Small tidbits and Sparks of wisdom

1.
They traveled southward and reached the city close to the border, Be’er Sheva, which was sanctified by the memory of his fathers. There he offered זבחים.
2.
We do not find elsewhere that our patriarchs offered זבחים. Like all the other descendants of Noach, they offered only עולות. Whereas עולה expresses complete personal devotion to God, זבח is actually a family meal that is eaten by the בעלים. It consecrates the family’s home and table as a temple and an altar. זבחים, which are generally called שלמים, express the loftier idea that God comes into our midst. They are offered with the joyful awareness that אלקים קרוב לכל קוראיו (Tehillim 145:18): God is present wherever a family is faithful to God and knows that it is upheld by Him.
3.
The meaning of קרבן שלמים reaches into every mundane detail of life. The ordinary things we do — going to school, getting dressed, putting on shoes, choosing how we dress, how we eat, how we speak, how we travel — are not spiritually empty actions. When done with proper intention, they are comparable to bringing a korban. Not a dramatic offering consumed on an altar, but a constant offering woven into daily existence. Hashem did not create the physical world to be rejected, but to be elevated. When a person lives with the intention to do what Hashem wants, to acknowledge Him as Creator, and to act in a way that reflects His will, the physical act itself becomes spiritual service. In this way, existence itself is offered back to Hashem. This is how the world is brought into the service of God — not by escape from life, but by correct engagement with it. This idea reflects the original universal mission of mankind, often associated with the שבע מצוות בני נח, which in earlier generations expressed the basic structure through which the world recognized its Creator. Though that framework is no longer practiced in its original form, the purpose remains: that the world itself be drawn into the service of Hashem. Judaism preserves this vision by sanctifying everyday life rather than abandoning it.
4.
That is why קרבן שלמים, the “peace offering” of a family life blessed by God, is a distinctively Jewish offering. The idea of being absorbed in God or devoted to God exists even outside Judaism. But the idea that everyday life can become so thoroughly pervaded by the presence of God that one can eat and drink and, while doing so, behold God (cf. Shemot 24:11); that family rooms become sanctuaries, tables become altars, and ordinary men and women become servants of God — this spiritualization of private life is a unique contribution of Judaism.
5.
Yaakov-Yisrael at this time did not offer עולות but זבחים, because now, for the first time, Yaakov felt happy, joyous, and “complete” (שלם) within the circle of his family. With this awareness and with this feeling, he brought a family offering to God. And with this feeling, he brought his offering not to אלקים in general, but specifically to אלקי אבי יצחק.
6.
In the song at the Red Sea, Israel says (Shemot 15:2): זה א-לי ואנוהו אלקי אבי וארוממנהו — “This is my God and I will make Him a dwelling; the God of my father, and I will exalt Him.” God is not only acknowledged abstractly; He is invited to dwell within the lived human world.
7.
Accordingly, Yaakov did not attribute his happiness or completeness to his own merit, but to the merit of his fathers (זכות אבות). What he achieved was not innovation, but faithful realization — taking what he received and allowing it to fully inhabit his life.
8.
There may also be an allusion here to the עקידה. Until now, Yaakov’s life had been one long form of binding and sacrifice — struggle, exile, and restraint. At this moment, he senses the approach of renewal: not the abandonment of sacrifice, but its transformation into a lived, sustained holiness embedded within family, home, and daily life.