The well as Oral Torah and tefillah

באר בשדה.

"A well in the field."

The Sefas Emes takes the well that Yaakov finds in the field as a symbol of a hidden source of spiritual life.

הוא בחי' תורה שבע"פ אשר נטע בתוכינו.

This is the aspect of Torah she'b'al peh (the Oral Torah) which He planted within us.

The well represents the Oral Torah, which Hashem implanted within every Yid as an inner wellspring.

ונמצא מזה בכל איש ישראל רק שצריכין לזכות לכח הפה.

And there is something of this in every member of Yisrael, except that one must merit the power of the mouth.

Each Yid possesses this inner Torah, but one must earn the ability to draw it out into speech.

שע"ז מבקשין ה' שפתי תפתח.

For this we ask, "Hashem, open my lips."

The request that opens Shemoneh Esrei is a plea for Hashem to unlock the power of the mouth so the inner Torah can flow out.

והוא ע"י הסרת אבן שעל פי הבאר.

And this comes about through removing the stone that is upon the mouth of the well.

The blockage over the wellspring of speech must be rolled away, just as the stone was rolled off the well in the field.

וע"ז נתקן הג' תפלות בכל יום.

And for this the three daily tefillos were established.

The three prayers of each day are the means for removing that obstruction and opening the well.

ג' עדרי צאן.

"Three flocks of sheep."

The three flocks gathered at the well correspond to the three daily tefillos.

וע"י שמתאספים תפלות בנ"י נפתח למעלה שורש פי הבאר.

And through the gathering together of the tefillos of Bnei Yisrael, the root of the well's mouth is opened Above.

When the prayers of all Yidden are joined together, the supernal source of the well is unlocked.

כדכתיב ונאספו כל העדרים.

As it is written, "and all the flocks were gathered."

The pasuk's image of all the flocks gathering hints at the collective power of communal tefillah.

וכ"כ שומע תפלה עדיך כל בשר יבואו.

And so it is written, "O You who hears tefillah, unto You all flesh shall come."

All people come together to Hashem who hears prayer — the gathering of many is what opens the wellspring above.

רק שכל יחיד כפי שמכניס עצמו לתוך הכלל כך יכול לפתוח:

Only that each individual, according to how he brings himself into the klal (the community), is able to open it.

An individual's capacity to open the well depends on how fully he joins himself to the whole of Bnei Yisrael.

Summary: The well in the field is the Oral Torah planted within every Yid. To draw it forth one needs the "power of the mouth," unlocked through the three daily tefillos. The wellspring opens Above specifically through the gathering of communal prayer, and each person's share in this opening is measured by how much he joins himself to the klal.