[Index of all Weekly Divrei Torah pages]
In this week’s parsha, the protagonist (Yitzhak, son of Abraham) does not do much of anything. In fact, he is the most passive of the forefathers, which is probably why there is only one Torah portion dedicated to his life (there are three for his father Abraham and two for his son Yakov). Partly, that is because Yitzhak’s spiritual emphasis was upon prayer. Abraham was dedicated to good deeds, Yakov to learning Torah, and Yitzhak was committed to spending hours every day in prayer. And prayer is not an activity that demands much movement or physical activity.
Nevertheless, looking closer, we find that the activities that Yitzhak undertook, while spare, were meaningful. For example, we find that he planted, and that he dug wells. Regarding the planting, the Torah tells us (Gen. 3:12), “And Yitzhak sowed in that land, and that year he found (reaped) a hundred times more than the average, and God blessed him.” So, we might say that Yitzhak was not especially active, but that he had a particular talent for knowing exactly what to do, and when. And, after he did whatever he did, it simply was not necessary for him to do more. Perhaps, that was because his prayers were so expertly effective that he only needed a minimum amount of activity in order to succeed. However, we could ask if so, why did he need any activity whatsoever? If he was such an expert at prayer, it should have been sufficient to merely pray and then he would not need to take any action whatsoever?
To this, the Chassidic master, the Ilana deChaya (R’ Menachem Mendel of Rimanov), answers that in truth, man needs both. He needs bitachon (faith combined with the ability to act with initiative) and he also needs to act. He needs to take some form of action in order to be successful. But, together with his action, he of course needs to pray. Since Yitzhak was involved in the process, and he took pains to plant, therefore God blessed him and made him successful. The key is activity together with a blessing from above.
But, why this should be? Someone as successful as Yitzhak, should have been able to merely pray, and then God would send crops and food without Yitzhak having to plant anything. The Ilana deChaya answers that this would have been equivalent to a miracle. Such an event would have been a breach in the “normal” conduct of nature. As a super-natural occurrence, it would have required special energy and attention from Above, beyond the “natural” conduct that God maintains with His creation. And the One above prefers to work within the natural framework. In fact, we see in the verse that is precisely what happened – Yitzhak “planted,” and then God “blessed” him a hundred times over. Both occurred – Yitzhak’s action together with the blessing that was engendered as a result of his prayers below.
We could ask further: If Yitzhak received one hundred times more than the natural amount of crops, wasn’t that in itself a miracle? But, the answer is that God did want to perform a miracle for Yitzhak – but within the laws of nature. He wanted Yitzhak to feel and experience His bountiful nature – but within natural confines. That is why it was important for Yitzhak to plant – it was vital for him to create the “vessel” to contain the Godly light that He wanted to send from Above. Once Yitzhak planted the fields, creating a natural “vessel” for the blessings, then God did His part and sent down one hundred times the average produce from Above.
The lesson for all of us is clear. He has what to give, but we have to do our part. We cannot merely hope and pray. Prayer helps and is necessary. However, it is our actions below that create the cali, or vessel, for all that Godly light to come down. So, we need to do just a little bit, at the very least, within the realm of effort below in the physical world – and then we can let the One above take care of the rest!