelech representing unholiness. This treaty that they made with Avimelech was that one should not interfere with the other, that holiness and unholiness should not interfere with each other. And that was accomplished, in that Avimelech was silenced in his objection to holiness, so that the holiness could proceed without interference. But on the other hand, the essence of Avimelech, the very fact that he was unholy, remained and continued to exist.

That was Avraham and Yitzchak’s avodah. Whereas with Yakov, since his devotion was to completely undo the kelipah, not only to silence it, by denying it and transforming it, therefore he could not make such an agreement with Avimelech because that would leave Avimelech in his original, unholy existence. And that goes against Yakov's grain to make peace with unholiness, even if that silences the unholiness and removes its objection and its resistance to holiness.

Then Torah says, “yayetze Yakov m’Beersheva, vayelech Harana,” Yakov left Beersheva.Yakov left that level, that state in which you can promise, make a deal with unholiness, that the unholiness should not interfere with holiness, that Yakov left and rejected. And where did he go when he left Beersheva, he went “Harana”. He went to a place that is described as the unholiness of the world. By going out of Beersheva, which means G-dliness free of the interference of unholiness, by rejecting that level of avodah, he pursued his kind of avodah and that is to go down into the unholiness and there bring about a transformation.

The fact that Avraham and Yitzchak did make a peace treaty with Avimelech and that resulted in the delay of the coming into Eretz Israel seven generations, that doesn't mean that because they made the peace treaty, they were punished in some way that the coming into Eretz Israel was delayed. It wasn't from the peace treaty, or because of the peace treaty that the delay resulted. But rather from what had not happened. What delayed the coming into Israel was that they didn't do more than make the peace treaty. Since they hadn't really transformed the unholy into holy, they hadn't really change the essence of kelipah, but had allowed it to remain in existence, only weakened or softened into silence, that's why it took seven more generations before Jews could go into the land of Canaan and turn it into Eretz Israel. So it's what wasn't happening, and not what Avraham and Yitzchak did.

So the question, how could Avraham and Yitzchak make a peace treaty knowing it’s going to delay their children entering Israel, the answer is, it's not the peace treaty that delayed it. It is simply the fact that the avodah of Avraham and Yitzchak didn't do enough to change the physical world, to make it possible for Jews to settle into Israel. Only with Yakov, when he went down it the unholiness of the world, when he allowed himself to reach down there, in order to change it internally, permanently and thoroughly, only then did the world become ready for the Jews to be able to settle into Eretz Israel.

And the same is true also in the future, that through the avodah of Yakov, during these years of golus, where we elevate and refine the most unholy parts of the world and bring it to holiness, through this we will merit the third Bais HaMikdash. And the third Bais HaMikdash is also unique in this fashion. Avraham referred to the Bais HaMikdash as the mountain of G-d, Yitzchak referred it as the field, and Yakov referred to it as the house. A house represents a permanence – the third Bais HaMikdash that will be permanent b’bias Moshiach Tzedkainu.

In Vol. III of Likkutei Sichos on parshas Vayetze, the Rebbe quotes the Midrash on the verse, Yakov came to the place and the sun set, and he slept there. The Torah seems to be saying that he slept there, to the exclusion of sleeping anywhere else. So the Midrash says, here Yakov slept, but the fourteen years that he was in the yeshiva of Aver, there he didn’t sleep at all. Another explanation the Midrash says is that here Yakov slept, but the twenty years he worked for Lavan, he didn’t sleep.

The question is, the fourteen years that he spent in the yeshiva, the fact that he didn't sleep there, is understandable. He didn't sleep because he was devoted to study of Torah. But why would he have such mesiras nefesh, taking care of Lavan’s sheep, that he wouldn't sleep for twenty years. But according to what we said before this would be understandable. When Yakov went to Haran, he went there in order to elevate the unholiness of the world. That is to take holiness, as it is captured in Lavan, release it from its captivity and bring it back to its source - the hidden holiness in the unholy should be released and brought back to holiness.

And that's why he didn't sleep the entire time that he was there, because he had to constantly be awake and alert to the resistance from Lavan’s resistance to holiness. Lavan’s argument to Yakov was that his children and the future generations don't belong to him. He said, in effect, you are a traditional Jew, you were raised this way, and so this is what is expected of you. You are of an older generation, of an earlier time, and you can live a life of Torah and spend day and night studying and doing mitzvahs, you can do whatever you want, but how can you expect this of your children? Your children are born to the modern times, they belong to the modern times, as Lavan in fact said, the daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons. They belong to my world. This was Lavan’s claim. They are young, why do you want to burden them with the yoke of Torah and mitzvahs. So if you want to teach them Yiddishkeit into modern way, on the modern level, that's fine but why all this heaviness and seriousness of Torah and mitzvahs.

The same is also true that Lavan argued that even the sheep belong to me. This means that Lavan was saying that when it comes to spiritual things, you decide how to do it because that is where you are the expert, but when it comes to physical things, when it comes to sheep, here I am the expert and if you want to make sheep, you want make money, make a living, then you have to do it my way, because when it comes to the physical, I am the expert.

Lavan was saying when it comes to business, you can't stop and worry about every detail of the laws of honesty and proper ethics, you have to play the game the way the game is played, so you have to indulge in a little bit of exaggeration, competition and taking advantage of other people’s weaknesses and so on, in order to make a living.

And for this Yakov had to stay awake, he had to have mesiras nefesh, that he didn't sleep the entire time that he was there. Not only for his concern for his spiritual well-being, but also in his concern for accomplishing what needs to be accomplished with the world around him, meaning firstly his children, and secondly, his sheep. This claim that the children belong to Lavan and that the sheep belong to Lavan, had to be undone and even Lavan had to be convinced that it wasn't so.

Now we will also understand what the Midrash goes on to say about Yakov, that he didn't sleep the twenty years that he was there by Lavan, and what was Yakov doing during those years when he wasn’t sleeping, the Midrash says that he was saying the fifteen chapters of Tehillim that begin with shir haamalot. Another opinion says that he was saying the entire Tehillim.

So we need understand this because the question itself, “what was Yakov saying ” during those twenty years needs explanation. In the simple, literal meaning of the Torah, he didn't sleep for twenty years because he was busy taking care the sheep, not because he was saying something. So obviously, we see from this back to stay up and not sleep for twenty years in order to take care sheep is not what Yakov's avodah is all about.

Instead as we said before, he was awake because of his avodah. His devotion was to elevating the divine sparks, the holiness that was trapped or entrapped by Lavan, and to the constant struggle against Lavan, and against his resistance to holiness - that's what kept him awake. So the Midrash in asking the question, “what was he saying”, was really asking, what gave Yakov the strength to succeed in such an impossible task? How was it that living in Lavan's house, in his world, he was not only not affected by Lavan, not dragged down or discouraged in his avodah by Lavan, but in fact was able to elevate the holiness that existed in Lavan. So we need to know from where did he get the strength?

That is what the Midrash is asking “what was Yakov saying”, what did he say that gave him strength, from where did he draw the strength? The Midrash answers that he got it from the Tehillim, from the shir haamalot. In the shir haamalot we read “m’ayin yavo ezri,” which the simply translated means, from where will my salvation come, from where will I get help. But on a deeper level, m’ayin means, from my own bittul, from my own insignificance. Yakov knew that with his own efforts, and talents, he could not accomplish what he needed to, and in that humility, in that bittul, “m’ayin”, from that feeling of nothingness, yavo ezri, that’s from where the strength came. He knew that G-d had to help him, and that the blessing had to come from G-d, “ezri m’im Hashem” that the help comes from G-d, to such a degree that “ osay shamayim v’aretz” that he was able to effect not only shamayim, spiritual things, and maintain in his own holiness, but also aretz, he was able to effect the world of Haran, the world of Lavan and bring out the holiness that was buried there as well.

Therefore we see from all this that before a Jew attempts to change the world, he has to know two things. First of all he has to spend a lot of time absorbed in the world of Torah. Before he goes out into the world of Haran, he has to be awake, as Yakov was awake for fourteen years, studying and absorbing Torah, or being absorbed in the world of Torah and davening, as we find, v’yivga b’makom, the Gemarrah says that meant that he davened there. Yakov was absorbed, immersed in the world of Torah and davening for a long time before he attempted to take on the world of Haran and the world of Lavan.

The second thing is that even when you're already in the world of Haran, you are out there trying to make a living and dealing with the world, trying to elevate the world, you have to remember to say Tehillim, or words of holiness, to be connected and draw strength from Above, knowing that only through the Abeshter’s blessing can we accomplish and succeed in the physical.

The same is also true on a daily basis; not only in the course of a life, but in each day. Each day has begin, before we take on the physical world, and go out into the world of Haran, we first have to daven and learn the daily portions of Torah that we are capable of learning, and be immersed in that part of the day, and absorb the attitude and the flavor and the inspiration of Torah. Then we can go into the world, into the business part of our day without dragging our mind and soul into the business, but to do it only with our hands, yiguius k’pacha, only the hands are involved in the physical world, while the mind and the heart are still connected to the Chumash, the Tehillim and the Tanya that was the beginning of the day.

And only in that way, can we hope to accomplish the avodah of b’chol derechecha d’chechu, that wherever we go and whatever we do in the physical world, we bring with us an awareness, d’chechu, of G-d’s presence, an awareness of the purpose for which we are going into Haran. Not only, not to lose the holiness that we have, that we absorbed at the beginning of the day and at the beginning of our lives, but in fact bring that knowledge and that awareness into the world and to make the world a dira lo Hisborach b’tachtonim.