two elements of limud Torah

Chazal tell us that Yaakov spent 14 years learning in yeshivas Shem v'Eiver before going to Lavan's house.  Rashi also writes that after the akeidah Avraham sent Yitzchak to learn in yeshiva.  The Midrash gives a mashal: it is like a women who worked spinning thread and became rich doing do -- even though she was so wealthy that she didn't need to work anymore, she still did not abandon her spinning and continued to work.  So too, Avraham said that all he achieved came through Torah, and therefore he wanted his descendants to immerse themselves in Torah.

Meshech Chochma explains that there are two aspects to learning Torah: 1) Torah protects from the yetzer ha'ra; it curbs one's desires and helps develop proper midos and behavior; 2) Torah brings to dveikus with Hashem.  A person like Yitzchak who is willing to put their neck on the line for an akeidah has no yetzer ha'ra to speak of.  What do they need Torah for?  What does the rich person need to continue spinning thread for?  The Midrash teaches us that it doesn't work that way.  The threadmaker does not abandon her work even after she has grown rich and doesn't need the money. Avraham sent Yitzchak to learn because even without a yetzer ha'ra a person needs Torah. 

The gemara has a machlokes whether  "mitzvos b'teilos l'asid la'vo" or not.  The machlokes may hinge on these two elements.  If the purpose of mitzvos was simply to correct our character flaws, then l'asid lavo when there will be no yetzer ha'ra, we shouldn't need Torah and mitzvos. The other side of the argument is that even l'asid la'vao -- or I should say, certainly l'asid lavo -- we will still need to grow in closeness to Hashem.  Torah u'mitzvos is the means to that end.

Chazal tell us that an aku"m who is oseik on Torah is like the kohen gadol on Yom Kippur.  The M"C explains that Y"K is a day of kaparah.  For an aku"m, learning Torah is about fixing sin and correcting the negative.  It's all about that first element, the sur mei'ra.  For Klal Yisrael, it's about more than that.  

This may be the lesson Chazal are trying to teach us with respect to Yitzchak, but what about Yaakov?  His whole life was being yosheiv ohalim -- why do Chazal make a point of telling us that he stopped off in Yeshivas Shem v'Eiver for another 14 years of learning?

R' Baruch Sorotzkin explains that there are events in life that shake a person to their core and make them realize just how valuable every moment is.  Yitzchak was spared from the akeidah -- a near death experience.  In our parsha, Yaakov was on the run, and according to the Midrash Elifaz was going to kill him but spared his life.  In both cases, the response was the same -- head to the yeshiva.  No matter how much Torah and mitzvos was done before, it's not the same as what a person feels inspired to do after a life shattering event.  

We see the inverse of this idea in the haftarah of Vayeira.  The Isha haShunamis miraculously had a child in her old age thanks to the bracha of Elisha. The child grows up, he goes out to the field to work with his father, and he passes out and dies.  The woman runs to the navi and complains.  She says, "I never asked for a child, but you promised and I had one, only to now have him snatched away -- why play games and trick me?"  The haftarah then continues with the story of the child being revived.

What's the answer to the Isha haShunamis' complaint?  Why was this child taken from her?  

The Isha haShunamis dreamed of having a child her whole life until she was so old that she never thought it would happen, Then, lo and behold, a miracle happens.  How do she and her husband respond?  By sending that child out to work the field with his father as soon as he is able.  For this you waited your whole life, for this you got an open miracle -- to have another farm hand?!  If that's how you respond, then maybe you don't deserve that child after all.  When something extraordinary happens, it should force a person's eyes open and bring about a different perspective.