“I am unworthy of all the kindnesses and of all the truth that You have performed for Your servant, for with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps” (Genesis 32:11). “I am unworthy of all the kindnesses” – Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: I am “unworthy.” Rabbi Levi said: ‘I am worthy, but [I have become] “unworthy” due to [“all the kindnesses.”]’ “For with my staff I crossed this Jordan” – Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said, in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: In the Torah, in the Prophets, and in the Writings, we have found that Israel crossed the Jordan only due to the merit of Jacob.
In the Torah – “for with my staff I crossed this Jordan.” In the Prophets – “You shall inform your children, saying: Israel crossed this Jordan on dry land” (Joshua 4:22) – Israel the elder. In the Writings – “What is it, sea, that makes you flee? The Jordan, that you turn back?…from before the God of Jacob” (Psalms 114:5, 7).
There is a place called Jordan in the hot springs of Tiberias. Our patriarch Jacob entered there, panic-stricken, and Esau shut him in there. The Holy One blessed be He dug an opening in another place and he emerged. That is what is written: “When you pass through the water, I am with you, and through the rivers, they will not inundate you” (Isaiah 43:2).