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When Avrohom and yitschok came before har hamoriah for the akaida they both recognized that it would take place top of the mount for they saw from afar the divine presence radiating atop thus they went up,

When it came to yakov when he slept on the same place it was not so, Why did not yakov realize the holiness of the mount until after the dream ?

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    Your question would be strengthened if you'd add sources for your assertions. – Isaac Moses♦ Sep 5 '10 at 13:31
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I would think that it's simply this:

Hashem told Avraham to offer Yitzchak "on one of the mountains which I will tell you." So the Divine cloud on the mountain was necessary for that purpose, otherwise Avraham wouldn't have known where to set up the altar.

With Yaakov, on the other hand, there was no such need. Indeed, on the contrary, had he known of the holiness of the place, he wouldn't have slept there (as Rashi says in his commentary to Gen. 28:16); but this would have frustrated Hashem's plan to have him do exactly that (see Rashi ibid. v. 17, citing Chullin 91b).

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  • true, but had he known the holiness of the place he would have at least prayed their if not slept their, because we see chazal teach us that he went back to the mountain in order to pray and that was when hashem shortened the way for him. – Koachyah Sep 6 '10 at 0:55
  • Right, but the point was that he needed to do that on his own initiative, without Hashem showing him any kind of sign; he should have realized to begin with that it's proper to stop there and pray. So Hashem gave him free choice whether to stop there or not, and indeed he at first (incorrectly) failed to do so. Only after he realized his mistake, and started heading back, did Hashem assist him by shortening the way. – Alex Sep 6 '10 at 2:03
  • true............ – Koachyah Sep 7 '10 at 3:02

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