BS"D
WELL'S WELTANSCHAUUNG: PARSHAT TOLDOS
Shira Smiles shiur 2022/5783
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Just as Avraham Avinu faced
the challenge of famine in the Land Hashem had promised him, so too did
Yitzchak his son face the same challenge. However, while Avraham Avinu went
down to Mitzrayim to flee the famine, Hashem instructed Yitzchak not to leave
the Land. Instead, Yitzchak went to the land of the Plishtim/Philistines. He
was successful there, growing rich with agricultural produce and with flocks
and herds. Seeking water, Yitzchak Avinu digs wells. But he started not by
digging new wells, but by redigging the wells his father Avraham had dug,
naming them the names Avraham himself had given them, and which the Plishtim
had stopped up after Avraham died. In what is probably the first act of
recorded antisemitism, King Avimelech orders Yitzchak to leave, resorting to a
meme that is standard whenever Jews become successful in a new land, "Go
away, for you have become much mightier ממנו, than/from us."
Yitzchak moves off. He
continues to dig wells. The first two, Aisek and Sitna, become flash points for
further quarrels with the Plishtim. Finally, with the third well, Yitzchak is
left alone, and he calls this well Rechovot/spacious expanses. Yitzchak
and Avimelech now reinstitute the treaty first written between Avimelech and
Avraham. Avimelech and Yitzchak swear to maintain peace between them, and
Yitzchak serves Avimelech a meal. In commemoration of this treaty, Yitachak
calls the place Be'er Sheva, the Well of the Oath.
This episode is described in
such detail that we must find the deeper meaning and significant lessons hidden
in the verses. As the medrash explained, the Plishtim rationalized that the
wells presented a danger to them. After all, with water so scarce, thieves
might be attracted here, or an invading army might use these wells to sustain
their army as they attack the native Philistine city. It was a practical
necessity to stop them up. But, as the Seforno points out, this was just a
tactic to harm Yitzchak without attacking him physically.
But who was Yitzchak, and what
legacy do we inherit from him? From Avraham Avinu we inherit chessed; from
Yaakov Avinu we inherit Torah study and fortitude in the face of adversity. All
we hear about Yitzchak Avinu is that he digs wells. Ben Melech quoting
the Abarbanel explains that this was precisely the role of Yitzchak Avinu, to
begin the process of taking ownership of the land, of fulfilling the promise to
Avraham Avinu, for he who controls the water, controls the land.
In Ma'aseh Rokem, Rav
Ber develops this idea more fully in the context of history. As the Vilna Gaon
points out, the Plishtim always wanted to usurp the land of Bnei Yisroel.
Ownership is established not only by occupying the land, but also by
establishing a government and monarchy in the land. That is why each time a
Jewish king is anointed, the Plishtim rise up, whether it is with Saul's
coronation or with David's coronation.
But there is a deeper basis
for the enmity of the Plishtim against Bnei Yisroel. [Isn't there always?] Rav
Ber continues and explains that the Plishtim are a nation formed by the
intermarriage of two nations whose men intermarried with multiple wives. They
represent the powers of depravity in contrast with the Jewish values of
sanctity. [Is it any wonder that among the synonyms for "philistine"
we find: vulgar, uneducated, crass, and materialistic. CKS] [According to a
medrash, when Orpah turned her back on Naomi,, she turned her back on all of
Naomi's teaching, sleeping with many men that very night, and conceiving
Goliath. CKS] The battles between Bnei Yisroel and Plishtim was at its core the
battle of good against evil. Therefore, as soon as Avraham Avinu died, the
Plishtim stopped up the wells he had dug, desiring to erase any influence
Avraham and his morality may have had on them. Even if stopping up the wells
would hurt them, they still wanted nothing to do with the waters of Avraham.
However, the Plishtim noticed
that while Avraham resided with them, their fields brought forth much produce
and their flocks produced more sheep. As soon as Avraham died and they stopped
up the wells, these blessings also stopped. That's when they came to Yitzchak
asking to make peace with him, saying that Hashem was with him, and that their
blessings were a result of Avraham and Yitzchak's presence. This admission was,
in essence, a confession that the land actually belonged to Avraham and to
Yitzchak, and therefore Yitzchak reinstituted the covenant between them. And,
as Rabbi Soloveitchick reminds us, we see throughout history, the Land remains
desolate in foreign hands, but becomes the Land of Milk and Honey when Bnei
Yisroel occupy it, live in the land and work it.
Recognizing the sanctity of
Eretz Yisroel and spreading that belief was part of the mission of Avraham
Avinu. When he dug the wells, he named each one, incorporating the name of
Hashem in each name, writes Rabbi Mecklenburg in Haktav Vehakabalah. As
Rabbi Nevenzahl adds, when Reuven, Gad and half the Tribe of Menashe inherited
the land on the other side of the Jordan, they immediately changed the names of
the cities from pagan names to Jewish names.
Why was Avraham Avinu so
focused on these names? As Rabbi Kram explains in Talmido Beyodo, in
ancient times, the area around a well often served as the town square and a
general meeting place. Including God in its name would invariably bring people
to an awareness of God when they would plan to meet at this designated spot,
and perhaps by extension, begin the belief in one God. Further, Avraham Avinu
probably also continued his acts of chesed here, supplying people with water
and food. These ad hoc kiruv centers closed with Avraham's death, and
the Plishtim didn't want them to remain a source of socialization and further kiruv.
But Yitzchak wanted to
continue his father's legacy. He starts by reopening his father's original
wells and maintaining the names Avraham had given them. Even though that
doesn't succeed, Yitzchak started digging wells of his own. The Plishtim did
not easily give in. They created laws obstructing Yitzchak's endeavors. They say
things like, "Yes, you dug the hole. The hole is yours, but the water is
ours." We can see the influence these watering wells would have on the
people. Metaphorically, and here in reality, water represents Torah, and the
Plishtim would not let Torah flow smoothly, unimpeded.
Rabbi Kram suggests that each
of us has opportunities to quietly spread Torah principles to the public. For
example, we can leave Jewish themed books or magazines in a doctor's waiting
room [pre pandemic]. We too can find ways to call "in the Name of Hashem."
In Shiurei Harav, Rabbi
Laibel provides additional insights into the character and actions of both
Avraham Avinu and Yitzchak Avinu. While Avraham's overriding quality was chesed/loving
kindness and Yitzchak's was gevurah/inner strength, each quality needed
to be tempered by the other or they would be self defeating. Therefore,
Avraham's tests and challenges involved overcoming his natural feelings of
chesed to tap into an inner fortitude, most notably with the binding of his
beloved son. On the other hand, Yitzchak's inner strength was tested with
social interaction. Would he continue the chesed of offering food and drink to
people around his well? Would he also draw souls to Hakodosh Boruch Hu through
chesed?
Avraham and Yitzchak embodied
complementary characteristics in knowing and serving Hashem. As Yanki Tauber
writes in Inside Story, Avraham's journey took him outward, to others,
while Yitzchak's journey was inward, digging ever more deeply to the selfless
core of himself. When Avraham Avinu dug the wells, his pure and sacred love
flowed from them and influenced the Philistines. After his death, the Plishtim
stopped up those wells, letting love run rampant without restraint, devolving
into a lust where anything goes. When Yitzchak redug those wells, he redeemed
Avraham's legacy of love, a love that now was disciplined, flowing from the
fear of Heaven. While Avraham's legacy to the Jews is to embrace the world, to
help and provide chesed, material or personal, wherever it is needed,
Yitzchak's legacy is to provide discipline, reverence and humility before God.
Love must be disciplined and restrained, or it will crush the receiver and
debase the giver. Love without discipline leads to disgrace.
Yitzchak's legacy can be
perceived through yet a different lens. In Golden Apples, Rabbi
Lopiansky explains why Yitzchak's trait of gevurah/awe and inner
strength were so important in perpetuating Avraham's "discovery" of
the one God and disseminating the message. While the Plishtim did not repudiate
Avraham's message during his lifetime, they stopped it up immediately after his
death. How? Their weapon was leitzanut/mockery and cynicism. A mocking
comment can undermine a previously accepted concept so as totally to invalidate
it. The antidote for mockery is the internalization of truth, of a dose of
absolute reality. As Rabbi Lopiansky writes, no one would consider jumping off
a cliff without a hang glider, no matter how much someone mocked him for
insisting on it. He knew without a doubt that it couldn't be done. Yitzchak's
mission was to dig out the mockery that the Plishtim used to stop up Avraham's
messages and replace it with the absolute awe and knowledge of the Ribbono shel
olam. Yitzchak's very name defies the mockery the Plishtim would assign to his
conception, and defies the continued existence of Jews.
Rabbi Frand warns us to
be careful not to fill our children's ears with cynicism and mockery, or
they will lose their natural enthusiasm and for life. In Apples from the
Tree, Rabbi Young presents us with the practicality of raising our
children. We must be careful to speak respectfully about our Rabbis and
teachers, and refrain from mocking those who may be more stringent than we are.
We teach respect by modeling respect.
When Yitzchak digs his own
wells, according to the Ramban as cited by Rabbi Belsky, he gives them names
that represent each of the three Batei Mikdosh in our history. The first he
calls Aisek, referring to the internal divisions in our nation, that for most
of its existence, divided the nation into two kingdoms. The second well he
called Sitna/accusation or oppression, for during the period of the second Beit
Hamikdosh, we were beset by multiple empires who ruled over us and oppressed
us. But in the era of the third Beit Hamikdosh, Hashem's presence and His
blessings will flow down abundantly.
But there is a more profound
understanding to the purpose of these wells, continues Rabbi Belsky. Before
Hashem created the world itself, His presence hovered over the primordial
waters. These wells are meant to connect us again to Hashem's presence, to dig
down to the wellsprings below that conceal His presence. The water libations in
the Beit Hamikdosh connected us to these waters, and, when Moshiach comes (May
it be soon), we will again be connected. Yitzchak himself was a walking
Beit Hamikdosh. [For a wonderful and moving explanation of how a mikvah also
connects us to the primordial water and to God's presence, read Aryeh Kaplan's
z"l Waters of Eden. CKS]
A seed planted in the earth
needs water to grow. Man/Adam can be compared to a seed in the adamah/earth.
Man also needs spiritual water to grow into a healthy and ripe
"fruit" that is filled with the spiritual awareness of God, writes
Rabbi Feldman in the Juggler and the King. But this watering is a
struggle which must not discourage us. Just as Yitzchak Avinu did not succeed
but continued after two failures, writes the Mesameach Zion, so must
each of us also dig for our our connection to Hashem. To enter the Rechovot/wider
ShAaR/gates of holiness requires passing the
challenges of Aisek and Sitna, adds
Rabbi Schorr in Halekach Vehalebuv.
The struggle is not meant to
depress us, but rather to bring us joy in the growth process, for Yitzchak
itself means joyous laughter, writes Rabbi Kluger in My Sole Desire.
Each of us, like our ancestor Yitzchak is a field and a mini Beit Hamikdosh. We
are tasked with working on connecting the waters from above to the waters
below, to bring others to serve Hashem, and hasten the building of the third
Beit Hamikdosh, speedily, in our day.