Where a Person's Thoughts Are

The Bas Ayin of Avritch discusses the principle that wherever a person's thoughts are, that is where he is. Rashi, on Vayishlach, says that the messengers Yaakov sent to Esav were in fact malochim. The Bas Ayin asks how malochim from the Holy Land could come to Yaakov when he had not yet entered Eretz Yisroel; he had not even reached Sukkos. (What does it mean that they came from the Holy Land? Do malochim not dwell in a spiritual realm above?) The Ramban asks this very question, and answers that since Yaakov was traveling to Eretz Yisroel, it was as if he had already arrived there. Rav Yisrael Meir Mendelowitz, in his notes to the Bas Ayin (Brooklyn, 2006), adds that the answer may be found in the Ramban's comment on Eiruvin 17, where he discusses the concept that a man is wherever his thoughts are. See also Meor Einayim (Yismach Lev, Kesubos), Shabbos 102a and Eiruvin 99a. Rav Mordechai of Slonim brought this teaching when he related the story of Rav Aharon and the Avritcher.