Avraham and Yitzchak were titans of righteousness and spirituality in their time. Why did we have to wait for Yaakov to establish the 12 Tribes? Comparing the series of events that led to the choice of Rivka as the wife of Yitzchak, to that by which Rachel, Yaakov's wife, was chosen, yields some illuminating observations.
The drinking well is the consummate shadkhan in Torah. Yitzchak, Yaakov, and Moshe each finds his bashert at a well. In this week's parasha, Yaakov has journeyed eastward to the birthplace of his ancestors and davvens upon awakening in the wilderness. He finds himself by a well and greets the locals. "While he was still speaking with them," Rachel happens on the scene, and he removes the stone cover from the well and provides water for all her animals. He then identifies himself, upon which Rachel to "ran and told her father," who comes out to greet him.
Sound familiar? It should, because a mere two parshiot ago, the narrative of Eliezer-the proxy of Yitzchak-established an activity template that, step by step, parallels that of Yaakov here. He prays beforehand, Rifka shows up while he is still speaking to someone, superhuman strength is displayed, kindness to strangers and to animals, an introduction that clarifies kinship, and the girl rushes to tell her family. The difference is what makes Yaakov stand out as fitting for the leadership of Klal Yisroel.
At the well, Yaakov lovingly greets total strangers in a foreign country as "my brothers," and proceeds to rebuke them to take better care of their animals. The incredible force and rigor necessary to move the great stone from the mouth of the well and provide water for a flock characterizes the same man who then weeps when he perceives (according to Rashi) that he won't, in the end, be buried in the same plot as his future wife.
The Patriarch who would found a multiplicity of tribes displays traits that multiply what would be expected of an ordinary individual. A whole group of men do not approach the well-stone that Yaakov dispatches, as Rashi takes from the Midrash, "like the cork from a bottle." Likewise, a man may kiss many and not shed a tear-but "Yaakov kissed Rachel; and he raised his voice and wept."
The emergence of the Patriarchs is an almost evolutionary process. Avraham represents chesed (lovingkindness). He sires one son who displays a chesed out of control and another son, Yitzchak, who excels in gevura-strength and discipline. Yitzchak, in turn, fathers one son who engenders gevura gone bad, but his second son, Yaakov, emerges as a combination of chesed and gevura as tiferet-beauty and truth-the tempering of kindness with restraint.
These traits established Yaakov Avinu as the namesake and role model of Yisroel. Hakodesh Boruch Hu wants Am Yisroel to walk the way of Yaakov, with balance and poise, the truth and joy that flow from Torah and a relationship with Hashem. May each of us be blessed to recognize when to push and when to hold back, when to assert our will and when to be humble.