Imagine you give a diamond to a friend and he thinks you gave him a worthless rock. Wouldn’t that be a terrible shame? When given a priceless gift, we expect the recipient to realize the value and appreciate it. Yet, somehow, this doesn’t always occur naturally.
The pasuk says 28,2 – all these brachos will come upon you and “v’hisigucha” – they will overtake you. Once it says that the brachos will come upon you, why does it say “v’hisigucha”? What is that word coming to teach us? Both the Kli Yakar and the Sforno explain that “v’hisigucha” means the bracha will come by itself without any effort and hishtadlus on your part.
There is a well-known machlokes between the Chovos Halevavos and the Ramban regarding a person’s obligation to do hishtadlus. The Chovos Halevavos holds that even a baal habitochon has a chiyuv of hishtadlus and he has no right to sit with his arms folded and expect Hashem to rain down parnassah for him. A person must do some form of hishtadlus and then Hashem will send the bracha. However, the Ramban argues and says that someone who is a real baal bitachon is completely exempt from any hishtadlus. It must be that the Kli Yakar and the Seforno hold like the Ramban, that if a person goes in the way of Hashem and fulfills His mitzvos then he will merit v’hisigucha”, that the bracha will come by itself without any need to do hishtadlus.
Another peshat in “v’hisigucha” is that sometimes a person receives brachos from Hashem but he doesn’t feel it, or he’s unaware of how many brachos he’s receiving. Says the Torah, not only will all these brachos come upon you, but also “v’hisigucha” you will be aware of the brachos.
Rav Reuven Karlinstein says over that he once met a father of a very choshuva yungerman. He complimented the father warmly, “How fortunate you are to have such a son, such a talmid chochom, a yarei shamayim... etc.” The father, however, was not so impressed. “What are you talking about?” he complained, “I have to support him! He has nothing to eat! What do I have out of this?”
Imagine! Hashem sent such a special gift to this father, and he had no clue what a bracha he had! How sad! That is peshat that sometimes Hashem sends blessings and the recipient has no idea. He holds a diamond in his hand and he doesn’t realize that it’s a diamond. But the truth is, are we any different than that ungrateful father? Hashem has gifted us with priceless gifts, yet we don’t even realize them. Eyes, ears, hands, feet, a heart... the list is truly endless. Do we thank Hashem properly? Are we grateful? Imagine a person was born blind, and suddenly the day comes when he is able to see. He would dance on the streets from sheer joy! We all recite the brocha of “poke’ach ivrim” each morning. Why aren’t we dancing?
There was a yid in Bnei Brak who would always go before davening into a cigar store. Someone noticed this routine and confronted this yid, asking “Why can’t you hold yourself back and wait until after davening to smoke?” Says the yid, “Actually, I don’t smoke. I go into this store because there is a blind person who works there. When he makes a phone call, he knows which numbers to push even though he can’t see. Every morning I go there and think about how it must be to be blind. And then I go to shul and I make the bracha of “pokeach ivrim” with feeling. That’s why I go to that cigar store each morning.”
What a lesson! Yes, we should look for ways to inspire ourselves to be appreciative of the countless gifts Hashem gives us on a daily basis.
Rav Yerucham, the Mirrer Mashgiach, said there was once a tremendously strong person who was even able to bend metal. He took ill to the point that he didn’t even have the strength to lift a pen and write one number. “Look”, said R’ Yerucham, “not too long ago this person was able to bend metal with his bare hands, and now he can’t lift a pen! If you can lift a pen to write, be grateful to Hashem!”
The gemara says in Sanhedrin, “Mi sheyesh lo mana rotze masayim”. If you have one hundered, you want two hundred. But we should do better. You have one hundred? Thank Hashem! That’s the brocha of “vihisigucha”, that you will recognize the brochos that you receive. All of us are so gebentched; we only have to open our eyes and see the piles of gifts that surround us.
How do we give ma’aser on animals? We count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and the 10th one becomes holy. Why do we have to count like that? Wouldn’t it be much easier to count all the animals and then separate ten percent? Says Rav Reuven Karlinstein, when a person has a thousand animals, he says to himself, “Oy, how can I give away a hundred animals? It’s too much!” Instead, count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 – that’s all mine! Now the 10th one is for Hashem. Then it’s not so hard. “v’hisigucha” – look how many brachos you received from Hashem! And remember, all you have really belongs to Hashem. Not only that, but in truth, only the ones that you separate for Hashem end up being yours forever, as the z’chus for mitzvos is eternal.
Let us work on becoming truly grateful people. We must learn to realize our blessings and to be appreciative for them. The more we count our blessings, the more we will realize that our blessings are too many to count.
